It's no secret that these are tough times for the publishing industry. We've been discussing the precarious position of the publishing industry for some time now, and the current economic crisis certainly isn't making things any easier. Meanwhile, new, mostly free Web 2.0 technology is flourishing, its popularity growing at an astonishing rate.

Stephen's Lighthouse has some fantastic coverage of this dynamic, particularly the contrast between the sharp decline in newspaper sales and the recent explosion in the popularity of twitter and other social networking tools. Read more »

Last week, you may have read Tom Peters’ post on the new, green Mancos Public Library in Colorado.  It’s very exciting to see libraries and other institutions around the country making a concerted effort to build green—we get to watch the future of technology, libraries and architecture unite right before our eyes. 

While it’s inspiring to see these new buildings springing up, it is important to remember that it takes people to get there. The exciting developments in places like Mancos cannot be an excuse for complacency—librarians must take the greening of our profession into our own hands through action and advocacy. For every librarian in a new, green building, there are dozens of us still stuck in older buildings using up financial and ecological resources, and usually with no plans for a new building.

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Two news items that scurried across my attention in July have led me to conclude that, in this era of overlapping eras, we have entered yet another age.

The first item was an industry report that Apple shipped more than eight million iPod devices in the second quarter of 2006. That's almost three million per month or 100,000 per day, and the second quarter is not a big gift-giving quarter, unless Apple packaged all those iPods in large plastic Easter eggs. (Remember, you read it here first.)

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Lee Rainie from the Pew Internet and American Life Project gave Friday's keynote address. He's a very lively speaker—mentally I started referring to him as Peppie le Pew—and he has lots of data and facts about how Millenials (those born between 1982 and 2000) think, use the Internet, search for information, communicate and form communities, and believe in themselves and the technologically and media rich lives they lead. If Stephen Abram wants facts, Peppie has 'em.

Rainie organized his talk around eight key realities of the Millennial generation: Read more »

At the Ontario Library Association Superconference earlier this month, I argued that library schools need to offer a course in copyright, licensing agreements for electronic products, and digital rights management (DRM), because they all affect the future of how libraries will interact with our users as entertainment and information becomes increasingly digital. It's unfortunate that at a time when the broadcast flag is again rearing its ugly head and media and publishing companies continue to try to buy legislation giving them free rein with users' rights, most librarians are completely unaware of just how much these moves could affect them. Read more »

Recently Apple, Inc., announced that it will allow colleges and universities to use a special sector within the overall iTunes service to load and distribute course lectures, other course content, and related digital audio and video files. The Cupertino, California-based company calls its new service " iTunes U."

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Throughout nearly all of the twentieth century, large companies controlled the creation, dissemination, and viewing of video information. Motion pictures started first, with television added as another layer in mid-century. Video really was a carefully controlled broadcast medium. The phrase, “Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!" captures in a nutshell how public anticipation for a new release of a movie was carefully orchestrated. Time-shifting, place-shifting, and format-shifting generally were not encouraged.

Early in the development of the motion picture industry the companies controlled the production, distribution, and screening of their products—until the U.S. federal government broke up those vertical monopolies. Read more »

So the much-anticipated announcement was even bigger than expected. A video iPod—but just as important is the announcement of new content for the iPod (it's amazing how Apple continues to build exclusive content to drive its hardware business). iTunes 6 will incorporate music videos, video podcasts. and even television episodes (2,000 videos on day one!), so you know movies aren't far behind.

Disney, ABC & Apple Announce Deal to Sell TV Shows Online; Hits to Include 'Desperate Housewives,' 'Lost' and 'That's So Raven' Read more »