Digital Library Digest: April 13, 2012

April 2012 video update from John Palfrey “The DPLA is currently in the middle of a two-year planning phase, moving towards the launch of a full DPLA prototype by April 2013. Around the same time, it will move away from Harvard and the Berkman Center where it is currently based, potentially becoming an independent organization or merging with an existing institution.” From Alessandra Morgan’s blog post for the DPLA, April 2012 DPLA Update from John Palfrey

Apple, major publishers under fire for collusion “The Justice Department and 15 states sued Apple Inc. and major book publishers Wednesday, alleging a conspiracy that raised the price of electronic books. They said the scheme cost consumers more than $100 million in the past two years by adding $2 or $3, sometimes as much as $5, to the price of each e-book.” From Pete Yost’s article in the Huffington Post, “Apple, Hachette Hit With Antitrust Lawsuit Over eBook Pricing”

ALA “State of America’s Libraries” shows growing concern over access to online content “The rapid growth of e-books has stimulated increasing demand for them in libraries, but libraries only have limited access to e-books because of restrictions placed on their use by publishers. Macmillan Publishing, Simon and Schuster and Hachette Book Group refused to sell e-books to libraries. HarperCollins imposed an arbitrary 26 loans per e-book license, and Penguin refused to let libraries lend its new titles altogether. When Random House raised e-book prices, the ALA urged it to reconsider. “In a time of extreme financial constraint, a major price increase effectively curtails access for many libraries, and especially our communities that are hardest hit economically,” Molly Raphael, ALA president, said in a statement.” From the press release

DPLA Hack Day adds code to a growing platform “About a dozen developers showed up. After a very brief overview and introductions, they set to work. Scroll to the bottom of this PiratePad to see the list of what they worked on.” From the DPLA Dev team’s blog post

ebrary expands Academic Complete offerings “More than 1,800 new e-books from Wiley and 2,300 new titles from publishers including Princeton University Press and World Scientific & Imperial College Press will be available in Academic Complete, which will offer unlimited access to a growing selection of more than 75,000 quality titles. An additional 6,300 e-books from publishers such as MIT Press, Oxford University Press, and University of Illinois Press will be available through other ebrary models including patron driven acquisition, short-term loan, and perpetual archive. Titles can be ordered through ebrary as well as partners and book vendors such as YBP.” From Gary Price’s post on Library Journal, “ebrary Plans to Add More than 10,000 E-Book Titles to Academic Complete and Other Models”