Professional Reading Shelf
Online Books
eBooks
Amazon.com
Amazon.com’s Search Inside the Book Gets a New Look with New AmazonOnlineReader and Your Media Library
The way you view material from Amazon.com’s Search Inside the Book (SITB) has gotten a new look and several new features with the debut of the AmazonOnlineReader. At the same time Amazon’s “Your Media Library” hit the web. SITB debuted a couple of months before Google Print/Book Search and continues to provide limited full text and full image content (as determined by the publisher). There is still no interface or option that will limit your search to only SITB ready content.

To find SITB content, simply run an Amazon book search and look for books marked with the “Search Inside” logo. You can also search for books using Amazon’s A9.

A book found via SITB offers several ways to view the content and allows us to see Amazon’s. Here’s a quick review.

1) First a search for the children’s classic, “Where the Wild Things Are.”

2) Let’s look at the first entry by clicking either the title or the book cover.

3) Here’s the Amazon.com page we’re all used to. Pricing info, related titles of possible interest, reviews, etc. Placing your cursor over the book cover provides links to citations, a search box and more.

4) Click the book cover. Now, the AmazonOnlineReader opens. Pages contain no advertising. More about the reader here.

5) From the reader, you can:
+ Search for words or phrases in the book (you can also search the entire Amazon.com database or A9.
+ View single pages or continuous pages by scrolling
+ Zoom in or Zoom out (very useful)
+ Overall, we’re impressed so far. One thing that would help is more explanation directly on the page (mouseovers) vs. having to go to a help page.

6) A lot of what we’re seeing here is part of the new Amazon.com upgrade program where you can read purchased books online, print pages, add notes, bookmark pages, etc. This in many ways is similar to what you can already do with books accessible (for free) via NetLibrary and ebrary.

7) This FAQ page has more info about how to buy an upgrade (if available), upgrading past purchases and also clearly states that you can only “upgrade” to online access IF YOU purchase a physical copy of the book. Btw, upgrades are only available in the U.S. at the present time. Let’s be clear, the free services and content SITB has offered continue at no charge.

The Amazon.com upgrade program was first reported in November.
Btw, you’ll also still find (good news) the interesting statistics and tools that Amazon.com has offered for a year or so including text stats, concordance, Statistically Improbable Phrases, and Capitalized Phrases.

9) The Amazon.com Media Library aka “Your Media Library” (formerly Amazon.com Locker) is now live. This is where all of your media purchases from Amazon (books, music, videos) AS WELL AS digital media purchases (content for online viewing, reading, listening) are placed OR WILL BE PLACED (think of the possibilities) for easy access and review. Yes, you can even add tags to your purchases. You’ll also find links to product manuals that can be downloaded.

See Also: Learn More About the Amazon.com Reader.

See Also: A Few More Examples of Search Inside the Book and AmazonOnlineReader
+ Title/Info Page: The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
Via AmazonOnlineReader

+ Title/Info Page: Marley & Me : Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog
Via AmazonOnlineReader

+ Title/Info Page: How to Win Friends & Influence People
Via AmazonOnlineReader
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Medical Librarians
Librarians
Source: AP
Internet searches: Librarians do it better
Although this article focuses on the work of librarians with cancer patients (some very very important work) we think many of us have known for a long time (ever?) that in many situations librarians can add value for all searchers. From the article, “Librarians have access to resources sometimes unavailable to the public such as subscription-based databases. But the biggest advantage, [Ruti] Volk, a professional librarian and manager of the Patient Education Resource Center (PERC) at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center] said, is expertise in searching. ‘I do this every day, I should do it better than other people,’ she said.” Right-on Ruti! However this does not mean for other types of searching end users can’t also do a good job IF (a big if) they know what is and is not available, have some basic info literacy skills, and a basic understanding about using the right tool at the right time. Of course, a bit of training (not teaching) on how to take full advantage of what most commercial web engines offer can also help. Not only do info pros have the ability to get people to the “best” info but we can also save them time. Everyone wants more time. However, like we’ve said before, the public can’t use (human or electronic) what they don’t know about. This is why marketing is so important.
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Academic Publishing
Source: Inside Higher Ed
The Quest for Crossover Books
“For many scholars — especially in the humanities and social sciences — their secret or not-so-secret is to be the next ‘crossover’ author: the Ph.D. whose book becomes a best seller, and not just in campus bookstores. The next Freakonomics, perhaps. University presses are equally anxious to publish such books, which end up paying the bills so that presses can publish the many books that don’t sell much at all. If you want to know what the presses are betting on for the next crossovers, there may be no better place to go than BookExpo America, an annual conclave at which publishers try to woo the people who buy books for bookstores, create some buzz among the reporters who cover publishing, and anyone with any connection to Oprah.”
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Health Research
Library Outreach
Source: NLM
Information Rx Tool Kit Redesign
“Following the success of the pilot sites in Georgia, Iowa, and Virginia (see Information Rx project summary), NLM worked with the Virginia pilot sites to develop the Information Rx Tool Kit to assist librarians in promoting Information Rx to physicians, patients and their families, as well as to public libraries and community organizations. The tool kit contains tested promotional materials and suggestions for a variety of activities. The Information Rx Tool Kit Web site has recently undergone a facelift and reorganization to make it easier to use. The Web site, renamed the Health Sciences Information Rx Tool Kit, was launched in May 2006 and is a step-by-step online guide designed to assist health sciences librarians with project-related outreach activities they may wish to initiate.”

This entry was posted on Monday, May 22nd, 2006 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.