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Out of Print Books Get New Life via Amazon and Participating Libraries

Posted on Sunday, June 24th, 2007, at 8:31 am, and filed under Disruption in Libraries. Note: Hypertext links in the printed form of this document are marked with a superscript "L" plus a number. The number corresponds to the list of web addresses at the bottom of the document.

Why settle for mere digital copies of books (a la the Google Book Search project and the Open Content Alliance) when you can have an edition printed, bound and sent to you in the mail? That’s the twist behind a recent partnership announced by Amazon.com, Kirtas Technologies, Emory University, University of Maine, Toronto Public Library, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

More information via C|Net News, The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required), and Inside Higher Ed. I’m putting this in the “Disruption in Libraries” category because it is an example of using a technical innovation to serve an un-served or under-served population — not only the digitization of books but also the ability to deliver a physical reproduction to the user. That aspect makes this program distinct from the others, and it is the first time that we’ve seen a glimpse of a reasonable business model: costs recovered and profits made that go back into the digitization program for new books. Since this is a non-exclusive agreement that puts the libraries in control, the texts can be made available freely online or available at a nominal cost to the user in a physical form.

[Update 20070704T0904 : Ack! I linked to the wrong Chronicle of Higher Ed article. Fixed now -- thanks Jodi.]

(This post was updated on 04-Jul-2007.)

4 Comments

  1. Candice DeStefano | April 4, 2008 at 3:27 pm | Permalink

    Could you possibly get a printed copy of a book called “To Drop a Dime” author Paul Hoffman. Let me know what the cost would be. I don’t need the book just photo copies of it.

  2. the Jester | April 5, 2008 at 4:33 pm | Permalink

    That book is still in copyright, so you are unlikely to find a complete open scan on the internet. You might try looking to your local library for a copy if you would like to read it. Good luck.

  3. Marlyn Vandevenne | April 28, 2008 at 12:55 pm | Permalink

    I am looking for Through the Flames:the Willis Family Story by Duane Scott and Janet Willis

  4. the Jester | April 28, 2008 at 1:17 pm | Permalink

    Marlyn — that book has a very recent publication date (2000) so the text of it is not in the public domain. I was unable to find a record of it in the Worldcat world-wide library database. Good luck with your search.

6 Trackbacks

  1. Digitaal Inlichtingenwerk Zeeuwse Bibliotheek | June 25, 2007 at 12:00 am | Permalink

    links from Technoratieen on-demand printer. Dit initiatief komt dus niet uit de lucht vallen. Toch weer een geheel andere invalshoek dan de samenwerking van bibliotheken met Google. Ik hoop hier gauw meer over te lezen. Gaan we hier fijn met Bol.com in zee :-) Via Disruptive Library Technology Jester. Dat blog ken ik sinds 10 minuten. Die ziet er strak uit. Hup, in Netvibes! @

  2. LISNews.org | Print-On-Demand for Out-of-Print Books | June 25, 2007 at 8:29 am | Permalink

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] This posting on DLTJ [...]

  3. Chaoslinie | June 25, 2007 at 2:14 pm | Permalink

    links from Technoratis the twist behind a recent partnership announced by Amazon.com3, Kirtas Technologies4, Emory University5, University of Maine, Toronto Public Library, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Quelle: Out of Print Books Get New Life via Amazon and Participating Libraries via Disruptive Library Technology Jester (We’re Disrupted, We’re Librarians, and We’re Not Going to Take It Anymore) …

  4. Out of Print Books Get New Life « Librarian’s place | June 25, 2007 at 5:02 pm | Permalink

    [...] 25th, 2007 by maxine Out of Print Books Get New Life via Amazon and Participating Libraries in Disruptive Library Technol… Posted by the jester on Sunday, June 24th, 2007 Why settle for mere digital copies of books (a la [...]

  5. The OPLIN 4cast | July 3, 2007 at 1:24 pm | Permalink

    links from Technoraticopy of these otherwise hard-to-find works. A few libraries are even looking into setting up this service in-house. POD Friday! (The Distant Librarian) Localizing Print on Demand (O’Reilly Radar) Where lies the Print on Demand (O’Reilly Radar) Out of Print Books Get New Life via Amazon and Participating Libraries (Disruptive Library Technology Jester) 3. The Future is in eBooks (or Not) As the Second Annual World eBook Fair begins tomorrow (offering a month’s free access to over 750,000 eBooks), the prospects of the eBook market are still pretty murky, at

  6. theorywatch » Blog Archive » Bibliodiversity | August 29, 2007 at 3:43 am | Permalink

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] to see blogged elsewhere soon by a participant), so in the meantime here’s some additional evidence from Emory that they darn well [...]

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From the Disruptive Library Technology Jester (http://dltj.org/), printed on Friday the 25th of July 2008 at 8:20:55 AM EDT (-0400). The URL to this page is http://dltj.org/article/amazon-kirtas-libraries/

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