Me & the book at Computers in Libraries - Monday, Mar. 21, 5 p.m.

On Monday March 21 at 5 p.m., I'll be in the Neal-Schuman booth at the Computers In Libraries Conference (CIL) talking to people about The Information and Knowledge Professional's Career Handbook: Define and Create Your Success.  Neal-Schuman is the U.S. distributor of the book. If you are at CIL, please stop by to say "hi" and to see this work that was a major effort for me in 2010.  If you are interested in purchasing the book, Neal-Schuman will be offering a 20% discount to those that purchase the book at CIL. If you order the book at CIL, but have it shipped to you, Neal-Schuman will give you a 10% discount.

I have had several people comment that the book would be useful to anyone, not just information and knowledge professionals.  I agree!  With that in mind, I would suggest that you consider ordering a copy for your library.  You and your staff would likely benefit from the book, as well as your patrons.  And having the book in the library makes it more affordable for everyone.

The book remains available through other booksellers including Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble (online), and Woodhead Publishing (Chandos).

Video: Copyright on Campus

The Copyright Clearance Center has released this video (6.5 min.) to help educate people on the use of copyrighted materials on a college campus in the U.S. The video is available for non-commercial use. You can download versions of it from the CCC web site.  The video provides a lot of information in a short period of time.  It is a good resources for making people aware of the issues and should be followed up with more information.

Press release: i2S to acquire a majority interest in Kirtas Technologies

I've been waiting Kirtas for a number of years and have interacted with some of its employees, so this announcement is of personal interest to me.  There is also a newspaper story about the deal from the Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle, which offers some additional details. 

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Paris, 3 March 2011


i2S to acquire a majority interest in KIRTAS TECHNOLOGIES

i2S to take a position in the United States, consolidating its leadership in the document scanning market.

i2S announces that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire a majority interest in Kirtas Technologies Inc, based in Rochester, New York, USA. The world leader in robotic bound-document digitization systems, Kirtas will complement the i2s Scanning unit’s product line, its distribution network, its customer profile and its strong presence in the US market.

The alignment with Kirtas reinforces the i2S Scanning unit
By aligning products and services with Kirtas, both companies will benefit from immediate synergies:

• The combined resources of the two companies makes them a leading player in the worldwide scanning market.
• Increased market coverage through the combined distribution networks, geographical zones, market knowledge and customer profiles.
• Increased depth and breadth of current and future scanning systems and software.

Future synergies in the high-potential market for content digitization

• With this strategic investment in Kirtas, i2S acquires a position in the U.S. which will enable it to reinforce its approach to American libraries and forge new partnerships with digital content and Internet players.
• The United States was the source of the major paradigm shifts in digital and Internet history and i2S will take advantage of advances by Kirtas and POLINUM, such as KirtasBooks.com, as part of its strategy to become a key player in the emerging market of digital asset development. i2S’ third-generation digital library Divvalib, launched in October 2010 by Amanager, could be integrated into KirtasBooks.com, the site created in 2009 to scan and circulate books in e-Pub format and provide on-demand printing. KirtasBooks.com has distribution agreements with a number of university libraries, making more than one million titles available via their Digitize-on-Demand model.
• Republishing relationships with institutions such as Boston Public Library and with Barnes & Noble.

Kirtas: the world leader in robotic bound-document scanning systems

With an installed base of over 200 units in 35 countries, Kirtas represents nearly 70% of the world market for robotic scanners. In 2010, Kirtas sold over 40 units of its robotic digitization systems.

Kirtas has been at the forefront of the digital revolution and has gained experience managing several major scanning projects: beginning in 2006 the company was selected by Microsoft for the "Live Book Search" project, whose goal is to scan works from U.S. public and university libraries, including Yale and Cornell Universities, in strict compliance with copyright laws. Kirtas carried out the digitization of 150,000 books between 2006 and 2008.

i2S: world leader in scanners for bound documents
i2S is the world's leading producer of scanners for bound documents and large formats. The group relies on an indirect network of 40 distributors throughout the world, with 1,600 scanners installed in 80 countries. The Group addresses three market segments: Cultural Heritage, Self Service and international service provision (Global Services).
Cultural Heritage covers cultural and administrative assets and heritage collections (libraries, archives, museums, foundations, publishers).


Self Service corresponds to work environments, library reading rooms, school and university documentation centers, print centers, government and business.


Global Services - international players who project-manage large-scale scanning programs related to their original business, including large equipment manufacturers, IT service providers and telecom operators.


With the establishment in late 2009 of the public-private R&D consortium POLINUM* (*Operational Platform for Digital Books) dedicated to the promotion and interoperability of digital content, i2S, as the project coordinator, positioned itself as a leader in accessing information in the growing digital-knowledge economy. 

The group's parallel strategy is to acquire the technological building blocks that will complete its range of scanners and image processing software. This was the goal of the 2009 acquisition of the Amanager company, which specializes in online multimedia content production applications.


Contacts
Kirtas Technologies, Inc : Roger O’Brien, CEO roger@kirtas.com; Mike Maxwell mmaxwell@kirtas.com
i2S Group: Jean-Pierre GERAULT – Chairman of the Board : jp.gerault@i2s.fr
Agnès B. MAULEON – Marketing & Communications Manager: a.mauleon@i2s.fr

i2S Inc: Etienne LAMAIRESSE – CEO: e.lamairesse@i2s.fr

Google Art Project

One of my students found this program and it is impressive.  Imagine being able to walk through an art museum without physically being there?  That is what Google allows you to do.  Google used its street view technology to make this happen.  While street view isn't the easiest thing to use, it does give you a capability not found elsewhere.  Go ahead...try it out!

Since reading my student's blog post, Kenneth Crews has also blogged about the Google Art Project from a copyright perspective.  My student has also followed up with a blog post about copyright and terms of use in regards to the program. 

While I'm thrilled that Google has done this, I do wonder about its motives.  Is this just a cool use of street view? Is this an experiment (project) or something that Google will truly stick with (program)?  Is Google purposefully expanding its domain/reach?  And...what is the catch?  mmm....

Wayback Wednesday:The IST 677 blog

Looking back through my blog posts, I can see that I've mentioned my SU class - IST 677: Creating, Managing and Preserving Digital Assets - a few times.  Often it has been to tell you that my students are blogging about digitization program (example, example). 

In past semesters, every blog post was about a different digitization program.  This semester, each student is selecting a program and then blogging four times about that program.  At the end of the semester, the student will then write a wiki page about the program.Specifically:

• Post #1 – Introduce the program. What is the focus of the program? What types of materials have been digitized? Who is the audience for the program? How was it funded (if known)? You may include comments on the site itself and its usefulness. 
• Post #2 – Copyright concerns. Every digitization program must consider copyright. From what you can discern, how has copyright affected the selection criteria for this program? What questions do you have about its treatment of copyright? Has the program adequately communicated copyright and “terms of use” to its users? What should it be doing differently?
• Post #3 – Metadata and search. Discuss how the program has described its digital assets. Do the descriptions and metadata help or hinder the user? Is the search capability easy to understand and use? What concerns or recommendations do you have?
• Post #4 – Digital preservation. Most digitization programs do not consider digital preservation (or long-term access) until a disaster occurs. From the information available, is the program involved in any digital preservation? What digital preservation concerns do you have about this site? What  recommendations do you have in terms of digital preservation?
• Wiki Contribution: You will take the information from the four blog posts, as well as any additional information you believe is relevant, and edit it into one wiki page for the Digital Libraries Wiki. The amount of content on the page will be whatever you deem appropriate.

I hope you'll take time to look at the blog, read what the students are saying, and leave comments. I'm sure they would appreciate reading your thoughts.

The current IST 677 blog is not where students have always blogged for this class.  Those sites include:

• IST 677, Fall 2009
• IST677 Blog, Spring 2009
• IST677 Blog: 2006 – 2008

Want to dig into the archives yourself?  Use the "popular labels" on the right side of the blog OR use your favorite Internet search engine to search this site (e.g, site:hurstassociates.blogspot.com plus whatever terms are relevant to you).