E-Book Conference in Ohio (USA)

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

From:  Carol Diedrichs <diedrichs.1@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@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@osu.