Sale of Wikipedia's material as books on Amazon - Wiki in news again

PS. See the previous posts on the Wikipedia in news.
Extract from Wiki:

A German information portal for consumers (Preisgenau.de) has criticized Amazon for selling tens of thousands of print on demand books which reproduced Wikipedia articles. Amazon did not acknowledge this issue raised on a blog and some customers that have asked the company to withdraw all these titles from its catalog. 

See also on the same shelf:

• Free Content Isn't Always What It Seems

By Jennifer Kyrnin, About.com Guide

"Another tempting place to get content is from an online reprinter. Online reprinters are companies that solicit articles that they then offer for reprint (and sometimes translation). On the surface, these reprinters look legitimate, often with long terms and conditions including dire warnings if authors post copyrighted material that is not their own.
But in my experience, these sites simply take any article that is uploaded to them and add it to their directories, without any verification or confirmation that the content is not plagiarized. I have found content from FoxNews, Investopedia, and Wikipedia as well as my own content all reprinted without permission on reprint sites. In fact, in one case, the owner of the reprint site advertises how to "ethically steal" content (I'm not sure he knows what the word "ethically" means). "

• Printed Without Permission (A comment at Amazon.com) @ Adoption Is Another Word for Love [Kindle Edition]

“Shake Off the City” ads show a bucolic Niagara but Torontonians are peeved

The Niagara they show. The Niagara we know.

Jayme Poisson, Staff Reporter, Toronto Star, Jul 20 2010
NIAGARA FALLS, ONT.—We can diss you too, Niagara.
Extract:

Although they don’t name the concrete jail as Toronto straight up, the logo shows a silhouette of the city with the CN Tower and Rogers Centre in the backdrop. It morphs into trees: “Shake Off the City.”

“Toronto has many iconic symbols like the CN Tower while Niagara’s is Robert Wadlow’s gigantic chair,” said currency trader Jamie Heighway. continue reading The Niagara they show. The Niagara we know.

See also on the same shelf:

Google: Location a "Hugely Important" Signal [ Niagara Falls of India, and Niagara Falls of Ontario, Canada & New York, USA]

Ten Tips (or Steps) for Tracking Trends

By Elisabeth Doucett, 05/11/2010, American Libraries Magazine
Libraries can stay relevant to their users by strategically riding the wave of societal trends. [This article is excerpted from What They Don’t Teach You at Library School, to be published by ALA Editions in July].
Extract:

Step 1: Identify potential sources of information for societal and library trend tracking

Step 2: Develop a method for regularly reviewing those resources.

Step 3: Search social networking sites.

Step 4: Review each idea that you pulled out of your research, considering potential implications for your library.

Step 5: Leave your idea list in a file until you start the same process the next week.

Step 6: When you identify the ideas that you want to pursue for your library, get together with some of your fellow librarians to help you review the ideas and find the good and bad about them.

Step 7: Put the ideas back in the file and let them sit for another week.

Step 8: Once a month, pull out one idea that has gone through steps 1–7.

Step 9: Approval.

Step 10: Turned down. Continue reading 10 Tips for Tracking Trends

The Battle of Building Library's Digital Collection, Revisited

Previous post @ Librarians as Knowledge Managers: The Battle of Building Library's Digital Collection

A librarian takes on Google Books, Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC, 7 June 2010 :
Extract:

The librarian believes he has found a new cause for his profession, to give a secure home to digitised texts produced with the highest quality standards and available freely to all. "These are huge benefits," he says, "and should be fought for by all of those who care about unimpeded public access to knowledge." Google beware - the librarians are getting cross, and they are quiet but patient people....

The Death of the Open Web, by VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN, May 17, 2010, NYTimes.com

CANADA: Open access - promises and challenges, Leslie Chan
03 May 2009, Issue: 0074 University World News

Amazon's Kindle (genre: e-book reader)

From Realities to Values: A Strategy Framework for Digital Natives

Libraries Reinvent Themselves to Serve Digital-Age Students

NPR Interview Podcast - Can The iPad Or The Kindle Save Book Publishers?

Genre Reader: Why Buying from Kobo Books is Better than the Amazon Kindle Store

Why Apple’s iPad is shaking things up with Amazon and Google by Martin Taylor

10 Biggest Challenges eBooks face

Should libraries have ebooks? I’m not sure they should, by Martin Taylor:
Extract:

"There are several problems with letting libraries lend ebooks, but there are also opportunities that could be a big help to our emerging digital publishing industry. It’s worth looking at both sides."

On the same shelf:
Just released: Job Search The Canadian Way
Buy our book:
Download Ebook @ $10 CDN
Buy softcover in print @ Createspace.com

What is your Library worth to you?

In a free world who cares? May be if you are among those who are the have-nots, you will be thinking about your return-on-investment.
But, if you are wise (not otherwise), try this Personal Savings Calculator to know: What is your Library worth to you? and
How much would you pay out-of-pocket for your library services?
Click here for a calculator:

Dover Public Library's Calculator

Library value calculations, Cornell University Library's Research and Assessment Unit

Library of Michigan Return on Investment Calculator

Library Research Service's Public Library User Return on Investment Calculator

What is Your Library Worth to You? | WordSalad: Brigham City Library Blog's [Monthly and Annual ways to Calculate your ROI]

Library Value Calculator @ London Public Library

Library of Michigan Return on Investment Calculator

See also on the same shelf:

Economic Recovery and Florida Libraries

Library ROI: A Brief Webliography

Dialog Offers Free Searching of Selected Cengage Files Through March 30th

Info courtesy: Dr. John Jaeger, Resourceshelf

"Dialog and Cengage are offering free searching in select Cengage files from January 1, 2010, through March 31, 2010. During this time all DialUnits, Connect Time, and Alert Profile charges will be waived to allow customers to search these files and create and run Alerts profiles at no charge. Output pricing such as full formats and Alert prints will be charged at current rates. The included Cengage databases in the promotion are listed in Table 1.

Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity for unlimited searching in a wide range of business information sources!"

Facebook Fellowship Program

    What is this: Facebook Fellowship program to support graduate students in the 2010-2011 school year.

Which areas: We are interested in a wide range of academic topics, including the following topical areas:
* Internet Economics; * Cloud Computing; * Social Computing; * Data Mining and Machine Learning; * Systems; * Information Retrieval

Who can apply:
a. You must be enrolled at a U.S. university and meet the eligibility requirements.
b. Students must be in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, System Architecture, or a related area.
See other details @ here

News:

Facebook funding Ph.D fellowships San Francisco Chronicle

Facebook Launches Fellowship Program For Ph.D. Students : Facebook wants help solving tech problems
By Mike Sachoff, WebProNews: January 8, 2010

Are you a Ph.D. student that's interested in the social web and internet technology? AllFacebook.com

Who said Facebook was more centered at fun, brand promotion and a place to fund a campaign only? Sardar Mohkim Khan

Facebook turns to the ivory tower - genpop.net

Facebook Fellowship Program: Tapping into Bright Minds

Bottomline: Spread good word about this program to help your friends.