University of Adelaide Ebook Library seems to be gone

doubleshuffle · 01-05-2020, 01:35 AM

One of the great ebook libraries seems to be gone. It hadn't been maintained for a while, but was still accessible. Now, when going to

https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/

I get nothing but a "page not found" notice from the Univ. of Adelaide.

Great loss if that resource should really be gone for good.

maddz · 01-05-2020, 02:52 AM

It's still potentially accessible via Wayback Machine. It looks like you can't read online though but I got a download link. However, the download itself is garbage, so no joy there.

rcentros · 01-05-2020, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Great loss if that resource should really be gone for good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddz

It's still potentially accessible via Wayback Machine.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180327...elaide.edu.au/

This link seems to work for the titles I tested.

doubleshuffle · 01-05-2020, 04:56 AM

Yes, that seems to be working. Thanks!

rcentros · 01-05-2020, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Yes, that seems to be working. Thanks!

I'm trying to figure out why they disappeared. Seems like an awful lot of work was put into this collection to just let it go. Maybe the person who maintained it moved on?

maddz · 01-05-2020, 09:22 AM

Or there's issues with copyright and non-AUS access. (Or possibly the server has been burnt out.)

Quoth · 01-05-2020, 10:40 AM

Beancounters.
I've seen loads of University web resources vanish. Like Ancient Irish Literature at UCC in Ireland.

Universities seem to care more about image and revenue now. See Dundee and the great Space Radio Astronomy scandal where they claimed they couldn't afford it etc.

The University in my home town has cared more about Empire Building and status than education for 20 years here.

pwalker8 · 01-05-2020, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Beancounters.
I've seen loads of University web resources vanish. Like Ancient Irish Literature at UCC in Ireland.

Universities seem to care more about image and revenue now. See Dundee and the great Space Radio Astronomy scandal where they claimed they couldn't afford it etc.

The University in my home town has cared more about Empire Building and status than education for 20 years here.

Got to pay for the assistant to the assistant to the assistant associate administrator of building aesthetics some how. I read an article that said that the average university now has more administrators than professors now.

AnotherCat · 01-05-2020, 03:28 PM

Another contributing possibility is that as time has moved on from the change from being a +50 year country to being a +70 one around 15 years ago, as a result Australia's concession to that in their free trade agreement with the USA, the Adelaide collection has become increasingly irrelevant.

Project Gutenberg and Project Gutenberg Australia with an Australiana collection more than fill that +70 space already, but perhaps not so tidily. I have never checked to see if PG Australia provides for the non retrospective nature of the Australian copyright change.

Pulpmeister · 01-06-2020, 10:53 PM

PG Australia conforms to Australian copyright: authors who died before 1955 are in the PD. The switch was non-retrospective, as you say, and the transition to L+70 has been edging along a year at a time. The current state is effectively L+63 or thereabouts.

PG Aus has among others Olaf Stapledon, PD in Oz but not L+70 until next year.

hobnail · 01-07-2020, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'm trying to figure out why they disappeared. Seems like an awful lot of work was put into this collection to just let it go. Maybe the person who maintained it moved on?

The last update according to its News page was October 2016. I'm guessing that he moved on or maybe his boss did and his new boss said to stop working on it.

Regarding remarks like "assistant to the assistant to the assistant associate administrator" I worked at a university as a web site administrator in addition to other duties and sometimes fiats come down from on high that all web pages must have a consistent appearance; same header and footer, etc. Sometimes it's done at the web server level rather than page by page. Or the whole site is put under a new content management system. These pages had obviously not been integrated into the rest of the site.

doubleshuffle · 01-07-2020, 12:40 AM

To get such a huge number of books proof-read and formatted, there must have been many people working on it over the years, putting in hundreds, probably thousands of hours. And then someone decides to nuke it -- all that work just up in smoke... It's such a shameful waste.

hobnail · 01-07-2020, 02:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

To get such a huge number of books proof-read and formatted, there must have been many people working on it over the years, putting in hundreds, probably thousands of hours. And then someone decides to nuke it -- all that work just up in smoke... It's such a shameful waste.

I checked several books and they were all available from Project Gutenberg and/or other sites. So it may have only been the formatting that was done. I'd also read his pages on how he set up the formatting/css and my impression was that it was a one man job.

doubleshuffle · 01-07-2020, 02:17 AM

I never read those pages about the formatting. I'm pretty sure, though, that I've found books there over the years that were not available from Gutenberg, and only as scans elsewhere. I might be wrong though.

I sure liked the formatting, because it could be very quickly cleaned up to produce an epub the way I like it.

binaryhermit · 01-07-2020, 11:43 PM

tis official https://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/...icially-closed

01-05-2020, 01:35 AM	#1
doubleshuffle Unicycle Daredevil Posts: 13,923 Karma: 185041098 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Planet of the Pudding Brains Device: Aura HD (R.I.P. After six years the USB socket died.) tolino shine 3	University of Adelaide Ebook Library seems to be gone One of the great ebook libraries seems to be gone. It hadn't been maintained for a while, but was still accessible. Now, when going to https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ I get nothing but a "page not found" notice from the Univ. of Adelaide. Great loss if that resource should really be gone for good.

01-05-2020, 02:52 AM	#2
maddz Wizard Posts: 1,273 Karma: 28630044 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Device: Kobo Forma, Icarus, iPad Mini 2, Kobo Touch, Google Nexus 7	It's still potentially accessible via Wayback Machine. It looks like you can't read online though but I got a download link. However, the download itself is garbage, so no joy there. Last edited by maddz; 01-05-2020 at 02:57 AM.

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01-05-2020, 04:56 AM	#4
doubleshuffle Unicycle Daredevil Posts: 13,923 Karma: 185041098 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Planet of the Pudding Brains Device: Aura HD (R.I.P. After six years the USB socket died.) tolino shine 3	Yes, that seems to be working. Thanks!

01-05-2020, 09:22 AM	#6
maddz Wizard Posts: 1,273 Karma: 28630044 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Device: Kobo Forma, Icarus, iPad Mini 2, Kobo Touch, Google Nexus 7	Or there's issues with copyright and non-AUS access. (Or possibly the server has been burnt out.)

01-05-2020, 10:40 AM	#7
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 11,158 Karma: 85874891 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	Beancounters. I've seen loads of University web resources vanish. Like Ancient Irish Literature at UCC in Ireland. Universities seem to care more about image and revenue now. See Dundee and the great Space Radio Astronomy scandal where they claimed they couldn't afford it etc. The University in my home town has cared more about Empire Building and status than education for 20 years here.

01-05-2020, 03:28 PM	#9
AnotherCat .... Posts: 1,547 Karma: 18068960 Join Date: May 2012 Device: ....	Another contributing possibility is that as time has moved on from the change from being a +50 year country to being a +70 one around 15 years ago, as a result Australia's concession to that in their free trade agreement with the USA, the Adelaide collection has become increasingly irrelevant. Project Gutenberg and Project Gutenberg Australia with an Australiana collection more than fill that +70 space already, but perhaps not so tidily. I have never checked to see if PG Australia provides for the non retrospective nature of the Australian copyright change.

01-06-2020, 10:53 PM	#10
Pulpmeister Wizard Posts: 2,502 Karma: 28893796 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Perth Western Australia Device: kindle	PG Australia conforms to Australian copyright: authors who died before 1955 are in the PD. The switch was non-retrospective, as you say, and the transition to L+70 has been edging along a year at a time. The current state is effectively L+63 or thereabouts. PG Aus has among others Olaf Stapledon, PD in Oz but not L+70 until next year.

01-07-2020, 12:40 AM	#12
doubleshuffle Unicycle Daredevil Posts: 13,923 Karma: 185041098 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Planet of the Pudding Brains Device: Aura HD (R.I.P. After six years the USB socket died.) tolino shine 3	To get such a huge number of books proof-read and formatted, there must have been many people working on it over the years, putting in hundreds, probably thousands of hours. And then someone decides to nuke it -- all that work just up in smoke... It's such a shameful waste.

01-07-2020, 02:17 AM	#14
doubleshuffle Unicycle Daredevil Posts: 13,923 Karma: 185041098 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Planet of the Pudding Brains Device: Aura HD (R.I.P. After six years the USB socket died.) tolino shine 3	I never read those pages about the formatting. I'm pretty sure, though, that I've found books there over the years that were not available from Gutenberg, and only as scans elsewhere. I might be wrong though. I sure liked the formatting, because it could be very quickly cleaned up to produce an epub the way I like it.

01-07-2020, 11:43 PM	#15
binaryhermit Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,696 Karma: 20469902 Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Lockport, IL Device: Kindle PW4, Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition	tis official https://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/...icially-closed

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