The Google Book project is now in the process of digitizing over 10 million volumes of the most distinctive collections from twelve midwestern research universities. The twelve universities form the consortium Committee on Institutional Coooperation (CIC).
The universities taking advantage of Google's digitization project will now have increased access to a vast array of materials. Both public domain and copyrighted materials will be searchable. Copyrighted materails will follow copyright law and yield basic information on the item. Public domain materials can be viewed or downloaded for printing. Digitization of the collections will also provide more in-depth access to historically significant print resources - once feared to be lost.
The CIC is going to create a shared repository to collectively archive and manage the public domain materials of the twelve libraries. The shared repository gives faculty and students easy access to a diverse online library whereas information was previously housed in separate locations and could only be accessed through online catalogs and inter-library loans.
The digitization project benefits researchers as they will have greater access to more materials shared between the CIC libraries. Reseachers will be able to customize their searches and retrieve information at a faster rate rather than waiting for print materials to become available.
Indiana University
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/5780.html
NetLibrary Now Part of the EBSCO Publishing Family of Products
NetLibrary launched the eBook category and has grown to become the main eContent provider of numerous libraries inluding academic, medical, corporate, community colleges, etc. NetLibrary supports the most content from leading publishers and the widest range of media type.
Librarians across the country have requested that EBSCO, a leading research platform with the greatest accessibility and usability, incorporate the use of eBooks. eBooks have grown in popularity for research for many reasons.
Now, EBSCO and NetLibrary are joining together to create one-stop researching on EBSCO. I cannot help but think how valuable this will be to researchers. Researchers will be able to access greater resources using one site versus searching several sites.
NetLibrary
http://company.netlibrary.com/aboutus.aspx
I'm glad EBSCO and NetLibrary are joining. I know finding books through the UNT library site and then finding out I would have to get them from Denton was discouraging when I wanted them on my computer screen right then!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to read about changes taking place in libraries. Netlibrary is a cool site when wanting to see a book. Netlibrary has a nice layout when going through a book.
ReplyDeleteGoogle is doing a good thing digitizing all of that information, but what happens if they decide not to make their work available for free? Will libraries have to pay huge subscription costs?
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense for Netlibrary and EBSCO to join up. One is known for their ebooks and the other a great database looking to expand to ebooks.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great merger between Netlibrary and EBSCO. I am glad to see these companies are being proactive to find solutions to get e-content to the users on a broader scale.
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