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The National Federation of the Blind has honored Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 digital media platform with the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations that have “made outstanding contributions toward achieving the full integration of the blind into society on a basis of equality.”
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.
Ebrary’s flagship ebook product is Academic Complete, but the ProQuest unit has also offered for two years a parallel product in the public library channel called Public Library Complete that some libraries are finding a congenial fit as they sort through the growing number of offerings on the market.
When EBSCO acquired NetLibrary from OCLC in March 2010, it obtained a fully formed ebook platform that already had a large collection of about 200,000 ebooks from 500 publishers available in 17,000 sites worldwide. The challenge was to smooth out this platform, now known as Ebooks on EBSCOhost, so that it could migrate to the EBSCO interface and there be remade.
COSLA believes that ebooks will be the preferred format for reading materials in the future. As a result, it has set a goal for all U.S. public libraries to offer ebooks and downloadable media by 2015. As a step in that direction, LJ is publishing a series of articles that closely examines the various ebook platforms available, including this environmental scan.
Baker & Taylor and Findaway World LLC will partner to launch a digital audiobook platform for public libraries and retailers later this year, the companies announced April 10. Findaway is the creator of Playaway and Playaway View, preloaded audio and video devices, and in 2012 followed up with the creation of Catalist Digital, a new […]
The Freading ebook platform has only been live for about three months, but it is already showing a fairly rapid rate of growth, thanks in part to its low fees and the immediate access it gives libraries to a collection of about 20,000 ebooks on a multi-user, simultaneous basis.
Baker & Taylor is one of the oldest print book distributors, but it only recently entered the ebook market with its own fully fledged digital media platform, Axis 360. Since its launch in June 2011, the platform has gained some traction, with 107 libraries having signed contracts as of March 5 (38 sites are live).
The materials may evolve, and the design and use of physical space in the buildings may shift, but the central role of libraries doesn’t change. Libraries democratize access to information and entertainment, and provide the spaces for both individual pursuit and community engagement.
