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Baker & Taylor announced on May 22 that the latest release of its Axis 360 digital media platform includes accessibility functions that will allow visually-impaired patrons to use a library’s digital collections. The platform is now compatible with several leading assistive screen-reader technologies, including JAWS (Job Access with Speech), Window-Eyes, NVDA (non-visual desktop access) and System Access To Go.
The American Library Association has partnered with mobile phone marketing and outreach provider Mobile Commons to launch a new text message alert and advocacy service for librarians. Each month, subscribers will receive an estimated 2 to 3 text message action alerts from ALA’s Office of Government Relations. The messages will give subscribers talking points on a specific, timely issue, and then offer the option of automatically making a toll-free call to the offices of their legislators.
This article has been updated to include information about the Amash amendment and the fate of the bill. Just because SOPA and PIPA seem to be dead in the water doesn’t mean legislative attempts to limit privacy are over. H.R. 3523, The Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (CISPA), passed the House of […]
A new report from the American Library Association examines the overuse of digital devices and how librarians can steer patrons toward a more balanced diet.
Right before the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia last week, there was another important get together in New York: the Association of American Publishers (AAP) annual meeting held on March 14, as LJ reported. AAP today posted videos of all four panels, two of particular interest to librarians are below. The first video here […]
Even as anxious publishers are hoping to increase friction in the ebook lending experience, librarians have been clamoring for vendors of integrated library systems (ILS) to make e-lending a unified, sleek experience. Rather than navigating their patrons away from the library’s web presence to Balkanized, often commercial, third-party platforms, each with a different discovery and delivery experience, librarians have been demanding a single, easy-to-use, easy-to-search platform — an integration of the ILS with ebook vendor platforms.
In a stunning development, Penguin Group has extricated itself from its contract with OverDrive, the primary supplier of ebooks to public libraries.
Although the American Library Association and major publishers are talking to each other about ebook lending, it seems they are going to cordially disagree for the foreseeable future — even as more librarians offer evidence that some of the publishers’ concerns may not be completely justified and the CEO for OverDrive says he is “bullish for 2012.”
Thousands of websites, from major sites like the social news website Reddit, the Internet Archive’s main site, and the English-language version of Wikipedia, to small personal WordPress blogs, have “gone dark” today as part of a coordinated protest against the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), currently in committee in the House, and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), scheduled for a Senate vote on January 24. Among the sites taking part are those of Digital Public Library of America and the Syracuse University iSchool, as well as several popular blogs in the library world.
Firebrand Technologies-owned NetGalley today announced the launch of a benefit program, in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), in which ALA members can receive expedited approval and access to NetGalley’s digital galleys.
