Microsoft abandons Live Search Books project

Last year Microsoft announced plans to digitize millions of out of copyright books and to make them available online for free, in an attempt to challenge Google Books. Now it has given up the fight, and plans to abandon the project, recognising Google's market dominance in the area.

The following is the announcement from Microsoft:

May 25 2008

Today we informed our partners that we are ending the Live Search Books and Live Search Academic projects and that both sites will be taken down next week. Books and scholarly publications will continue to be integrated into our Search results, but not through separate indexes.

This also means that we are winding down our digitization initiatives, including our library scanning and our in-copyright book programs. We recognize that this decision comes as disappointing news to our partners, the publishing and academic communities, and Live Search users.

Given the evolution of the Web and our strategy, we believe the next generation of search is about the development of an underlying, sustainable business model for the search engine, consumer, and content partner. For example, this past Wednesday we announced our strategy to focus on verticals with high commercial intent, such as travel, and offer users cash back on their purchases from our advertisers. With Live Search Books and Live Search Academic, we digitized 750,000 books and indexed 80 million journal articles. Based on our experience, we foresee that the best way for a search engine to make book content available will be by crawling content repositories created by book publishers and libraries. With our investments, the technology to create these repositories is now available at lower costs for those with the commercial interest or public mandate to digitize book content. We will continue to track the evolution of the industry and evaluate future opportunities.

As we wind down Live Search Books, we are reaching out to participating publishers and libraries. We are encouraging libraries to build on the platform we developed with Kirtas, the Internet Archive, CCS, and others to create digital archives available to library users and search engines.

In partnership with Ingram Digital Group, we are also reaching out to participating publishers with information about new marketing and sales opportunities designed to help them derive ongoing benefits from their participation in the Live Search Books Publisher Program.
We have learned a tremendous amount from our experience and believe this decision, while a hard one, can serve as a catalyst for more sustainable strategies. To that end, we intend to provide publishers with digital copies of their scanned books. We are also removing our contractual restrictions placed on the digitized library content and making the scanning equipment available to our digitization partners and libraries to continue digitization programs. We hope that our investments will help increase the discoverability of all the valuable content that resides in the world of books and scholarly publications.

Satya NadellaSenior vice president search, portal and advertising

(With thanks to Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter)

Chris

Forthcoming Scottish Lectures and Events - June 2008

The Confusing Heraldry of St. Margaret, by Bruce Durie
University of Strathclyde Genealogy Lecture Series 2008
Tues 3 JUN 2008 at 6.30pm, Ground floor (Level 2), Graham Hills Building, 40 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1QE Cost £3
Web: www.cll.strath.ac.uk/genealogy Tel: 0141 5484147


The Antonine Wall in Scotland, by James Robertson
Friends of Dundee City Archives
Thur 5 JUN 2008, 1.00pm, Glasite Hall, St. Andrew's Church, King Street, Dundee
Web: www.fdca.org.uk Email:archives@dundeecity.gov.uk
Tel: 01382 434494 Fax 01382 434666


Dalgarven Mill Visit
Alloway & Southern Ayrshire Family History Society
Thurs 5 JUN 2008 at 7.00pm
E-mail: secretary@asafhs.co.uk Web: http://www.asafhs.co.uk


Annual MI Graveyard Outing – Portlethen cemetery
Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society - Aberdeen Branch
Sat. 7 JUN 2008 (time unknown)
Tel: 01224 646323 Fax: 01224 639096
E-mail: enquiries@anesfhs.org.uk Web: www.anesfhs.org.uk


AGM and Social Evening
The Lothian Family History Society
Wed 11 JUN 2008, 19:00 – 21.00 Lasswade High School Centre, Eskdale Drive, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, EH19 2LA
Email: lothiansfhs@hotmail.com Web: www.lothiansfhs.org.uk


Scottish Emigration Focus Group – Dumfries
Fri 13 JUN 2008 10am – 3pm, University of Glasgow Crichton Campus, Dumfries (places must be booked by Fri 9 JUN 2008)
A focus groups to provide the opportunity to discuss possible storylines and themes for the new Scottish Emigration Museum. Limited to approximately 30 attendees.
For further info, contact David Taylor, Scottish Emigration Museum Project Development Manager. Tel: 0131 550 4144
E-mail: davidt@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk
Web: http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/areas_of_work/sem_intro.asp


Audience v the Experts Panel of three experts Q & A
Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society
Mon 16 JUN 2008 at St Peter's Church Hall, White Street, Partick, Glasgow
Web: www.gwsfhs.org.uk


AGM, & Cheese and Wine evening
Troon @ Ayrshire Family History Society
Tues 17 JUN 2008 Troon Public Library, South Beach, Troon, Ayrshire, KA10 6EF
E-mail: info@troonayrshirefhs.org.uk Web: www.troonayrshirefhs.org.uk


Scottish Emigration Focus Group – Inverness
Friday 20th June, 10am – 3pm, Subud Centre, Perth (places must be booked by Fri 9 JUN 2008)
A focus groups to provide the opportunity to discuss possible storylines and themes for the new Scottish Emigration Museum. Limited to approximately 30 attendees.
For further info, contact David Taylor, Scottish Emigration Museum Project Development Manager. Tel: 0131 550 4144
E-mail: davidt@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk
Web: http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/areas_of_work/sem_intro.asp


Scottish Emigration Focus Group – Perth
Thur19 JUN 2008 10am – 3pm, Eden Court, Inverness (places must be booked by Fri 9 JUN 2008)
A focus groups to provide the opportunity to discuss possible storylines and themes for the new Scottish Emigration Museum. Limited to approximately 30 attendees.
For further info, contact David Taylor, Scottish Emigration Museum Project Development Manager. Tel: 0131 550 4144
E-mail: davidt@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk
Web: http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/areas_of_work/sem_intro.asp


Early Modes of Transport, by John Baldwin (Edinburgh University)
Islands Book Tust
Thurs 19 JUN 2008, 8.00pm - Taigh Chearsabhagh, Lochmaddy, North Uist
An illustrated talk on the history of carts, creels, sleds and slypes in Uist and Tiree.
Web: www.theislandsbooktrust.com/events
Tel: Alasdair MacEachen (01870) 602124


Annual Outing "Historic Forres"
Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society – Moray / Banff Branch
Sat. 21 JUN 2008 at 2:00pm
Tel: 01224 646323, Fax: 01224 639096
E-mail: enquiries@anesfhs.org.uk Web: www.anesfhs.org.uk


The Shiants, by Adam and Tom Nicolson
Islands Book Trust
Sat 21 JUN 2008 10.30am, Marine Harvest shed, Lemreway, Isle of Lewis.
Talk followed (weather permitting) by boat trip to the islands
Web: www.theislandsbooktrust.com/events
Tel: Alayne Barton 01851 820946


Scottish Emigration Focus Group – Glasgow
Wed 25th June, 10am – 3pm, Blythswood Room, Mitchell Library, Glasgow (places must be booked by Fri 9 JUN 2008)
A focus groups to provide the opportunity to discuss possible storylines and themes for the new Scottish Emigration Museum. Limited to approximately 30 attendees.
For further info, contact David Taylor, Scottish Emigration Museum Project Development Manager. Tel: 0131 550 4144
E-mail: davidt@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk
Web: www. museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/areas_of_work/sem_intro.asp

If you wish to add an event to this diary, please contact us at enquiry @ scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk (all listings on this blog are free)

Perth & Kinross Family History Fair

The third Perth & Kinross Family History Fair will take place on Saturday 23rd August from 10am to 4pm.

Bigger and better than before, the fair will take place in five different venues in Perth and you can visit them all by vintage bus courtesy of Stagecoach. The Library and Archive based at the A. K. Bell building have been joined by the Registrars, Perth and Kinross Heritage Service, the Black Watch Museum and Bereavement Services. Talks will take place in the Museum in the morning and in the Library Theatre in the afternoon. Hands on training sessions will take place in the library computer suite. Many organisations will be exhibiting on the day and if yours would like to be one of them, the Library would like to hear from you!

Watch their website www.pkc.gov.uk/localstudies or look out for the event leaflet closer to the time.

Chris

Republic of Ireland to get a national Famine Remembrance Day

At long last, the southern Irish government has set up a committee to devise an annual commemoration for one of the greatest injustices ever to be visited on the island of Ireland. The Irish Famine of the 1840s, which saw 1.5 million people either die from starvation or forced to emigrate to escape the hunger caused by a series of devastating potato blights, is known in Gaelic as "An Gort Mor", "the Great Pain", and has been commemorated annually in Montreal since 1859, where many of the migrants fled to in its aftermath.

Hopefully the government of the north will follow suit, as the famine there affected both Protestants and Catholics, and was as much as a national tragedy there as it was in the south.

For more information, visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7415927.stm

Chris

A Call to Arms at Edinburgh Castle

A new military exhibition gets underway from Friday 23rd May 2008 until Sunday 1st May 2009 highlighting the various fighting techniques of Scottish soldiers over the centuries. Entitled Call to Arms, the exhibition at Edinburgh Castle will concentrate on the four main archetypal Scottish warriors - the 15th Century mercenary Gallowglass ("Gall oglaigh" - "foreign warrior)", the 17th Century Highland warrior, a 19th Century Scotsman in the British Army, and the modern army.

To learn more on how to wield a claymore and the best methods for leading an effective Highland charge, visit http://www.nms.ac.uk/calltoarms.aspx

Chris

BBC Radio Scotland - A House With a Past

Today saw the start of a new six part series on BBC Radio Scotland which looks into the history of various properties in Scotland, and shows how to research a property's past. The first episode looks at Smithy House near Castle Douglas, the Bay Horse in the Gatehouse of Fleet and how to start research into a property by visiting Registers of Scotland in Edinburgh.

For more information, and to hear the first episode again, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/programmes/ahousewithapast

Chris

Scottish Parliament Archaeology Book Launched

On Tuesday, Culture Minister Linda Fabiani MSP launched the book which reveals the archaeological and historical findings from the site of the Scottish Parliament. Scotland’s Parliament and the Canongate: archaeology and history, details the complex task when a team of archaeologists, historians, specialists in historic buildings and scientists - led by Historic Scotland - began, at that time, the country’s largest archaeological excavation in 1998. The book documents the archaeological excavation and research, and the architectural and historical analysis of the site of the Parliament, and places it in its wider context in the medieval burgh of Canongate. A key part of the study was the investigation of Queensberry House – a major 17th-century urban palace on the edge of the site.

Gordon Barclay, Head of National Policy at Historic Scotland, who led the project and edited the book along with Anna Ritchie, said: “The decision to locate the new parliament building in the heart of the medieval burgh of Canongate, and adjacent to Scotland’s primary royal palace, provided an opportunity to explore a large proportion of an important medieval town that had lain at the centre of Scotland’s history. The integration of the archaeological project with the construction work was a major achievement by the archaeological contractors, Headland Archaeology and SUAT Ltd. The fieldwork and the subsequent analysis of the information retrieved have produced a rich and complex history of the site. It is a great achievement by everyone concerned.”

The book is available from the Scotland’s Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, National Museums Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF - www.socantscot.org

Chris