Tag archive: Library

As pointed out by Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Brad Stone on Google+ earlier today, Barnes & Noble will not stock physical copies of books released by Amazon's publishing division. Designed to keep Amazon out of the brick and mortar locations across the United States, the company is taking this position in response to Amazon's new strategy of selling physical and digital copies of specific releases exclusively through the… Read More

Google Music users, you can breathe a slight sigh of relief, but don't get too excited. Google has finally enabled a way for you to retrieve the music you upload to its new music storage locker service. The announcement was made on the official Google+ page for Android and verified by a new help article on the Android Market Web site.  Using the Windows or Mac desktop PC client, you can now click one of two options. You can… Read More

Google has been working with public libraries recently in order to circulate its Chromebook concept. At least three libraries have been working towards lending out Chromebooks to patrons for a period of time. Most notably, the Palo Alto, California Library will begin making Chromebooks available for loan in January; patrons will be able to check-out the Google devices for up to one week. The pilot project is a first-of-its-kind, though the… Read More

Amazon took another step toward pulling its hardware and digital content into an increasingly tight package on Wednesday when it announced the launch of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. As its name suggests, the new service, which allows users to borrow one digital book per month, is open to anyone with a Kindle device, such as its popular Kindle e-reader, or its soon-to-be-released Kindle Fire tablet. Users must also be a member of the… Read More

In more bad news for print books, a library in Wisconsin has begun a program to lend out iPads. The program is the first of its kind in the country and will allow patrons to check out first generation Apple tablets, each loaded with 1,000 e-book titles, 10 audio books and various free apps. With the Kindle Library Lending feature, Amazon has already made it possible for those with Kindle readers to borrow e-books at thousands of libraries across… Read More

While the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Sony Reader have offered the ability to check out library books in a digital format for a while, Amazon has been slow to roll out support for the function. Announced in April, Amazon partnered with a company called OverDrive that works with over 13,000 public libraries in providing e-book support. Since that announcement, Amazon has been quiet about the development of the relationship as well as the… Read More

Recently, we learned that Netflix will soon completely split up its Instant Streaming and DVD-by-mail services. Netflix will continue to be the home for Instant Streaming and a new company called Qwikster, run by the same guys who have been running Netflix DVD rentals for a decade, will handle DVD-by-mail subscriptions. If you're like us, you're wondering what the heck is going on over at Netflix headquarters. While we'll be… Read More

Amazon announced today the Kindle Library Lending feature, which will enable Kindle owners to borrow Kindle e-books from 11,000 libraries across the country. The service will be available for “all generations of Kindle device and free Kindle reading apps,” the company said today in a press release. The service lets users check out (i.e. download) and read Kindle books from participating libraries, free of charge. Users will also be… Read More

The British Library has put two million pages from 49 different regional and national newspapers from the 19th and 20th century online. So now you can go there and read contemporary accounts of the Battle of Waterloo, and much, much more. Publications covered include more than newspapers, but also journals like the Illustrated Police News. The service was created jointly by the British Library, the Joint Information Systems Committee and… Read More

The world’s oldest Bible, the Codex Sinaiticus, was written in Greek more than 1,600 years ago. It’s always been a controversial book, containing pieces not in the “standard” Bible, like the Epistle of Barnabas and definitely not containing the resurrection of Jesus. It was discovered in 1844 in St. Catherine’s Monastery close to Mt. Sinai, and parts of it are still there. The other remaining fragments are in… Read More

Do you have an interest in old, obscure books? Then the British Library wants your attention. Over the next few years they’re going to digitize more than 100,000 volumes from their collection, focusing on books from the 19th century, many of which have been out of print for decades.   "By digitizing the whole collection, we give access to the books without the filter of later judgments, whether based on taste or on the… Read More