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.

What you’re asked to give away

Posted on May 8, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

If you’ve published an article in an Elsevier journal, you might have missed an interesting aspect of the contract you signed with them to get published.  It goes something like this: I grant Elsevier the exclusive right to select and … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, crimes and misdemeanors, open access, publishing, serials | 1 Comment

Do we need a “reader’s rights registry”?

Posted on May 5, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

This spring’s Digital Library Federation forum, the last under DLF as an independent organization,  included a session for “lightning talks”, where speakers take 5 minutes or less to present an idea or make a demonstration.  Here are the remarks I … Continue reading →

Posted in censorship, copyright, metadata, online books, open access, reading, sharing | 3 Comments

David Reed: Some extracts from his life and letters

Posted on April 23, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

Last summer I was looking for a particular book. I couldn’t find it in any library in my State. Went interlibrary loans and found one copy at the library of Congress. Only one copy in the whole country. One of … Continue reading →

Posted in online books, people | 43 Comments

Recent copyright news and comment (an extended mix)

Posted on April 9, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I seem to have a certain degree of inertia over getting a blog post out, and there have been at least 4 interesting recent items related to copyright.  Since I haven’t managed to post about each individually, I’ll get over … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, libraries | 2 Comments

How to find complete multi-volume works in Google Books

Posted on March 30, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

While Google’s agreement on copyrighted books has been the subject of much discussion lately, they’ve also been continuing to add public domain titles at a brisk pace.  For instance, they announced in February that they now had 1.5 million public … Continue reading →

Posted in online books | 3 Comments

Gloriana St. Clair: A brief appreciation

Posted on March 24, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

The organizer of today’s Ada Lovelace Day, a day to celebrate women in technology, says that women need female role models they can emulate.  I’d add that men can use female role models as well.  There are at least two … Continue reading →

Posted in awards, libraries, people | Tagged | Comments Off on Gloriana St. Clair: A brief appreciation

The Google Books settlement: A symposium, and a call for library action

Posted on March 18, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

Last Friday I went to a fascinating symposium at the Columbia Law School: “The Google Books Settlement: What Will it Mean for the Long Term?” The symposium included presentations by US copyright register Marybeth Peters, and antitrust expert Randal Picker … Continue reading →

Posted in libraries, metadata, online books, open access, reading, sharing | 2 Comments

Open catalog APIs and data: ALA presentation notes posted

Posted on January 28, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’ve now posted my materials for the two panels I participated in at ALA Midwinter. I have slides  available for “Opening the ILS for Discovery: The Digital Library Federation’s ILS-Discovery Interface Recommendations“, a presentation for LITA’s Next Generation Catalog interest … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, discovery, libraries, open access, sharing | Comments Off on Open catalog APIs and data: ALA presentation notes posted

Neil Gaiman wins Newbery medal; more Newbery honorees go online

Posted on January 27, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Denver for ALA Midwinter.    While I was there, they announced the winner of this year’s Newbery medal: Neil Gaiman‘s Graveyard Book.  I’ve been hoping to get around to this book– but … Continue reading →

Posted in awards, copyright, online books | 1 Comment

Repository services, Part 2: Supporting deposit and access

Posted on January 15, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

A couple of days ago, I talked about how we provided multiple repository services, and why an institutional scholarship repository needs to provide more than just a place to store stuff.  In this post, I’ll describe some of the useful … Continue reading →

Posted in discovery, formats, repositories | Comments Off on Repository services, Part 2: Supporting deposit and access