Digital Content: What’s Next, the third supplement on ebooks and digital content from American Libraries, is now available.
The supplement, launched May 22, examines both the big picture and the nitty-gritty of libraries and publishing, looking at how libraries are evolving in response to the digital revolution, from taking advantage of opportunities in content creation to advocating for equitable access to ebooks produced by the world’s largest book publishers—a topic that has been a priority for ALA.
"These issues and others are critically important for the future of libraries and demand heightened attention,” writes Alan S. Inouye, director of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy, in his guest editorial.
Contributing to the supplement are ALA President Maureen Sullivan, ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels, ALA President-Elect Barbara Stripling, and others.
In an article by Clifford Lynch, the executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information provides an overall assessment of the library ebook situation, concluding that “the reality has been appalling.” He focuses on the library’s roles in society to preserve the cultural heritage, provide accommodation for people with disabilities, and protect individual privacy—and how the ebook status quo gravely threatens libraries’ ability to fulfill these roles.
Digital Content: What’s Next also addresses the implications of new forms of ebooks; how libraries can better collaborate with publishers; the best way to negotiate nondisclosure clauses; and what ALA’s leadership efforts have entailed, among other issues.
ALA’s Digital Content and Libraries Working Group will provide a discussion on ebooks at the 2013 Annual Conference in Chicago on June 29. Peter Brantley and Robert Wolven—who contributed to Digital Content: What’s Next—will participate in the ALA Virtual Conference on July 24.