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September 9, 2008 | Vol. 1, No. 2 | ISSN: 1943-1457
Above the Fold
A weekly newsletter for the changing world of libraries, archives and museums

In this issue:

- 'The Objective of Education Is Learning, Not Teaching'
- The Unique Advantage
- Study: DRM a Major Barrier to e-Textbook Adoption
- Don't Just Buy the Music, Fans Told—Now You Can Invest in Big Names of the Future
- Many Companies Now Receptive to Online Social Networking at Work

## 'The Objective of Education Is Learning, Not Teaching'

Knowledge@Wharton • August 20, 2008

Turning "teaching moments" into "learning moments." Most of what we learn has not been taught to us—we learn best on our own, through self-directed exploration. As partners in the educational process, we should be offering students a wide variety of opportunities and ways to learn.

We like to talk about our focus on "scholarship," often using it to describe our concerns rather than the "teaching and learning" phrase. This little piece reminds us that scholarship is, in fact, learning. (Michalko)

## The Unique Advantage

Strategy + Business • August 26, 2008

The name of the game is "one of a kind." The authors say mature organizations should focus on what makes them different from the competition. "Rather than thinking about new products as a way to get customers excited for a little while, companies need to think about their innovation strategy as a way to build a high, hard wall between those customers and their strongest competitors."

As our "'industry" struggles to define a new set of services this warning that what will be valued by our clients is not just an extension of services with which we're familiar. That's not enough to distinguish us from the convenient substitutes. (Michalko)

## Study: DRM a Major Barrier to e-Textbook Adoption

Arts Technica • August 28, 2008

Textbook economics 101. E-textbooks were touted as the answer to the spiraling costs of hard-copy, but a recent study shows the savings are not significant. Read about how open sourcing, community-driven authoring and other new business models could help change that equation and realize the promise of electronic publishing.

Textbooks haven't been central to us as collecting institutions but as learning support providers our services are a complement. The electronic versions of textbooks should have yielded the same kind of extra value that the movement of reference works into the electronic arena provided. There's still a long way to go before that's true. (Michalko)

## Don't Just Buy the Music, Fans Told—Now You Can Invest in Big Names of the Future

The Guardian • August 27, 2008

Buying a piece of the rock. The music industry often serves as a harbinger of what's to come in digital content management, and a new venture backed by a couple of alternative rock music executives is being billed as the latest innovative funding model for the music industry. Bandstocks provides a mechanism for the public to invest in an artist in £10 increments, with the goal of accumulating enough to cut an album and distribute some of the profits back to investors. As record labels struggle to maintain the status quo, find out more about this and other innovative funding models.

Be a patron in increments. Provide direct support for the means of production. University presses? SPARC? (Michalko)

## Many Companies Now Receptive to Online Social Networking at Work

MidwestBusiness.com • August 29, 2008

How can online social networking help boost productivity? While some companies have banned online social networks like Facebook and Myspace as bandwidth hogs and time wasters, others are finding ways to put them to good use. Staying in touch with colleagues, sharing best practices and meeting customers are just a few of the ways that social networking can enhance workplace productivity and promote business intelligence.

We talk a lot about using social networking features like tagging and user-generated reviews within our information portals. This looks at social networking within an enterprise. What can the institution gain from harnessing the networks of staff on behalf of its mission? (Michalko)

News

- Special Collections and Beyond podcast now available
- Assessing the Impact of Special Collections webinar recording now available

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- RLG Programs 2008 European Partner Meeting, 5–6 November, 2008 in Paris
- RLG Programs 2009 Annual Partner Meeting, 1–3 June, 2009 in Boston

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Above the Fold is a Web-based newsletter published by OCLC Programs and Research. It has been developed to serve a broad international readership from libraries, archives and museums. News items are supplied weekly under contract by Suzanne Douglas, Ibis Communications Inc. Programs and Research items are supplied by staff in RLG Programs and OCLC Research. Please send comments and questions about this or other issues to rlg@oclc.org.

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