Some Web Sessions of Possible Interest

Thanks to Chris Freeland from the Internet Archive for sending an alert about a fun upcoming virtual event:

NEXT WEEK: Public Domain Day—A Celebration of Sound
On January 20, the Internet Archive, Creative Commons and many other leaders from the Open world will honor the treasure trove of works published in 1926 that entered the public domain in 2022.

Featuring a keynote from Senator Ron Wyden, and a host of musical acts, dancers, historians, librarians, academics, activists and other leaders from the Open world, the event will explore the rich historical context of recorded sound from its earliest days, including early jazz and blues, classical, and spoken word recordings reflecting important political and social issues of the era.

January 20 @ 1pm PT / 4pm ET - Register now for the virtual event.

Of course, many important books will enter public domain in 2022, as noted on Wikipedia. Librarians can hope for high quality and possibly even free EPUB (or other formats, though of course is one important standard) to build deep and enjoyable collections.

On January 19th. 1 pm Eastern Time, COSLA, DPLA, and ReadersFirst will present “Collaborating for Access: Licensing Models that Benefit Readers, Libraries, and Publishers.” We’ll bring together library leaders and publishers to talk about the current ebook landscape and discuss licensing models that work for libraries, publishers, and readers and help further equitable access to ebooks. The panel will include the following:

Mallori Bontrager, Digital Services Manager, Independent Publishers Group
Charles A. Sherrill, Tennessee State Librarian and Archivist
Adam Silverman, Senior Director, Digital Business Development, HarperCollins Publishers
Kelvin Watson, Executive Director, Las Vegas – Clark County Library District, DPLA board member

The session will be moderated by your humble correspondent.

RSVP here: bit.ly/dpla-events

This event is apparently not universally welcomed by all members of the library community. Some have expressed dismay with, first, the emphasis on licenses when they would prefer advocacy for library ownership of digital books, and second, that time is being given to a company involved with litigation with a library. As should be clear from any thing Kelvin Watson or I have ever said on the topic, we aren’t stooges for the publishers. We are also not of the “Publishers: Threat or Enemy” mindset. When ownership rather than licensing becomes more of an option, let’s see where we are then. In the meantime, publishers and libraries have an intersection of interests, especially in a time when readership (if not among avid readers) is in decline. Hearing from the publishers won’t hurt. Let’s see what they have to say about their challenges and opportunities. Join to ask your questions!