World Digital Library

Developed to expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, the World Digital Library makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world on one site, in a variety of ways. These cultural treasures include, but are not limited to, manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings.


Items on the WDL may easily be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, or can be located by an open-ended search, in several languages. Special features include interactive geographic clusters, a timeline, advanced image-viewing and interpretive capabilities. Item-level descriptions and interviews with curators about featured items provide additional information.

Navigation tools and content descriptions are provided in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Many more languages are represented in the actual books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and other primary materials, which are provided in their original languages.

The WDL was developed by a team at the U.S. Library of Congress, with contributions by partner institutions in many countries; the support of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the financial support of a number of companies and private foundations.

Visit WDL by clicking here

New Findings Reaffirm Library Borrowers Are Also Buyers

An extensive online poll of library ebook readers finds that these patrons purchase an average of 3.2 books (both print and ebooks) each month, and a majority would consider purchasing books discovered on a library website. These ebook borrowers, who are at OverDrive-powered public library websites in the U.S., also report that their digital content purchases have increased in the past 6 months. Sponsored by OverDrive with the American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP), the survey constitutes the largest study of library ebook usage to date, with more than 75,000 people responding.

Confirming earlier studies, such as the Pew Internet Project’s “Libraries, Patrons, and E-books,” the survey found that a significant percentage of library users regularly purchase books they first discover at the library. In fact, 57% of those surveyed said that the public library is their primary source of book discovery.

Library ebook borrower: Highlights
Public library is primary source of book discovery (57%)
Purchase average of 3.2 books per month (including print and ebooks)
Would consider purchasing books discovered on library website (53%)
Visit both the physical library and download ebooks (53%)
Digital book purchases have increased in past 6 months (44%)
Purchased book (print or ebook) after borrowing that title (35%)

Library ebook borrower: Demographics
Female (78%)
Adults aged 40-64 (55%)
Household income $75,000+ (48%)
College degree or higher (74%)

The survey also found that dedicated ebook reading devices—including Kindle, Sony Reader, and NOOK—were the devices most used to read ebooks from the library (8%). Desktop or laptop PCs (20%), smartphones (19%) and tablets (18%) rounded out the top four types, which reflects the rapidly escalating trend of borrowing on mobile devices recently reported by OverDrive. (In August, mobile devices accounted for 30% of checkouts and 34% of web traffic at OverDrive-powered library websites. Both statistics are up nearly 100% year-over-year.)

The survey took place between June 13 and July 31, 2012, at thousands of OverDrive-powered public library websites in the U.S., with 75,384 respondents completing all or part of the survey. The intent of the survey was to gain insight into the borrowing and buying behaviors of library ebook readers and is not representative of the U.S. population as a whole. To see the full survey data, visit OverDrive’s Digital Library Blog.

Source: Information Today Inc. Newsletter NewsBreaks

Libraries in the U.S.: A Snapshot of Priorities & Perspectives

These reports detail findings from a study OCLC conducted with libraries in mid-2011 to learn about their priorities, initiatives, thoughts on the future of their service points and the sources they use to keep up with developments in the library field. Full reports can be downloaded by clicking here:

Select Key Findings for Academic Libraries

Most academic library staff:

•Consider licensed e-collections to be a top priority

•Are focusing on e-books, other e-resources and discovery tools as top current initiatives

•Believe their current library location structure will be the same in five years

•Rely mostly on listservs and email to stay current—a few use social media


Select Key Findings for Public Libraries

Most public library staff:

•Are focusing their priorities on Internet access, demonstrating value to funders and delivering e-content

•Are concentrating on e-books as their top current initiative

•Rely mostly on listservs and email to stay current—while just a few use social media

•Opinions are split on the make-up of service points in the future

•The top priority for public library directors is demonstrating the library's value to funders


Select Key Findings for Community College Libraries

Most community college library staff:

•Consider licensed e-collections and e-books to be their top priority and current initiative

•Believe their current library location structure will be the same in five years

•Rely mostly on listservs and email to stay current—a few use social media.

•Community college library staff are less likely than other academic library and public library staff to expect that a national digital library will exist in the next five years.

•Community college libraries are distinctively putting more focus on outreach and library instruction and their back-end office technology compared to other academic libraries.

Get your library in Goodreads

Goodreads (one of the leading social book-review websites)  has pledged to help libraries receive greater visibility with their more than 12 million site members. How? Now libraries can create their own "Group" pages, and a library group page will be listed first in a reader's group listings. In the future, they'll also highlight libraries that are geographically close to a reader's IP range, encouraging them to find their next read at their local library.

Goodreads site members can affiliate with their local library and find their next great read. Plus they're also likely to find other passionate readers in their area and be able to connect with them through social media.

Follow the simple steps to get your library going in Goodreads by clicking here