Paper.li App

Private Law Libraries Daily and ibrarianGuy uses Paper.li by SmallRivers to publisher their newsletter online and via Twitter. This newpaper reader tool is available as an iPhone app, version 1.0.3. View screenshots here.

LexisNexis Agrees to a Long-Term Contract Deal with the New York Times

Market Watch's article on research solutions giant LexisNexis reaching a long-term licensing agreement with the New York Times.

New York Times Paywall going up

Hat tip to Out of the Jungle for the information about the NYT paywall going up. More information avaible here about the different options.

DMN will no longer be completely free

Details at the following article:

The Dallas Morning News Announces New Digital Strategy, Pricing (1/4/11)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/010411dnbusdmnpricing.35ec66.html

I don't know if this includes institutional subscriptions or not. Hat tip to Wendy for pointing it out.

Law Librarian Survey

ALM has posted an article with the results of the 2010 Law Librarian Survey.

Happy New Year!

Here's hoping everyone will have a very good 2010. By the way, is it pronounced "twenty ten" or "two thousand ten"? There was an article in the DMN today with the same question.

Will other papers follow FT.com?

This article from the New York Times made me start wondering how many other papers will start charging for articles and restricting access via our other channels.

The Paper That Doesn’t Want to Be Free
By ERIC PFANNER
Published: August 16, 2009
New York Times

Not long ago, when other media executives were convinced that the only way to succeed on the Web was to give away their content, The Financial Times played the eccentric.
...
In another effort to generate additional digital revenue, the newspaper restricted access last year to its content through databases like Factiva and LexisNexis, requiring users to buy special licenses to read archived articles. More than 600 corporate customers, with a total of about 50,000 users, have done so.

continued

Newest Kindle

Amazon will soon be releasing a new Kindle that is larger and can handle newspapers and periodicals more easily. This story from eweek talks about the convergence of newspapers and digital, with hints of the future of journalism. My only question: if newstories might be lumped under a single URL with additions as the story develops, how will we cite to these articles?

Goodbye Legal Times

"Legal Times — which focuses on all things legal in Washington, D.C. — is going away and its contents will be folded into the National Law Journal. " Readers should expect this to happen in May.

For more on this story: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/03/legal-times-to-merge-with-the-national-law-journal.html

Report on the changing newspaper

I saw this in an entry on BeSpacific.com today. Journalism.org has a report on how newspapers have changed in the past three years. Excerpt:

The Changing Newsroom
July 21, 2008
Meet the American daily newspaper of 2008.

It has fewer pages than three years ago, the paper stock is thinner, and the stories are shorter. There is less foreign and national news, less space devoted to science, the arts, features and a range of specialized subjects. Business coverage is either packaged in an increasingly thin stand-alone section or collapsed into another part of the paper. The crossword puzzle has shrunk, the TV listings and stock tables may have disappeared, but coverage of some local issues has strengthened and investigative reporting remains highly valued.

Source: http://journalism.org/node/11961

Legal education

I found this FindLaw Writ column putting forth the theory that law students should get an MBA as well.

The Case for Combining Law School with Business School: Five Key Reasons to Think Very Seriously About the Option
By JULIE HILDEN
Monday, Apr. 14, 2008

Recently, I discovered that a law school friend and I share one major regret: We both wish we had combined our law school education with a business school education. (cont.)

Interesting. Discuss.

Belo Corp. splitting publishing and television

The Belo Corporation announced that it will split publishing and television stations into separate companies.

3rd UPDATE: Belo Answers Calls To Split Newspaper, TV Assets
October 01, 2007: 01:15 PM EST
By Shira Ovide
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- In a surprise move, Belo Corp. (BLC) said it will separate its newspaper and television assets, responding to investor complaints that Belo's stock price would be higher if the company were split.

New York Times to open up their web site

Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: September 18, 2007

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make
available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those
from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for
some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free.

This is great news for researchers.

Top 10 Online News

2 Texas online newspapers are in Top 10:
Houston and Austin

http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/004322.php

Newspapers and the web

I saw a reference to this at BeSpacific.com - there's a report (The Bivins Report) out on newspapers and the web, and how so much web content is either helping or hindering. A few interesting tidbits:

• 96 of the top 100 papers now offer RSS feeds
• 92 offer video reports - up from 61 in 2006
• 95 now offer reporter blogs

For the commentary on this report, go to American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?. The report may be found here. (36 page pdf)

Book review sections in newspapers being eliminated

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2007. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Critics, authors and editors concerned over recent moves to eliminate book review sections in nation’s newspapers

Newspapers juggle book review sections in a time of changehttp://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07128/784152-44.stm

The folly of downsizing book reviews
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-connelly29apr29,1,3962449.story?coll=la-news-comment

Battle of the book reviewshttp://www.calendarlive.com/books/cl-ca-bloggers13may13,0,4948424.story

CRITICAL MASS: The blog of the national book critics circle board of directorshttp://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/

Salman Rushdie and Stephen Colbert discuss literary criticismhttp://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/player.jhtml?ml_video=86627&ml_collection=&ml_gateway=&ml_gateway_id=&ml_comedian=&ml_runtime=&ml_context=show&ml_origin_url=%2Fmotherload%2Findex.jhtml%3Fml_video%3D86627&ml_playlist=&lnk=&is_large=true

Help Protect Atlanta's Book Reviewhttp://www.petitiononline.com/atl2007/petition.html

Over the past few years, newspapers around the country have been eliminating or downsizing their book review sections. Newspapers from the Los Angeles Times to the Chicago Tribune to the most recent Atlanta Journal Constitution have slowly removed their book editor position. Some, such as the San Francisco Chronicle folded their book review section into another part of the newspaper but after strong community protests it was restored. Although San Francisco Chronicle readers have their beloved Book Review Section back, it has been cut in half to make room for advertising. Newspapers who have made cuts cite reasons such as the lack of readership due to the growing popularity of online reviews, but book critics and authors both worry about the trend. The Washington Post and the New York Times have increased their coverage of book reviews in order to provide more content for those loosing their book review sections, but overall the trend is to remove or drastically downsize the book review section of newspapers. Over the past month, the National Book Critics Circle has launched a campaign to save book reviews. They began a blog, Critical Mass, which posts comments from writers, book editors, critics, newspaper editors and owners. It might seem odd that authors would be concerned about the demise of their fiercest critics, but book critics play an important role in the world of books. Critics are known for finding hidden treasures by unknown authors, books that may go unnoticed by the book reading public. While well-known authors need book critics less than their unknown colleagues, most note the importance of critics early in their career. John Updike, in his rules for book reviewing observed the important relationship between reviewer and public: “The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.”

The first link will take users to a piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the recent changes by newspaper’s book review sections. The second link will take users to an Opinion piece in the Los Angeles times by author Michael Connelly criticizing the downsizing of book reviews. The third link leads to another piece in the LA Times, discussing the pros and cons of print versus online book reviews. The fourth link leads to the National Book Critics Circle’s new blog, Critical Mass, which includes interesting posts by critics, authors, editors and more. The fifth link will whisk users to a short video of Salman Rushdie’s recent visit to the Colbert Report to discuss the recent moves by newspapers to downsize book reviews and explain why critics aren’t necessarily the enemies of authors. The last link leads to an online petition that contains more than 5,000 signatures (including Rushdie and Norman Mailer). The petition asks that the Atlanta Journal Constitution restore its book section. Anyone may sign and show their support, and they may also peruse the names of those who have already signed to search for the many influential authors who are concerned with this recent trend.