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Showing posts with label e-book Library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label e-book Library. Show all posts

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Online craze deals bodyblow to library culture



PATNA: The old libraries of the state capital, like Sinha Library and Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, which once upon a time were among the pride of Patna, have been thumbed down by city youth. With the advent of e Notes, GradeSaver, Cliff Notes and Wikipedia, the cult of thronging libraries and browsing through piles of books has been shown back door by them, as now not books but Internet is considered the best friends by theseNet-savvy youngsters.
Empty reading rooms and dusty tables and chairs are a common sight in most of the city libraries. It is sad to note that world-renowned Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, which has stood tall against time and tide since 1891 and is known for its rare collection of Persian and Arabic manuscripts around the globe, now attracts only a handful of readers.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

eBooks in libraries


By Michael Wiebrands 

Image via Digital Trends (source).
There has been a major shift in popular reading formats in the last three years from the paperback book to the eBook. Many people now buy from the Amazon Kindle store and the Apple iBook store. What many people may not know is that public and university libraries provide access to eBooks as well. Curtin Library itself has a catalogue of over 70,000 eBooks. As a result you no longer have to come in to the library to borrow books, you can now access books from the library wherever you are.
Academic libraries have been providing eBooks for about a decade, with them being traditionally designed for access from your computer. To truly enjoy the books though it pays to have a modern mobile device that you can read with on the couch or on public transport. There are two main types of mobile devices you can use to read books from libraries, these are tablets such as the Apple iPad and the Google Nexus 7, and dedicated eReaders such as the Kobo and Sony Reader.

Image by uncafelitoalasonce (source).
eReaders are dedicated book reading devices that use e-ink to display text. eReaders are great because they can go for over a month without a battery recharge. Unlike tablets they also work very well in direct sunlight so they’re great for when you want to travel. Unfortunately newer eReaders only work well with modern eBook formats and not so well with all library eBooks. Curtin Library has some specialist collections that you can use with eReaders. Look here for more information.
Tablets let you do much more than read books. With this added power though comes downsides with the need to recharge your device more often and reduced visibility in sunlight. On the other hand you can more easily read both modern book formats as well as more traditional formats. To find out more about how you an access Curtin Library eBooks on your tablet look here for more information.

Image by Jay L. Clendenin (source).
Over the last year I have been reading almost all my eBooks on my iPhone, although most of the books I read are fiction and easily available from eBook stores. It tends to be the device I have all the time and I tend to read lots on public transport. Library materials for phones still have a way to go but progress is being made. All the eBooks usable on eReaders (above) work on mobile phones. Also many of the general library eBooks work adequately on phones with improvements being made every day. If you’re interested in investigating library resources for your phone you might like to check out Curtin Library’s recently redeveloped mobile website at m.library.curtin.edu.au.
About the AuthorMichael Wiebrands is the manager of the Access Team in the Robertson Library. Find out more about him here

Thursday, September 6, 2012

E-books, e-library - for your reading pleasure


E-books, e-library - for your reading pleasure
E-books, e-library - for your reading pleasure (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)
An online library that also offers a pick-up and drop facility for books, getting to browse through various language newspapers at one site, or mastering the intricacies of math and science at the click of a mouse - welcome to the exciting world of e-books that beckons at the Delhi Book Fair. 

The Sep 1-9 Delhi Book Fair is focussing this year on e-books and e-publishing, and visitors at the fair can now purchase books online. 

The online library hookedonbook.com offersreaders thousands of titles to choose from and also provides pickup and drop of the books. 
Another site, readwhere.com, allows readers to browse through their choice of newspapers,comics and magazines and one can also purchase digitized books online. 
Both these e-sites are another innovative venture - meritnation.com - that provides online teaching material to students from Classes 1-12. The online tutorial has simply written texts, videos and cartoons to make the chapters easy, as well as weekly tests and a forum for asking questions. 
Vikram Khosla, the owner of hookedonbook.com, said he has 40,000 titles in his collection. 
"Subscribers can browse through the collection and list their 10 preferred titles. We will get their top favourite book delivered at their doorstep," Khosla told us. 
Once the person has finished reading, a call or a mail to the site will get a man to pick up the book. "While coming to pick up the book our man will bring along the next book in the subscribers' list," added Khosla. 
How will they ensure books remain in good condition? 
"Our books will be checked and the subscriber will be asked to sign on a slip of paper before the book is given to him." 
The rates begin from a starter plan of Rs.200 a month, for two books per month, and goes up to Rs.1,000 per month for unlimited number of books to be rented in a month. 
Khosla said he hit upon the idea when his daughters, who used to frequent libraries in the US, "started buying books after coming to India and realized there are very few libraries here". 
Those living outside Delhi can also subscribe. Their books will be couriered by Fedex, he added. 
Khosla is also planning to set up leisure reading rooms in south Delhi's Saket area soon, equipped "with bean bags, soft music, and light coffee - where people, including kids, can spend hours enjoying the reading experience". 
The online tutorials site, meritnation.com, is a venture by naukri
"We provide all study material online, including through visuals and diagrams," Priti Vajpayee, an official of the site, told us. 
Students can also post their queries online and an expert answers their query. 
"We also host live tests so that students are well prepared," said Vajpayee, adding the site gets "7,000 sign-ins a day". 
The e-tutorials cost Rs.2,200 for a year for two subjects, while a package of all the subjects costs Rs.4,500 a year. Tutorials for attempting the IIT-JEE engineering exams cost Rs.14,000 a year. 
Another interesting site - readwhere.com - offers readers a whole array of vernacular language newspapers, magazines and comics. 
It also allows booksellers to go for e-publishing of their books and has an online bookstore from which readers can order books online. 
"Ours is a free site where readers can access newspapers and magazines," said Arun Nair, an official for the managers of the site. 
"Our focus is getting various language newspapers. We sell e-books too," Nair told us. 
He said the site had developed a software that would prevent copying of paid content. "An e-book can be accessed by the buyer but not downloaded," said Nair. 
The buyer can save the e-book in an app memory, which could be accessed without any internet even while travelling.
Read More News at:  Times of India

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Fostering reading habits in youth


WEB LINKS

In an attempt to bring students closer to the world of books, INDIAreads Online Library launched ‘Literathon’, a nationwide initiative to foster greater interaction between students and the literary world.

Its inauguration recently took place at the Conference Hall, Delhi University in association with Delhi School of Economics. The event kick-started with launch of ‘Poor Little Rich Slum’, a book by Rashmi Bansal and international management consultant Dr Deepak Gandhi. 

There was also a book reading session by Member of Planning Commission Dr Syeda Hameed and Gunjan Veda who read from their new non fiction-  ‘Beautiful Country: Stories from Another India’.  

The event was a sincere endeavour to provide students and faculty with an opportunity to get acquainted with books and interact with renowned authors. Literathon comprises a host of activities including book launches, talks, interactive sessions, book readings, book bazaars, creative writing workshops and online and on-the-spot competitions.

Gunjan Veda, CEO of INDIAreads says, “The initiative has been conceptualised to make not just books but even their writers more accessible. Literathon is a celebration of books and we are hopeful that we spread this celebration in every state of India.”

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Endpaper: When the book is a book



PRADEEP SEBASTIAN
On the fortunes of the book: Jean-Claude Carriere (left) and Umberto Eco. Photos: S.S. Kumar and T. Singaravelou
The HinduOn the fortunes of the book: Jean-Claude Carriere (left) and Umberto Eco. Photos: S.S. Kumar and T. Singaravelou

Dips into a long, rambling conversation on the nature of the book by two artists: Umberto Eco and Jean Claude Carriere .
Umberto Eco and Jean Claude Carriere carried on a long, rambling conversation on the nature of the book over several sessions at their two homes. The conversation was ‘curated’ by editor Jean Philippe Tonnac and became a book. They called it This Is Not The End Of The Book; (and the semi colon is very much part of the title).
Disappointingly, there’s very little here, bibliographically speaking, about the printed book. And even less about the digital book, though the jacket blurb opens with how difficult it is these days to get away from discussions on whether the printed book will survive the digital revolution.
Unfamiliar with e-readers
The scriptwriter and the author surprisingly seem unfamiliar with newer e-readers; references to e-readers feel antiquated for a fairly recent conversation on the nature of the book: Eco speaks of how impractical it is to take the computer to read in bed. No one brings up the Kindle or the iPad.
We are living for the first time in an era, Eco says, where there are “so many beautiful, light-filled bookshops to wander in...” Their conversation turns interesting when they speak of book hunting in forgotten antiquarian bookshops, the times spent in old libraries, and the architectural beauty of the printed book. When they speak of the book in various cultures, the book as an idea, it is less interesting — and that’s most of the book. Though Carriere rambles more and Eco is more precise, Carriere is the more interesting for his wide ranging, multicultural references. Eco dully stays Euro-centric, referencing Greek-Latin and Spanish book history, while Carriere talks of Persian manuscripts, Sufi poets, the Mahabharata, the dance of Shiva and ancient African libraries (like the great ancient library in Timbuktu).
The argument of both these wonderful book artists is that “the book represents a sort of unsurpassable perfection in the realm of the imagination.” In a leisurely style, using personal stories, the two men meditate on the “good and bad fortunes of the book”. A perspective of the book that emerges is that it isn’t valuable in itself as an object because not all books are good or great or masterpieces. So why save what is mediocre or trashy? So, the book as an object isn’t meant to be sacred, and is not to be made a fetish. For Eco the book becomes a way of storing cultural information that one does not need to be burdened with; the book is ‘a fridge’.
Eco scores when he predicts that whatever forms the future book will take, it will have to look and feel like the traditional printed book. “The book is like the spoon. Once invented, it cannot be improved.” Electronic media formats are notoriously ephemeral, observe both writers. Eco recalls once hunting for an early version of Foucault’s Pendulum, which he had on floppy discs, but he couldn’t find them probably because they were thrown out. If it had been a typed manuscript, he points out, he would have found it somewhere in the house. After years of resisting having a film library of his own, Carriere gave in when the DVD came and began making his film collection and now the DVD is on its way out. But the tenacious incunabula, early printed books from the 15th century that both men collect, remain the same.
Passion for books
Eco admits that, though he speaks passionately of the printed book, if there was a fire in his house the first thing he would take with him is his 250 gigabyte hard drive. Both men are collectors of rare and expensive books; they reminisce about tracking down certain editions they were obsessed with and divulge their collecting criteria: Carriere’s is eclectic; one special focus is a collection of Persian books. Eco’s primary focus is collecting ancient, rare and antiquarian books on fakes.
Eco has 50,000 books, out of which 1,200 are very rare. Carriere has around 40,000 not counting his large collection of legends and fairly tales. The book he values most in his collection — the one he would grab if his library was on fire — is a 1490 volume with wonderful illustrations, plates and folded pages. Carriere would grab an “Alfred Jarry manuscript, as well as one by Andre Breton, and a book by Lewis Carroll that contains a letter he wrote.” Carriere shares an anecdote about a book scout he knew who rode in a moped carrying antiquarian treasures in a plastic bag on its handlebars!
The Gutenberg galaxy isn’t the only thing discussed; Eco and Carriere go further back and invoke parchments, scrolls, manuscripts. In ancient Rome, Eco tells us for instance, little shops sold scrolls. You dropped into one of them before heading into the library (or soon after) and asked for the latest bestseller. A week later something, say, by Virgil was copied just for you and kept ready to be picked up.
Eco also tells us that only now we know that old libraries — like those fabled monastic medieval libraries — did not hold thousands of volumes; perhaps around 400 to each library. The printed book, masterfully typeset, illustrated, bound and printed in its infancy, was expensive; 400 was a lot of copies to have in one collection.
Umberto is at his best when he speaks of books and his childhood. When he was five or six, his grandfather who had been a typographer and a bookbinder died and Eco discovered his bookshelves which held stacks of books waiting to be bound. They were all kinds of books from splendidly illustrated adventure books to science books to erotic books. They were in boxes in the cellar and Umberto would be sent down to collect coal to heat the house, and he would linger with these boxes.
Once, more recently, Eco was looking for a book in his library and his secretary suggested ordering the shelves but Eco protested; he wanted to roam and look and find it somewhere rather than go straight to it. Carriere speaks of sometimes just looking at his books. Not touching them or taking them out. Just standing and looking. And remembers coming upon Jean Luc Goddard more than once just staring at cans and cans of his film reels arranged on shelves!
Eco says keeping an old clock in your library wards off worms; the minute vibrations of the tick-tock of the clock through the night keeps the worms tucked into the woodwork. What would happen, asks Tonnac, to their books after their death? Eco hopes to leave it to libraries and not break it up; Carriere will let his wife and children and friends decide.

‘We provide e-books to about 200 universities’- Jagdish Arora

IN THIS AGE when knowledge and information is passing through technological changes, Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), which is an autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) under the University Grant Commission (UGC), aims in providing all the Universities with academic resources. Jagdish Arora, Director of INFLIBNET tells Goter Gangkak about the organisation, the initiative that would help avoid plagiarism and the importance of e-books.

EDITED EXCERPTS
What is INFLIBNET? How did it all start?INFLIBNET was started out as a major programme by UGC under Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in 1991. It became an autonomous body in 1996. Since then INFLIBNET has been providing resources to universities all over India in the form of e-books and database.
How many universities or Institution comes under it? Is Delhi University also a part of it?
INFLIBNET provides educational resources to about 200 universities apart from more than 100 other institutions. Delhi University also comes under INFLIBNET but it lacks the basic infrastructure and sometimes faces the problem of excessive downloading.
What about the universities and colleges in rural areas? What are the major challenges you face in such universities
Mostly private universities sign up for access but we do provide resources to colleges and institutions in rural areas. Rural universities usually lack proper infrastructure. We provide basic infrastructure like setting up computer systems and educating the students how to use them in such universities.
Book sources say that e-books kill authenticity of print. Why do you support
e-books?

I believe an e-book is equivalent to print. If you compare the procedure that is required in creating an e-book, it is the same as print in terms of editing, proof reading and spell-check. Also, an e-book can help people with disability to read better in terms of visual elements.
What has INFLIBNET got in store for academicians?
We are working on a programme which will help academicians keep a check on plagiarism in their thesis and research works.
More News at: http://www.tehelka.com/

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Now rent books from online library Hookedonbook.com; Can books work where DVD rentals failed?



Even as online rentals for products is yet to be validated as a sustainable business model at least in India (remember what happened to DVD rentals?), there are new startups trying their hand at it, albeit with a different proposition. One such firm is a Delhi-based startup, which has just launched an online library Hookedonbook.com with a paid subscription model, while also hedging the business with an online store for second hand books.

The site claims to have more than 10,000 books as of now and offers free delivery and pick-up for all its books. The site went live just last week, and as of now the service is only available in the Delhi-NCR region.
Hookedonbook Pvt Ltd was founded by Vikram Khosla in April 2012. Prior to Hookedonbook, Khosla was running an import-export business in the US, before shifting base back to India. He holds a B.E degree in Computer Sciences from Karnataka University and has designed the site himself. The company handles its own logistics and has a team size of 12 people, including delivery boys.
For renting the books, users have to first sign up for a monthly membership. As of now, there are three types of memberships available that include ‘individual plan’, ‘buddies plan’ and ‘family plan’ for Rs 500, Rs 750 and Rs 1,000, respectively. The members also have to pay a security deposit equivalent to twice the amount of the membership they have opted for (basically two months membership). So if you opt for the Rs 500 plan, the security deposit will be Rs 1,000, and so on. The individual plan allows its members to rent up to four books in a month, while for buddies plan it is eight per month and for family plan the number goes up to 60 books per month (two books a day).
As of now, the only available payment method is cash on delivery (COD), but the company will gradually enable online payments as well.
“The idea for Hookedonbook actually came from my daughter, who could not find good libraries (both online and offline) to rent books here, after returning from the US,” said Khosla.
Once a member, readers can select a list of books they want to read and the company delivers them one by one at their doorsteps. If by chance, the number one book in the readers list is not available, the company delivers the number two book in the list, while promising to make the number one book available to the reader in a fortnight.
The maximum delivery time for a book is 48 hours and readers can keep them for as long as their membership lasts. Some of the new titles we found on the site included Calico Joe (John Grisham), Fifty Shades of Grey (E. L. James), What Young India Wants (Chetan Bhagat) and In Different Form (Yuvraj Singh).