Librarian by Day

My personally selected top ten from the links I shared on Twitter 10.22.2011 through 10.28.2011. In no particular order:

1. Amazon adds Whispersync for personal ebooks · Hidden Peanuts

Amazon is declaring that they don’t care where your ebook comes from, they just want you to read it on their platform (as long as it doesn’t have DRM mucking things up anyway).

2. great post! -> Amazon, Libraries and Ownership in the Digital Age | Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

The ebooks being borrowed by Amazon customers aren’t the same ePUB files being licensed to libraries via Overdrive, they’re Amazon’s files that they’re allowing their customers to access via a marketing partnership with local libraries.

3.  new ebook payscale? -> Paying for first Some speculation from Seth Godin

Here’s a bit of speculation:

Soon, there will be three kinds of books on the Kindle.

$1.99 ebooks. This is the clearing price for virtually all ebooks going forward.

$5 ebooks. This is the price for bestsellers, hot titles and books you have no choice but to buy because they were assigned in school.

$10 ebooks. This is the price you will pay to get the book first, to get it fast, to get it before everyone else. There might even be a subset of books for $20 in this category.

4. no matter how many kindles are registered to your act, books can only be on 6 devices, delete after reading if sharing This is something I tracked down personally. Believe it or not I have more than six devices to register to my Amazon Kindle
account. The 6 device limit is annoying because I never know what device I might want to read on based on my situation. I was able to find out you can register more than 6 devices but you can only have most titles on 6 at a time. So only load it on those you need to read it on. This works for me because I’m trying to keep my actual Kindle for reading for entertainment versus school work. Also if you and a family member share an account you can both read the same book at the same time as long as you remember to turn off whispersync.

5. Amazon Embraces HTML5 for New Ebooks via@ericrumsey 

KF8 is an improvement over the current Mobi 7 standard, with new features that allow publishers to create richer formats and add more advanced design elements. The emphasis on visuals will play well on tablets and advanced ereaders. Amazon touted KF8′s ability to produce better childrens picture books, comics and graphic novels.

The new format is currently limited to Amazon’s newest device, the Kindle Fire. The rest of Amazon’s readers and tablets will get full KF8 functionality in the coming months.

6. interesting -> Let every book be published digitally. Those found worthy may deserve another publication in print I don’t agree with this and worry about the role of libraries, but it is an interesting read.

Perhaps the e-book is that perishable material. In my vision, let every book be published digitally, the more the better. Those books found worthy may deserve another publication in print. The stores and shelves of print books would shrink, cleared of fluff, distilled to the very best works.

7. Smashwords – School Libraries: What’s Now, What’s Next, What’s Yet to Come – A book by Kristin Fontichiaro A free ebook in pretty much any format you could want

A crowdsourced collection of over 100 essays from around the world about trends in school libraries written by librarians, teachers, publishers, and library vendors. Edited by Kristin Fontichiaro and Buffy Hamilton. Foreword by R. David Lankes. Photographs by Diane Cordell.

8. great tips! How to Effectively Manage Your Time via @vonburkhardt As someone who has taught time management workshops I love seeing tips like these!

9. How to Create a QR Code In 3 Easy Steps | The Daring Librarian – great guide from the fabulous Gwyneth Jones

10. 10 Tips: Managing The Year Of Diminished Career Expectations given the current economy and that as long as I have been a librarian librarians have complained about the lack of jobs this seems very timely.Be sure to read the article for a more in-depth look at each one.

1. Use positive affirmations to get yourself through the day.
2. Teach yourself one new skill a month.
3. Start blogging.
4. Polish your resume.
5. Help a co-worker.
6. Think about what you really want to do when you grow up.
7. Write a job description for your dream job.
8. Network with people who have the job you want.
9. Seek out a career coach to help you examine – and possibly reset – your expectations.
10. Do something for someone else.