Library ebooks: Licensing and ownership

by Lucy E. Saxon

American libraries are currently facing an important challenge: to implement a system of lending ebooks that is simple for readers in the short term, in which libraries maintain enough control over their collections to serve our readers and institutions well in the long term. Many electronic library materials (including many ebooks) [...]

Elsevier Blinks Under Pressure from Mathematicians

By Lucy E. Saxon

Mathematician Timothy Gowers is the hero of the hour as Elsevier has officially dropped its support for Research Works Act (RWA), which was promptly declared dead by its congressional sponsors.  The RWA sought to end mandated public access to publicly funded research in the United States.  Who is Elsevier, and why [...]

Jstor Offers Public Access to Post-Copyright Journal Content

As a Swarthmore College Library user, it is probable that Jstor is your favorite source of full-text, scholarly articles.  Jstor is an amazing resource, but it is expensive, and you can only access its content as a member of the Swarthmore College Community.  So if you are a senior, and you have not yet applied [...]

Author’s Guild Sues Hathi Trust Over Digitization

By Lucy E. Saxon, Reference and Instruction Intern

The application of copyright law in the digital environment continues to engender conflict, this month between the Authors Guild and the Hathi Trust. The plaintiffs are the Authors’ Guild (a major advocacy group for American authors—they also brought the well known case against Google Books), along with [...]