Comments on: Microsoft Woos Book Publishers http://acrlog.org/2006/11/13/microsoft-woos-book-publishers/ Blogging by and for academic and research librarians Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:32:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ACRLog » Blog Archive » The Big Book Has Missing Pages http://acrlog.org/2006/11/13/microsoft-woos-book-publishers/comment-page-1/#comment-23677 ACRLog » Blog Archive » The Big Book Has Missing Pages Sat, 09 Dec 2006 21:47:00 +0000 http://acrlblog.org/2006/11/13/microsoft-woos-book-publishers/#comment-23677 [...] Microsoft is avoiding the legal hot seat by scanning only public domain books from libraries and showing limited portions from books submitted by publishers. (Google includes snippets from books scanned in libraries - including limited selections from public domain government documents found in participating libraries; apparently they’re in too much of a hurry to worry about fine points.) [...] [...] Microsoft is avoiding the legal hot seat by scanning only public domain books from libraries and showing limited portions from books submitted by publishers. (Google includes snippets from books scanned in libraries – including limited selections from public domain government documents found in participating libraries; apparently they’re in too much of a hurry to worry about fine points.) [...]

]]> By: Barbara http://acrlog.org/2006/11/13/microsoft-woos-book-publishers/comment-page-1/#comment-22346 Barbara Sat, 18 Nov 2006 02:06:15 +0000 http://acrlblog.org/2006/11/13/microsoft-woos-book-publishers/#comment-22346 I can say from personal experience that some of us have to wonder from time to time if our joists can really support yet another row of double-stacked books on our too-stuffed shelves. An engineering background would come in handy - or maybe it would just make me too nervous. Seriously, what I wish we had better data on was exactly what the relationship is between exposure to a multitude of books (through libraries and, quite possibly, through online discovery tools) and sales. There was a study years ago (I was madly trying to find the reference while writing this post, but couldn't put my finger on it - and she calls herself a librarian...) that bookstores benefited from being located close to libraries. I am all for supporting the industry because books really matter - and, to paraphrase Willy Sutton, why support publishing houses? Because that's where the books come from. But to make online content awkward to use because we may not have a good mechanism for using it to generate direct revenue to support the enterprise is, to me, like having books in bookstores shrink-wrapped to discourage too much free browsing. Browsing can stimulate sales, and help people connect to books in a positive way. And from what I hear from students - the demographic everyone worries about - there's a strong desire to avoid staring at a computer screen any more than necessary and a lingering fondness for books that can be held. I can say from personal experience that some of us have to wonder from time to time if our joists can really support yet another row of double-stacked books on our too-stuffed shelves. An engineering background would come in handy – or maybe it would just make me too nervous.

Seriously, what I wish we had better data on was exactly what the relationship is between exposure to a multitude of books (through libraries and, quite possibly, through online discovery tools) and sales. There was a study years ago (I was madly trying to find the reference while writing this post, but couldn’t put my finger on it – and she calls herself a librarian…) that bookstores benefited from being located close to libraries. I am all for supporting the industry because books really matter – and, to paraphrase Willy Sutton, why support publishing houses? Because that’s where the books come from.

But to make online content awkward to use because we may not have a good mechanism for using it to generate direct revenue to support the enterprise is, to me, like having books in bookstores shrink-wrapped to discourage too much free browsing. Browsing can stimulate sales, and help people connect to books in a positive way. And from what I hear from students – the demographic everyone worries about – there’s a strong desire to avoid staring at a computer screen any more than necessary and a lingering fondness for books that can be held.

]]> By: Brant http://acrlog.org/2006/11/13/microsoft-woos-book-publishers/comment-page-1/#comment-22155 Brant Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:21:28 +0000 http://acrlblog.org/2006/11/13/microsoft-woos-book-publishers/#comment-22155 I work for a publishing company and can say that we're not looking at the short-term benefits of enabling online accessibility of books, but obviously do want it to relate to revenue in some form - by helping deliver the right books to the right people (so yes, it's all about relevancy, which is what libraries are all about). And we will continue to see libraries as an important part of ensuring this happens. The fact is, people do actually like to own their own print copies of books as well. Neither approach is mutually exclusive. I work for a publishing company and can say that we’re not looking at the short-term benefits of enabling online accessibility of books, but obviously do want it to relate to revenue in some form – by helping deliver the right books to the right people (so yes, it’s all about relevancy, which is what libraries are all about). And we will continue to see libraries as an important part of ensuring this happens. The fact is, people do actually like to own their own print copies of books as well. Neither approach is mutually exclusive.

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