Internet Librarian 2011—Considering the Possibilities
by Cindy Shamel
Posted On October 24, 2011 @ Information Today, Inc.
The advent of ebooks, the role of play in keeping current and continuous learning, and the adoption of new strategies for online searching challenged participants at Internet Librarian 2011, held Oct. 17-19, 2011, in Monterey, Calif. More than 1,050 information professionals gathered to tackle these topics among others. Some 200 speakers shared insights, ideas, and experiences to help participants consider the possibilities.
Internet Librarian 2011 program planners learned from a previous conference that ebooks are a very hot topic that requires significant time and attention. Thus, 27 speakers in 8 full hours of session-time dedicated themselves to the issues surrounding licensing, portability, ownership, privacy, and more. The opening session on this topic clearly outlined the issues. Bobbi Newman, learning consultant, and Sara Houghton, assistant director at San Rafael Public Library, agreed that licensing demands from distributors and content providers such as Overdrive and Amazon conflict with traditional library values. Restrictions stemming largely from digital rights management (DRM) inhibit circulation and prohibit portability between reading devices.
NMSL says: This is a very interesting article. It raises many of the issues and questions we are dealing with today. If you have landed here and read this far, please condsider reading the entire article here.
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