In Brief: Library ebooks are currently read in different, unconnected reading platforms. Because all library ebook vendors use the same Adobe ADEPT system to circulate ebooks, they could be delivered to a single aggregated reading app. This article discusses social reading and why libraries should look at the technology, and details the Adobe ADEPT DRM […]

Libraries created the present crisis in scholarly publishing, and we are creating a similar crisis now with our approach to ebooks. We created the crisis in scholarly publishing by ceding control of an intrinsic library function, abstracting and indexing, a decision with inevitable consequences. Consequences like the present need to boycott Elsevier for its predatory […]

In the Library with the Lead Pipe welcomes guest author Hugh McGuire, the founder of LibriVox.org, the world’s most prolific publisher of audiobooks (all read by volunteers); Iambik Audio, a commercial audiobook publisher built on a model similar to LibriVox; and PressBooks, a simple digital book-production tool. Hugh served on the Board (2002-2010) of the […]