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Thursday, May 05, 2005

OpenReader seeks Librarian participation

Librarians are invited to participate in the Open Reader movement
headed up by Jon Noring, a veteran ebook standards setter. The proprietary
formats of both ebook devices and software adds to the tremendous challenge
of ebooks for libraries and consumers.

1 comment:

David Rothman said...

Thank you, Lori. We really mean it. Here's a chance for the library world to empower itself, through less reliance on the whims of vendors. I hope you and others will spread the word that we'll cherish the participation of librarians--both the techies and the others. Jon Noring, the main OpenReader guy, is super-keen on such issues as accessibility and fair use. Isn't that what libraries and librarians should care about? The irony is that by being so controlling, certain players in the e-book industry are hurting themselves. In sales e-books have met just a fraction of their expectations. Jon and I and others are doing our best to educate the industry that proprietary, heavily DRMed formats are BAD business. The more interest we get in OpenReader from librarians, the more effective we can be in our educational campaign. Ideally ALA can endorse OpenReader and participate in its evolution. Thanks again! - David Rothman, dr@teleread.org / 703-370-6540