Elisabeth Leonard on Libraries

At a U. of Kentucky Dorm, a Live-In iPad Experience

At a U. of Kentucky Dorm, a Live-In iPad Experience
The university has opened a “wired” residential college, where students are given iPads, take special courses, and get access to interactive classrooms and a super-fast wireless network.

via sn2prd0302.outlook.com

Infographic: Generational Media Usage by Time of Day | Ad Age Stat - Advertising Age

A new study by Magid Generational Strategies breaks down who's using what media at what time of day. We worked with our friends at MBA Online to visualize it for you.

via adage.com

The death of books has been greatly exaggerated | Books | guardian.co.uk

But hang on a minute. Anecdotally, that's a pretty awe-inspiring collection of proofs. But the plural of anecdote is not data. What is the data telling us?

According to Nielsen BookScan, the publishing industry standard for book sales data, book sales are pretty healthy, with one significant proviso which I'll come to. Ten years ago in 2001, 162m books were sold in Britain. Ten years later – a decade in which the internet bloomed, online gaming exploded, television channels proliferated, digital piracy rampaged and, latterly, recession gloomed – 229m books sold. So, a 42% increase in the number of books sold over the last 10 years.

But wait, say the gloomy. What about the cash? Haven't publishers been forced by avaricious retail giants into a fearsome downward spiral? Discounting has sharpened, but not as much as you'd think. The standard discount on the recommended retail price of a book in 2001 was already at 17.6%. In 2010 it was 26.7%. We'll return to this later.

Even with this discounting, last year UK consumer publishing drew in sales of £1.7bn, up 36% on 2001. Adult fiction saw an increase of 44%, to £476m; and young adult and children's fiction, realm of all those pesky copiers and pirateers and downloaders, saw sales more than double to £325m.

via www.guardian.co.uk

White House and Universities Tout Programs to Turn Research Into Products - Administration - The Chronicle of Higher Education

As President Obama signed into law on Friday the new patent act, the White House and several dozen universities highlighted a series of program—some new, some not—designed to hasten the commercialization of university research findings.

Among the new: the creation of a center at the National Institutes of Health to assist biotechnology entrepreneurs to develop new products to diagnose and treat diseases. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, which has drawn some controversy, will provide scientific resources to researchers to help speed the time it takes to devise medicines and diagnostic tests.

via chronicle.com

eCampus.com Teams Up With the "Mindset List" to Create Visual Snapshots of a College Student's State of Mind

The “Mindset List” was first published in 1998 and has since evolved into a well-known blog, an annual list, and a book. Created by Ron Nief, alongside fellow Beloit College Professor Tom McBride, this innovative index of insights explores cultural benchmarks involving each year’s college freshman class.

It was created to reflect the world view of entering first-year students when the authors first realized how much the 2002 class of college freshmen were shaped by the history and culture they had not experienced in their first 18 years. The list has also helped professors understand where their students “were coming from” by providing insights into the technology and references with which they grew up, and the zeitgeist that helped shape and form who they are. Utilizing the most recent findings from the “Mindset List,” eCampus.com designer Elizabeth Lovejoy has created a series of infographics that illustrate the culture of today’s college student. The eCampus.com “Mindset List” visuals will be featured in the eCampus.com library of college infographics, along with the online textbook retailer’s other highly popular illustrations depicting such relevant topics as the cost of school, the impact of student debt, and alcohol use on campus, to name a few.

“We find infographics are great communication tools when it comes to college culture,” said Matt Montgomery, president and CEO of eCampus.com. “They are designed to resonate with both college professors and students alike, allowing both generations to understand the history and culture that surrounds them and in turn, better understand and communicate with each other.”

via www.prweb.com