CDL: E-Book Conference in Ohio (USA)

From: John P. Abbott <AbbottJP_at_appstate.edu>
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 16:21:34 -0500
To: colldv-l_at_usc.edu
From:  Carol Diedrichs <diedrichs.1_at_osu.edu>

The University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Blackwell’s Book Services, 
the OCLC Institute and OCLC’s Digital & Preservation Cooperative are pleased 
to co-sponsor

E-Book 2003: Print Collections, e-Books & Beyond

On May 8 & 9, 2003 in Dublin, Ohio, users, creators, and critics of e-books 
will gather to examine how e-books have impacted the library
and publishing environments.  At the Ann Arbor e-books conference 
in 2001, a number of speakers presented different visions of the
extent, timing and market-readiness for the proliferation of 
e-books.  In some cases, the market has spoken and in others the 
jury is still out.  What more do we now understand about the academic 
and popular market for e-books?

Speakers and panelists will address the following questions: 

What are the cost components of producing and managing e-books, 
including conversion, metadata, marketing, systems management,
library and end-user costs?  How do these costs compare with 
producing, distributing, accessing and archiving scholarly 
information in the traditional print mode?    

To what extent are faculty and students making use of e-books 
and how does this use compare to the experience of reading print?  What
do readers like about access to e-resources in general and 
what are barriers to e-books becoming a predominant technology 
for scholarly communication or recreational reading?  

A number of research libraries, university presses, and 
commercial content providers have converted significant portions 
of their legacy collections and backlists to make them accessible 
in electronic form.  How are these historic corpora being used 
by scholars and popular readers and is there a business model in 
place for these efforts to encourage further conversation?

Keynote Speaker:  Bill Hill, Microsoft Research.  A former 
journalist with The Scotsman, Bill Hill became involved in the 
emerging field of desk-top publishing in the mid-1980's, as one of 
the five founding employees of Aldus Corporation's European 
operations.  Shortly after Aldus was taken over by Adobe in 1994, Hill was 
approached by Microsoft, and was offered the job of running the 
company's typography group.  Since 1998, Hill has been working in 
Microsoft Research on the electronic books project, specializing in 
screen readability.  An avid reader, Bill Hill is an outspoken 
advocate of e-Books as a tool for increasing literacy throughout the world.

Registration information, costs, the conference agenda and contact 
information are available at 

http://www.oclc.org/institute/events/ebc.

For further information please contact Amy Lytle, Grants & Education 
Coordinator, Digital & Preservation Cooperative at 
(800) 848-5878 x5212 
or via e-mail at amy_lytle_at_oclc.org

*****************************************
Carol Pitts Diedrichs, Professor
Assistant Director for Technical Services and Collections
Editor, Library Collections, Acquisitions
        and Technical Services
The Ohio State University Libraries
1858 Neil Avenue Mall
Columbus, OH, 43210-1286
tel: 614-292-4738
fax: 614-292-7859
Internet: diedrichs.1_at_osu.
Received on Sat Mar 08 2003 - 03:09:38 EST