eTextbooks for UVic Students – 2021-2022

December 23, 2021

In order to support student success and equitable access to information, UVic Libraries has started a website to showcase and inform students about zero-cost textbook options. The site identifies titles assigned as textbooks and course materials which are available as eBooks in the library collection. It lists the title of the book, the course(s) and section(s) and last name of instructor. The project started by looking at the titles listed in the Bookstore’s textbook catalogue and noticed that the library had many of the titles in our collections.  In the next phase, we plan to add the e-titles added to the Reserves course lists. As of December 22, 2021, there were 380 titles listed!

Statutory Review of the Copyright Act – Michael Geist’s Comments

For those following the 2018 review of the Canadian Copyright Act.

Here is Michael Geist’s commentary so far: Making Sense of the Spending

and part two: The Declining Value of the Access Copyright License

and part three: Exploring the Impact of Site Licensing at Canadian Universities

 

Project Gutenberg blocks German visitors

Via Plagiarism Today, and via techdirt March 07, 2018

Project Gutenberg, the not-for-profit host of public domain books online, is tired of getting sued by German copyright-holders, because the German public domain guidelines do not align with the U.S. copyright law. They have blocked German IP adresses as a simple solution. This is one example of how complex copyright can become when we deal with the international nature of online distribution, and why some trade negotiations are including discussion around harmonizing some copyright terms.

The Video Book

Jeff Jarvis | BuzzMachine

HarperCollins, my publisher for What Would Google Do?, just released a video version of the book, a 23-minute synopsis delivered by me, sans script, on camera…

The point of this is that the publisher is trying to find new ways to release books and the ideas in them. This is their first video book; if it works, they say in the Journal they &ll make another half-dozen. The definition of works? Who knows?

Here a link to Youtube snippet?