Two good e-books articles

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Both articles are cautionary and realistic; both well worth reading.
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1.  Sottong, Stephen, "E-Book Technology: Waiting for the 'False
Pretender'," Information Technology and Libraries, (20:2) June 2001:
72-80.

http://www.lita.org/ital/2002_sottong.html

"Raymond Kurzweil proposed seven stages in the "life cycle of a
technology." Libraries can use the technology life cycle concept to
determine when to invest in newer technologies. Kurzweil gave no criteria
for determining what stage a technology had achieved in the life cycle.
This article will present a set of criteria to evaluate new technologies
within the framework of the life cycle, demonstrating their applicability
using Kurzweil's example of audio technology and then applying the
criteria to current e-book technology."

Stephen Sottong (ssotton@calstatela.edu) is Engineering, Technology, and
Computer Science Librarian and Leader of the Library Information
Technology Team, California State University, Los Angeles.

2.  Snowhill, Lucia, "E-books and Their Future in Academic Libraries.
D-Lib Magazine (7:7/8):  July/August 2001.

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july01/snowhill/07snowhill.html

"The University of California's California Digital Library (CDL) formed an
Ebook Task Force in August 2000 to evaluate academic libraries'
experiences with electronic books (e-books), investigate the e-book
market, and develop operating guidelines, principles and potential
strategies for further exploration of the use of e-books at the University
of California (UC). This article, based on the findings and
recommendations of the Task Force Report [1], briefly summarizes task
force findings, and outlines issues and recommendations for making e-books
viable over the long term in the academic environment, based on the
long-term goals of building strong research collections and providing high
level services and collections to its users."

Lucia Snowhill is Social Sciences Collection Coordinator at the Davidson
Library, University of California, Santa Barbara
e-mail:  snowhill@library.ucsb.edu