Author Archives: John Mark Ockerbloom

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About John Mark Ockerbloom

I'm a digital library strategist at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

Public Domain Day advent calendar #1: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Posted on December 1, 2018 by John Mark Ockerbloom

“Your children are not your children […] For they have their own thoughts […] You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.” The lines above are from one of the more well-known parts of … Continue reading →

Posted in adventcalendar, copyright | Comments Off on Public Domain Day advent calendar #1: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Why pay for what’s free? Finding open access and public domain articles

Posted on October 23, 2018 by John Mark Ockerbloom

[Another version of this post appears on PennLibNews, as part of the Penn Libraries’ celebration of Open Access Week.] It happens to most researchers all too often.  You see a reference or a link to an article that you’d love … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, libraries, open access, serials, sharing | 9 Comments

Public domain serials: Renewal inventory complete!

Posted on June 15, 2018 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’m pleased to announce an important milestone in the IMLS-funded project I’m leading to help open access to 20th century public domain serials.  We now have a complete, openly published inventory of all serials with active issue or contribution renewals … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, metadata, open access, serials, sharing | 3 Comments

Public Domain Day 2018: The 20-year alarm clock

Posted on January 1, 2018 by John Mark Ockerbloom

In Washington Irving’s classic story “Rip van Winkle“, the title character follows an archaically-dressed stranger into a mountain hideaway, falls asleep, and wakes up to find the world has moved on 20 years without him.  He’s alarmed at first, but … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, online books, open access, serials, sharing | 1 Comment

Adding more, and more structured, information about public domain serials

Posted on December 11, 2017 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’ve been happy to hear from a number of people and institutions interested in the IMLS-funded project we now have underway to shed light on the hidden public domain of 20th century serials that I discussed in my last post.  … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, metadata, open access, science fiction, serials, sharing | Comments Off on Adding more, and more structured, information about public domain serials

New IMLS-funded project: Opening access to 20th century public domain serials

Posted on September 13, 2017 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’m happy to report that over the next year, I and others at Penn will be working on a project that the Institute of Museum and Library Services has just funded to help open access to the vast public domain … Continue reading →

Posted in awards, citizen librarians, copyright, metadata, open access, serials, sharing | 2 Comments

Public Domain Day 2017: Keeping memory alive

Posted on January 1, 2017 by John Mark Ockerbloom

It’s a bit hard to believe, but there are now adults in the US who cannot remember a substantial Public Domain Day.  In their own lifetimes, copyrights for published works have never expired here.  But I remember when they expired … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, open access, preservation | 2 Comments

Forward to Libraries update, and some thoughts on sustainability and scale

Posted on October 3, 2016 by John Mark Ockerbloom

It’s been a while since I posted about Forward to Libraries, but if you’ve been following my Github repo, you may have noticed that it’s had a steady stream of updates and growth.  If making connections across library collections or … Continue reading →

Posted in data, discovery, libraries, metadata, wikipedia | Comments Off on Forward to Libraries update, and some thoughts on sustainability and scale

The value of catalogs in the linked data era: Two recent talks

Posted on September 12, 2016 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’ve recently uploaded two talks I gave this year to my Selected Works site.  I presented “How Not to Waste Catalogers’ Time: Making the most of subject headings” at the Code4lib 16 conference in Philadelphia in March.  “How to Read … Continue reading →

Posted in discovery, metadata, open access, sharing, subjects | Comments Off on The value of catalogs in the linked data era: Two recent talks

Mid-20th century newspapers: Minding the copyrights

Posted on July 15, 2016 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I was pleased to read last week that the National Digital Newspaper Program, which has sponsored the digitization of over 1 million historically significant newspaper pages , has announced that it has expanded its scope to include content published up … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, open access, serials | Comments Off on Mid-20th century newspapers: Minding the copyrights