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Microsoft Launches Beta of Book Search Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 6, 2006 - 2:27pm.
Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft has launched a beta version of its book search engine, CNET News.com reported. The company eventually plans to incorporate the full texts of the public domain books it is indexing into its general search engine.
tags: Launches | Internet | Tech | Microsoft | Search | Google | Copyright | Libraries | Publishing | Books |

Univ. of Madrid Library Texts Added to Google Book-Scanning Project

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 26, 2006 - 1:39am.
London - Google announced on Tuesday that the University of Madrid has agreed to add titles from its Compultense library -- which houses 3 million works -- to Google's controversial project that aims to scan every book in print into a searchable index. While the New York Public Library, Harvard, Oxford, Stanford and the Universities of California and Michigan have also signed on to the project, Google is facing a copyright infringement suit from a number of publishers' and authors' associations, who claim Google doesn't have the right to use their works. Google has said it will only publish public domain works in their entirety in the index, and that only a few pages from works currently under copyright will be included. The agreement with the University of Madrid marks the first non-English-speaking library to be added to the project.
tags: Online Publishing | Tech | Europe | Search | Google | Libraries | Education | Publishing | Books | Spain |

Univ. of California to Digitize Libraries Via Google Book Search

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 9, 2006 - 1:14pm.
Mountain View, Calif. - Google announced on Wednesday that the University of California has joined its Google Book Search project, which will digitize books from libraries at UC and fellow partners including the University of Michigan, the New York Public Library, and Stanford, Harvard and Oxford universities.
tags: Online Publishing | College | Google | Libraries | Education | Publishing | Books | Reference | UC |

Disney Online to Offer Free Web Access in Public Libraries

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 23, 2006 - 12:40pm.
North Hollywood, Calif. - Disney Online announced on Friday that it will offer public libraries free subscriptions to its Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online educational Web service.
tags: Internet | Tech | Disney | Content Deals | Disney Online | ISP | Libraries | Education | Children |

New York Public Library Website Adds Free Movie Download Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 8, 2006 - 5:03pm.
New York - The New York Public Library has added the ability for its cardholders to download free movies through its eCollection online service, which is powered by technology from OverDrive and also offers music, audiobooks and e-books.
tags: Internet | Video | Law | Downloads | Tech | Movies | Libraries | NY Public Library | New York | OverDrive |

Bill Would Ban Minors' Access to Social Networks at Schools, Libraries

Authored by dmw on May 11, 2006 - 12:54pm.
San Francisco - House Republicans have introduced a bill that would prohibit minors' access to social networking sites at schools and libraries, CNET News.com reported. The Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), authored by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) and backed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, would ban students' access to sites that let them create personal profiles and that feature chat rooms and other forms of online communication that can subject them to sexual advances. "We've all heard stories of children on some of these social Web sites meeting up with dangerous predators," said Rep. Hastert. "This legislation adds another layer of protection." The director of the American Library Association's office of government relations, Lynne Bradley, told CNET News.com that librarians are "as protective of kids as any other protection in this whole field, but we do know there are legitimate uses (of social-networking sites)." Some schools already block access to sites like MySpace, Facebook and Friendster, prompting enterprising students to take elaborate steps like setting up online proxies to their home computers, which allow them to bypass filters and access the social networks from school computers.
tags: Internet | Law | Social Networking | Youth | Censorship | Bills | DOPA | Schools | Libraries |

Wash. Schools, Libraries Receive Questionable Antitrust Settlement CDs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 25, 2004 - 7:34am.
Seattle -- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently reported on the quantity and quality of CDs being distributed to area schools and libraries by the major record labels, as part of their antitrust settlement with the government over CD price-fixing. Several recipients of Washington state's 115,241 CDs, many of which were earmarked for public schools, reported receiving too many copies of the same CD, several marked with "Explicit Lyrics" labels, and dozens that were marked "For Promotional Use Only," or notched, indicating they could not be resold. Gary Larson, spokesman for state Attorney General Christine Gregoire, told the Seattle PI that the terms of the settlement called for titles to have been on a Billboard chart for at least 26 weeks and to have appeared in the top half of the chart, but added that national settlement administrators discovered mistakes when they calculated the distribution for the CDs. "We didn't feel they were up to snuff to be added to our collection," King County Regional Library spokeswoman Julie Wallace said of the 7,700 CDs they received, which the library decided instead to donate to a fund-raising foundation to sell. The Puget Sound Educational Service District received 1,355 copies of Whitney Houston singing "The Star-Spangled Banner; among its CDs, the Seattle Public Library received 48 copies of "Scary Sounds for Halloween" from Martha Stewart and 84 copies of an album by rhythm-and-blues artist Samantha Mumba. In addition to the library and school CD handouts, labels also paid out $13 checks to thousands of consumers who purchased CDs during the price-fixing period as part of the settlement.
tags: Libraries | Wash. Schools | Questionable | Antitrust Settlement CDs |