Maybe Peter won't mind a debate breaking out on the otherwise relatively
quiet DLF listserv ;)  Martin's suggestion about a panel at the Fall Forum
makes a lot of sense, and Ricky Erway has written to us each about the
convergence of that idea with some information collecting she's doing.  I
like the idea of a discussion about different approaches to mass
digitization, and like even more the "stewardship" filter on that question.
It's definitely a good topic for a DLF crowd.

John


On 6/8/07 3:10 AM, "Martin Halbert" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> All of your points are well taken, John, and provide useful nuances to a
> complex discussion.  I didn't mean to start a debate on the announcement
> listserv, and apologize if any of my announcement posting came across as
> disparaging in any way.  Since this ALA program announcement generated some
> sidebar discussion, perhaps we should think about this as a topic for a
> panel at the Fall Forum in Philadelphia; it might be an interesting
> opportunity for friendly discussion.  I certainly agree that there is a lot
> of room for different approaches and opinions on mass digitization that are
> all valid and responsible.  Cheers, John.
> 
> Best regards,
>  
> Martin Halbert, PhD, MLIS
> 
> Director for Digital Programs and Systems
> Robert W. Woodruff Library
> 540 Asbury Circle
> Emory University
> Atlanta, GA 30322
> 
> (ph)    404-727-2204
> (fax)   404-727-0827
> (web)   http://martin.library.emory.edu
> (email) [log in to unmask]
> 
> The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.
> - Okakura Kakuzo
> 
> You can't choose the ways in which you'll be tested.
> - Robert J. Sawyer
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Wilkin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:17 PM
> To: Martin Halbert; [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: New Emory/Kirtas/Amazon Mass Digitization Announcement - at ALA
> June 24, 2007
> 
> Martin¹s posting seems to call for a little bit of friendly debate.  Martin
> describes the Emory effort, saying that Emory ³retain[s] control of the
> digitized versions of their collections (in contrast to the Google Print
> Project model).² Language being the squishy thing that it is, I¹m sure
> there¹s lots of room to mean something different that what I understood
> Martin to be saying.  Let¹s consider some things this might mean:
>  
> +  To ³retain control² might mean the library receives a digital copy and
> manages it.  If that¹s the case, then this is a right that every one of the
> Google libraries has.
> +  To ³retain control² might mean that the library receives a copy and may
> provide access *services* around the book, to the extent provided by the
> law. Again, this seems to be a right had by Google libraries, and a right we
> can find supported in each of the publicly available agreements.
> +  To ³retain control² might mean that the library receives a copy and can,
> say, give it to another library.  Again, this or a variation of it is what
> we see in California¹s contract with Google.  Michigan¹s contract permits
> something similar‹the ability to use the content in a collaborative venture
> with other libraries.
>  
> I don¹t mean to be obtuse here.  I think that what Martin *meant* is that
> Emory can give their content away to anyone at any time in any format‹that
> is, being able to do *anything* with the content is a good thing.  That¹s a
> good point and one, I should note, that David Bearman made eloquently in the
> December 2006 issue of D-Lib (review of Jeanneney's book).  Having digitized
> tens of thousands of volumes on our own at Michigan (and having put most of
> them in Amazon for sale as reprints), I¹d definitely agree that this level
> of control is nice to have.  I would say, however, that having the sort of
> control we do have by virtue of our deal with Google (and even seeing these
> same volumes available for download as PDFs in Google), is a very nice level
> of control to have retained.  In any event, we have always seen this as
> preserving our ³role as stewards of the intellectual assets represented by
> [our] collections.²
> 
> 
> 
> On 6/6/07 6:13 PM, "Martin Halbert" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> If you are attending the upcoming American Library Association meeting in
>> Washington D.C., please consider attending a panel discussion on Sunday,
>> June 24, from 10:30 AM - 12 Noon entitled, "Libraries as Digital
> Publishers:
>> A New Model for Scholarly Access to Information."  The panel will be this
>> year's program for the Digital Library Technologies Interest Group, and
> will
>> be held in the Grand Hyatt room Independence H-1.
>> 
>> In this new model for mass digitization and digital publishing, libraries
>> retain control of the digitized versions of their collections (in contrast
>> to the Google Print Project model).  This option allows libraries to
>> preserve their role as stewards of the intellectual assets represented by
>> their collections.
>> 
>> The DLTIG panel will include presenters from Emory University, Kirtas
>> Technologies, Amazon, and several other research libraries.  DLTIG
> business
>> meeting and elections will follow the panel presentation.
>> 
>> The following press release provides more information and context for this
>> event.  Hope to see you there!
>> 
>> --------------------- Press Release ---------------------------
>> 
>> EMORY PARTNERSHIP BREAKS NEW GROUND IN PRINT-ON-DEMAND BOOKS
>> 
>> Emory University is launching a new model for digital scholarship through
> a
>> partnership with Kirtas Technologies, Inc., a maker of cutting-edge
> digital
>> scanning technology. Once digitized, the books will be made available on
>> Amazon.com as well as other book distribution channels.
>> 
>> The partnership will enable Emory to apply automated scanning technology
> to
>> thousands of rare, out-of-print books in its research collections, making
> it
>> possible for scholars to browse the pages of these books on the Internet
> or
>> order bound, printed copies via a fast, affordable print-on-demand
> service.
>> 
>> "We believe that mass digitization and print-on-demand publishing is an
>> important new model for digital scholarship that is going to revolutionize
>> the management of academic materials," said Martin Halbert, director for
>> digital programs and systems at Emory's Robert W. Woodruff Library.
>> "Information will no longer be lost in the mists of time when books go out
>> of print. This is a way of opening up the past to the future."
>> 
>> Emory's Robert W. Woodruff Library is one of the premier research
> libraries
>> in the United States, with extensive holdings in the humanities, including
>> many rare and special collections. To increase accessibility to these
> aging
>> materials, and ensure their preservation, the university purchased a
> Kirtas
>> robotic book scanner, which can digitize as many as 50 books per day,
>> transforming the pages from each volume into an Adobe Portable Document
>> Format (PDF). The PDF files will be uploaded to a Web site where scholars
>> can access them. If a scholar wishes to order a bound, printed copy of a
>> digitized book, they can go to Amazon.com and order the book on line.
>> 
>> Emory will receive compensation from the sale of digitized copies,
> although
>> Halbert stressed that the print-on-demand feature is not intended to
>> generate a profit, but simply help the library recoup some of its costs in
>> making out-of-print materials available.
>> 
>> Materials in Emory's collections that are rare and unique to the history
> of
>> the university and the South are currently being digitized as part of a
>> pilot project. The university expects the print-on-demand feature for
> these
>> targeted materials to become available by the fall semester. Altogether,
> the
>> university houses more than 200,000 out-of-print volumes that were
> published
>> before 1923.
>> 
>> Emory was already on the leading edge of digital scholarship, as one of
> the
>> first universities to establish a major online peer-review journal. In the
>> two years of its existence, Emory's Internet journal Southern Spaces
>> (southernspaces.org) has grown into a dominant force in the Southern
> studies
>> field, attracting scholars from around the world to its forums and
>> interactive, multi-media features.
>> 
>> Visitors to Southern Spaces can actually see and hear Southern writers
>> reading from their works, in the actual settings of those works. A video
> of
>> Emory's Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, for example, shows
>> her reading "Elegy for the Native Guards" while standing amid the dunes of
>> Shipp Island, Mississippi, where the poem is set.
>> 
>> "Mass digitization and print-on-demand capabilities represent another
>> quantum leap forward for digital scholarship at Emory, opening up whole
> new
>> arenas of possibilities," Halbert said.
>> 
>> In addition to making out-of-print books more accessible, Emory librarians
>> envision the university's mass digitization and print-on-demand
> capabilities
>> expanding the range of more current scholarly materials.
>> 
>> "The Emory libraries plan to use the program to support an array of
>> scholarly publishing needs of our campus," said Rick Luce, vice provost
> for
>> libraries at Emory. "We will be providing new opportunities for our
> faculty
>> and students to disseminate their work, if they choose to do so, under the
>> Emory banner."
>> 
>> As chair of the American Librarian Association's Digital Library
>> Technologies Interest Group, Halbert will be leading a panel discussion at
>> the ALA annual meeting in Washington, D.C. on June 24, entitled,
> "Libraries
>> as Digital Publishers: A New Model for Scholarly Access to Information."
>> 
>> EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: A demonstration of this digital scanning process will
>> be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, June 7 at Woodruff Library. Please contact
>> Elaine Justice, 404-727-0643, [log in to unmask] for more
> information.
>> 
>> 
>> ###
>> 
>> Emory University is one of the nation's leading private research
>> universities and a member of the Association of American Universities.
> Emory
>> is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of
>> arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art
>> research facilities. Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20
> national
>> universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools,
>> the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate
>> Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most
>> comprehensive health care system. To access News@Emory RSS feeds, go to:
>> http://news.emory.edu/Releases/RSSFeeds1124313225.html.
>> 
>> 
>> --------------------- End Press Release -----------------------
>> 
>> Best regards,
>>  
>> Martin Halbert, PhD, MLIS
>> 
>> Director for Digital Programs and Systems
>> Robert W. Woodruff Library
>> 540 Asbury Circle
>> Emory University
>> Atlanta, GA 30322
>> 
>> (ph)    404-727-2204
>> (fax)   404-727-0827
>> (web)   http://martin.library.emory.edu
>> (email) [log in to unmask]
>> 
>> The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.
>> - Okakura Kakuzo
>> 
>> You can't choose the ways in which you'll be tested.
>> - Robert J. Sawyer