Comments for CULTech Blog http://cultech.library.cornell.edu \'kül-tek\ Discussing Library IT at Cornell Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:19:23 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 Comment on Mobile Devices and CUL by Dr. Lewis http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/2009/04/mobile-devices-and-cul/comment-page-1/#comment-68 Dr. Lewis Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:19:23 +0000 http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/?p=107#comment-68 Yes you are right, the m-libraries conference is a giant waiting to leap/ Mark my words, this concept will be huge. Yes you are right, the m-libraries conference is a giant waiting to leap/ Mark my words, this concept will be huge.

]]> Comment on e-Textbooks and the Amazon Kindle by Andrew H. http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/2009/05/e-textbooks-and-the-amazon-kindle/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Andrew H. Wed, 06 May 2009 16:03:01 +0000 http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/?p=134#comment-27 The biggest problem is with eTextbooks getting the books on the Kindles. The professors can scan their books and attach DRM to these PDFs so they will not be available for viewing after the semester ends. I think this will be the best solution for students and teachers. However, publishers are cut out of the loop, so there is going to be some legal resistance there. Realistically, I don't see Cornell adopting Kindles for at least a year. A lot of publishers do not have agreements with Amazon, so it would be difficult to have them available in the immediate future. We will have classes where half of the books are available electronically and the other half not, which defeats the purpose of having a kindle since one of its goals is to be a cost efficient device. Education is a lucrative and stable business. The end costs of educational material is not going down, so we might as well wait and let amazon iron out all the little problems with the current generation of kindles (no color, poor diagram display, lack of advanced symbol support) and give the professors a couple of years to upload all of their material online. The biggest problem is with eTextbooks getting the books on the Kindles.

The professors can scan their books and attach DRM to these PDFs so they will not be available for viewing after the semester ends. I think this will be the best solution for students and teachers. However, publishers are cut out of the loop, so there is going to be some legal resistance there.

Realistically, I don’t see Cornell adopting Kindles for at least a year. A lot of publishers do not have agreements with Amazon, so it would be difficult to have them available in the immediate future. We will have classes where half of the books are available electronically and the other half not, which defeats the purpose of having a kindle since one of its goals is to be a cost efficient device.

Education is a lucrative and stable business. The end costs of educational material is not going down, so we might as well wait and let amazon iron out all the little problems with the current generation of kindles (no color, poor diagram display, lack of advanced symbol support) and give the professors a couple of years to upload all of their material online.

]]> Comment on Mobile Devices and CUL by Dean http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/2009/04/mobile-devices-and-cul/comment-page-1/#comment-25 Dean Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:37:47 +0000 http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/?p=107#comment-25 John - I was aware of the Worldcat mobile interface, but I'm not sure if it can be used for Worldcat Local, which will be our new catalog service. Definitely something we should find out. I appreciate the pointers - I wasn't aware of either the paper or the blog, and I'll look into both. Also in the "mobiles in libraries" space, there is a very interesting looking conference coming up in June, the m-libraries conference at the University of BC in Vancouver (<a href="http://m-libraries2009.ubc.ca/" rel="nofollow">http://m-libraries2009.ubc.ca/</a>). Lorcan Dempsey will be giving a keynote. Thanks very much for your comments! John – I was aware of the Worldcat mobile interface, but I’m not sure if it can be used for Worldcat Local, which will be our new catalog service. Definitely something we should find out. I appreciate the pointers – I wasn’t aware of either the paper or the blog, and I’ll look into both. Also in the “mobiles in libraries” space, there is a very interesting looking conference coming up in June, the m-libraries conference at the University of BC in Vancouver (http://m-libraries2009.ubc.ca/). Lorcan Dempsey will be giving a keynote.

Thanks very much for your comments!

]]> Comment on Mobile Devices and CUL by John Fereira http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/2009/04/mobile-devices-and-cul/comment-page-1/#comment-24 John Fereira Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:56:28 +0000 http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/?p=107#comment-24 A few additions... WorldCat has a mobile interface to their system described here: http://www.worldcat.org/mobile/default.jsp Since we'll be moving to Worldcat pretty soon it might be a good idea to evaluate it, write up some usage docummentation and announce it when we officially switch to Worldcat. If you haven't seen it, there is an excellent paper called "On the Move with the Mobile Web: Libraries and Mobile Technologies" available here: http://eprints.rclis.org/15024/ It's easily the most comprehensive article I've seen on the use of mobile devices in libraries. It's got lots of current usage statistics and dozens of references. I have also been following http://www.mobile-libraries.blogspot.com as it contains some good posts on the use of mobile technologies in libraries. A few additions…

WorldCat has a mobile interface to their system described here: http://www.worldcat.org/mobile/default.jsp

Since we’ll be moving to Worldcat pretty soon it might be a good idea to evaluate it, write up some usage docummentation and announce it when we officially switch to Worldcat.

If you haven’t seen it, there is an excellent paper called “On the Move with the Mobile Web: Libraries and Mobile Technologies” available here: http://eprints.rclis.org/15024/

It’s easily the most comprehensive article I’ve seen on the use of mobile devices in libraries. It’s got lots of current usage statistics and dozens of references.

I have also been following http://www.mobile-libraries.blogspot.com as it contains some good posts on the use of mobile technologies in libraries.

]]> Comment on Welcome to CULTech! by Jacie Spoon http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/2009/03/welcome-to-cultech/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Jacie Spoon Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:05:44 +0000 http://cultech.library.cornell.edu/?p=16#comment-2 Great idea, thank you. As a solo on the fringes I have trouble keeping up on occasion. A blog will be a real help. The opportunity to read and discuss new technology and bright ideas. Great idea, thank you. As a solo on the fringes I have trouble keeping up on occasion. A blog will be a real help. The opportunity to read and discuss new technology and bright ideas.

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