Re: Use of Amazon.com Content in Koha's Catalog

The new Google Books api (which we use on our catalogue
http://witcat.wit.ie/ ) uses cover art.  I wonder where G. Books gets their
art?  Could that be used?

David.

On 19/03/2008, Tim Spalding <tim <at> librarything.com> wrote:
>
> That's awesome. I sure hope they shut down LibraryThing and all its
> competitors, including the one they funded. We're the only one that
> uses data from any other source—libraries.
>
>
> T
>
>
> On 3/19/08, Jesse Haro <jesse.haro <at> phxlib.org> wrote:
> > I have been following the trail of conversation regarding Amazon.com and
> >  thought it worth sharing our recent experience with Amazon.  I
> >  oversee the OPAC environment for Phoenix Public and was the
> >  lead in implementing Amazon product data not only into our OPAC, but
> also
> >  directly into our bibliographic data for searching. We have implemented
> >  Endeca for our OPAC and have implemented various product elements into
> the
> >  search index.  Following the release of the Customer Service
> >  Agreement from Amazon this past December, we requested clarification
> from
> >  Amazon regarding the use of AWS for library catalogs and received the
> >  following response:
> >
> >  "Thank you for contacting Amazon Web Services.  Unfortunately your
> >  application does not comply with section 5.1.3 of the AWS Customer
> >  Agreement.  We do not allow Amazon Associates Web Service to be used
> for
> >  library catalogs.  Driving traffic back to Amazon must be the primary
> >  purpose for all applications using Amazon Associates Web
> >  Service."
> >
> >  This response came from the support contact link on the AWS help pages.
> We
> >  are investigating the possibility of establishing a direct relationship
> >  with Amazon, however it appears that using AWS for purposes other than
> >  section 5.1.3 is in violation of their agreement. We have subsequently
> >  removed much of the Amazon content from our OPAC and are looking into
> >  other sources of enriched data.
> >
> >
> >
> >  Jesse Haro, Web Services Manager
> >  Phoenix Public Library
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  On Fri, 22 Feb 2008, GINTHER, Craig wrote:
> >
> >  > Hello all, I was reviewing the message below in light of recent
> changes to Amazon Web Services (from ECS to Amazon Associates) and see the
> following in the Terms of Use now, not sure if it was always there:
> >  >
> >  > 5.1.3. You are not permitted to use Amazon Associates Web Service
> with any Application or for any use that does not have, as its principal
> purpose, driving traffic to the Amazon Website and driving sales of products
> and services on the Amazon Website.
> >  >
> >  > It seems to me that this may have some impact on use of Amazon for
> cover images in OPACs.  Thoughts on this?
> >  >
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > -----Original Message-----
> >  > From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
> >  > [mailto:NGC4LIB <at> listserv.nd.edu]On Behalf Of Joshua Ferraro
> >  > Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 9:27 PM
> >  > To: NGC4LIB <at> listserv.nd.edu
> >  > Subject: [NGC4LIB] Use of Amazon.com Content in Koha's Catalog
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > Hey gang,
> >  >
> >  > Over the past few years, since I wrote the original Amazon.com module
> >  > for Koha, I've received literally hundreds of complaints, mostly from
> >  > librarians, about the legality of Koha's use of Amazon.com's Web
> >  > Services. In fact, it's fair to say I've spent considerably more time
> >  > responding to these questions than I did writing the original module.
> >  >
> >  > So the bottom line is, I wasn't surprised that within minutes of my
> >  > response to Amy's NGC list, the Amazon questions started pouring in
> .
> >  > I've gotten a few dozen already, some of which are on-list. Rather
> than
> >  > repeat myself, I'll just make one public statement on the topic, that
> >  > covers the typical questions raised; so please don't be offended if I
> >  > don't reply individually to all of you. I'd be happy to field any
> >  > additional questions on the topic on-list.
> >  >
> >  > So ... first of all, shocking as it may seem, Koha has the capability
> to
> >  > use Amazon.com content in the OPAC. To see this in action, feel free
> to
> >  > visit the Athens Public Library's OPAC:
> >  >
> >  > http://search.athenscounty.lib.oh.us.
> >  >
> >  > It's perfectly legal to use the content. In fact, Amazon.comexpressly
> >  > created the web services program so that people would use it. Their
> >  > business angle is no different than any other content provider --
> they
> >  > expect to make money. The difference is that they don't want to make
> the
> >  > money from the people using the content. Instead, they are hoping
> that
> >  > the content will drive users to their website and that those users
> will
> >  > purchase something.
> >  >
> >  > If you have hesitations about this business model and don't think
> your
> >  > library should be involved in it, no problem, you can simply
> >  > turn it off in your Koha installation and purchase similar services
> from
> >  > other content providers with more traditional compensation methods.
> >  > No-one is going to try to force you to use Amazon.com . And for
> the
> >  > record, I'd be happy to have a philosophical discussion about the
> rights
> >  > and wrongs of using public money to purchase non-traditional (or
> traditional
> >  > for that matter ) content services that promote a specific online
> company
> >  > any time. 
> >  >
> >  > However, if, like the libraries that LibLime supports, you are on a
> tight
> >  > budget, yet want to provide your patrons with this content,
> Amazon.com's
> >  > alternative service model gives you that ability. Here's how it works
> >  > and why it's legal.
> >  >
> >  > Let me preface this by adding that I've had extensive conversations
> with
> >  > Amazon.com's US legal department about Koha's use of Web Services,
> and
> >  > they have confirmed that Koha does not violate the terms of their
> >  > agreement. This point is worth making: they _want_ your library to
> use
> >  > their content .
> >  >
> >  > First off, a bit of background on Amazon.com's Web Services Program.
> >  > The basic idea is that Amazon provides machine-readable access to
> >  > content they have for sale. That content is indexed by ISBN number,
> >  > which makes it trivial to identify a relationship between an item in
> a
> >  > library catalog and an item on Amazon.com. Here's what the Web
> Services
> >  > currently contain that libraries are interested in:
> >  >
> >  > 1. Item Jacket Cover Images
> >  > 2. Item reviews by Amazon.com patrons
> >  > 3. Item ratings by Amazon.com patrons
> >  > 4. Professionaly written item descriptions and reviews
> >  >
> >  > Koha's Amazon module can interact with Amazon.com's web services
> program
> >  > in several possible ways, in accordance with the license agreement[1]
> that
> >  > every Web Services user must abide by:
> >  >
> >  > 1. Koha can be configured to periodically download content en masse
> and
> >  >        locally cache the content on one of your library services and
> >  >        serve it to your users via the OPAC;
> >  > 2. Koha can download the content in real-time as an OPAC page is
> loaded.
> >  >
> >  > The Web Services agreement has very specific requirements about usage
> and
> >  > discusses both of these methods in great detail. The most relevant
> points
> >  > to this discussion are:
> >  >
> >  >  * if content is cached locally, it must be updated every 24 hours;
> >  >  * if you download in real-time, you can only download up to 1000
> items
> >  >        per IP address per day;
> >  >  * if you download in real-time, you cannot download more than one
> item per
> >  >        second per IP address.
> >  >  * if you use their content, you must provide a link back to _any_
> >  >        Amazon.com page
> >  >
> >  > Since Koha's system supports both cacheing and real-time downloads of
> the
> >  > content, based on a library's usage patterns, they would need to
> determine
> >  > which method or combination of methods would work best for their
> situation.
> >  > Keep in mind that images are downloaded from the user's browser, not
> from the
> >  > Koha application, so the 1000 queries per day per IP address and
> 1/second rule
> >  > don't apply to the Koha server.
> >  >
> >  > If a library didn't want to cache data locally, yet had more than
> 1000
> >  > views of their detail pages, it would be very trivial to simply track
> the
> >  > number of times that Amazon.com content was syndicated, and turn it
> off
> >  > after the day's cap. It would be similarly trivial to keep track of
> the
> >  > number of queries to detail pages per second and only permit one per
> >  > second; or to use javascript to download the content from the browser
> >  > rather than the server. It's not at all difficult to use Amazon's
> program
> >  > without abusing it. And it's ultimately up to each library to make an
> >  > informed decision about whether and how to use it.
> >  >
> >  > So ... hope this qwells the fears somewhat. Feel free to ask for more
> >  > clarification.
> >  >
> >  > Cheers,
> >  >
> >  > --
> >  > Joshua Ferraro                       SUPPORT FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE
> >  > President, Technology       migration, training, maintenance, support
> >  > LibLime                                Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS
> >  > jmf <at> liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS
> >  >
> >  > [1] Here's a link to the entire Web Services Agreement:
> >  >
> http://www.amazon.com/AWS-License-home-page-Money/b/ref=sc_fe_c_2_3434651_2/105-6373537-4758038?ie=UTF8&node=3440661&no=3434651&me=A36L942TSJ2AJA
> >  >
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> >  > telephone number shown above or by return e-mail and delete
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> >  >
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>
>
> --
> Check out my library at http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding
>