Libraries built their lending case on owning, not licensing
A 2018 position statement stakes librarians' legal theory for scan-and-lend on first sale and fair use, later tested in court.
The ledger archive
20 entries shown, each prepared after the events it records and published with its sources attached.
January 1, 1935
A 1934 train delay led to a sixpenny paperback the next year
Penguin's own history and a company article date Allen Lane's 1935 launch, the sixpenny price, and the first colour-coded titles.
October 17, 2014
Princeton announced a home for a Nobel laureate's working papers
Princeton's 2014 announcement and finding aid record what the Toni Morrison papers contain and when they opened to researchers.
January 1, 1993
A literary magazine invented an award for fiction's worst sex scenes
Literary Review's own award page credits Rhoda Koenig and Auberon Waugh with founding the prize in 1993.
October 1, 2013
An archive put Dickinson's manuscripts beside her printed editions
The Emily Dickinson Archive's own about page names the eight libraries it drew on and what it lets a reader compare.
February 16, 2011
A rival chain filed for Chapter 11 and did not reorganize
A company press release and the bankruptcy court's own docket state when Borders Group filed for Chapter 11 and how its case proceeded.
Three short openings about who gets to explain.
Read the beginnings of Bartleby, The Yellow Wallpaper and The Sisters together. Each makes access to another person’s experience a problem of narrative form.
November 1, 2017
A caged-book display at a 1982 trade show became an annual week
ALA's own account traces Banned Books Week to a 1982 booksellers' exhibit and the coalition it produced.
January 1, 2000
A novelist's craft memoir was shaped by a near-fatal accident
King's own site and his publisher tie On Writing's 2000 structure to his 1999 accident and recovery.
June 21, 2017
OverDrive introduced Libby to simplify library ebook borrowing
OverDrive's own 2017 announcements date Libby's debut and describe what changed for library patrons.
January 1, 1922
A children's librarian created the world's first children's book prize
ALSC's own history page dates Melcher's 1921 proposal and the medal's naming after an eighteenth-century bookseller.
One source, several chapters: organizing a research library.
Collections and tags solve different problems. A practical source library keeps the identity of a document stable while allowing it to appear wherever the manuscript needs it.
September 9, 1886
An 1886 treaty made copyright protection automatic across borders
WIPO's own treaty text and summary establish the 1886 date and the national-treatment principle still underwriting cross-border publishing rights.
October 11, 2011
A publishing format standard rebuilt itself on web technology
IDPF's 2011 EPUB 3 specification added HTML5, embedded media, and accessibility metadata that its predecessor lacked.
February 3, 2015
A manuscript set aside for decades was announced as a new novel
HarperCollins' 2015 announcement and Alabama's later inquiry record how Go Set a Watchman was found and how consent questions were addressed.
April 17, 2019
An EU directive set accessibility rules ebook sellers must meet
The European Accessibility Act's own text sets what ebook publishers and retailers must do, and by when member states had to act.
January 1, 1936
The University of Iowa formalised a degree program in 1936
The Workshop's own history names its founding director and its still-current graduate degree structure.
August 1, 2024
The EU's AI law requires a public summary of training content
The European Commission's own pages date the AI Act's entry into force and its training-content transparency rule.
June 25, 2023
Librarians and publishers jointly adopted a statement in 1953
ALA's own text and AAP's 2023 anniversary release date the joint statement's adoption to 25 June 1953.
January 15, 2003
The Supreme Court left copyright term extension to Congress
Eldred v. Ashcroft's 7-2 ruling records why a fixed term could still be extended without breaching 'limited Times.'