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2.1 Introduction
Malaysia has not only survived, but has also prospered, with its economy
registering one of the highest growth rates in the world. Today Malaysians are
bristling with self-confidence as they march towards the vision of a fully
developed nation by 2020.
The book industry in Malaysia, like most other sectors, has also benefitted
from the nation’s economic boom. Almost every aspect of the book industry
output of local book publishers, number and quality of retail outlets,
representation of overseas publishers in the local market, participation in
international trade fairs, and governmental support for the industry has
witnessed very positive and encouraging figures.
For example, the average daily output of new titles in 1966 was less than 2;
currently, it is nearly 20. At the international level, the size of the national
stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair never exceeded 4 square meters up to the
mid-1980s; in 1995, the national stand covered an area of 50 square meters.
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Examples of publishers:
a) Pustaka Salam
b) Hizbi
c) Darul Nu’man
d) Pustaka Fajar
g) Pustaka Aman
h) GC Edar, etc.
v. Books written by great scholars such as Syed Quth, Fathi Yakan, etc.
vi. It is suspected that the publishers didn’t pay royalty to the original
authors or publishers
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University publishers
Research Institutions
It is only on confirmation that these criteria are met that the production
process in initiated to produce a book
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The earliest published works were research reports, but as universities and
other research institutes were founded and research activities increased,
scholarly publishing grew in scope and importance.
Not every scholar considers this scenario desirable; not everybody believes it
to be technically, economically, or legally feasible; nobody expects an
overnight transformation.
Printed documents are so much part of scholarship that their dominant role
cannot change except gradually, but many normally cautious people believe
that some important uses of printing may be replaced by electronic
information within comparatively few years.
The scholarly works published are of two kinds; textbooks and reference
materials.
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You have now reached the stage where you should be able to discuss the content of the
topic with your group.
Most established academic disciplines have their own journals. For example
in medicine, dentistry, law, education, information science, etc.
Most scientific and scholarly journals are based on some form of peer review
or editorial refereeing to quality texts for publications
Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for
scrutiny of new research, and the critique of the existing research
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ii. Under this act, book can be banned. Being a multi-ethnic and multi-
religious nation, Malaysia has to be highly sensitive to publications
that can contribute to the outbreak of racial riots and religious
conflicts. Books that fall under this category of publications are
banned. This decision is made only after the books have become
available.
iii. In other words, prior clearance from the Home Affairs Ministry is not
required. In the case of imported books, if particular titles in the
invoice arouse the suspicion of the inspecting customs officer, then
sample copies have to be submitted for examination.
iv. Up to 1980’s, a lot of the books banned came under the “communist
propaganda” category. The current focus is more on books that touch
on racial and religious sensitivities.
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ii. The main aim of this act is to ensure that all materials published in the
country are “preserved” for current and future use.
iii. Under this Act, it is mandatory for all publishers (private companies,
individuals, government departments and agencies, research
institutes, etc.) to submit 5 copies of all printed materials (e.g., books,
journals, newsletters, maps, newspapers) and 2 copies of non-printed
materials (e.g., CD-ROM, audio and video recordings,
cinematographic films) to the National Library.
iv. A penalty can be imposed for failure to submit. Reminder letters from
the National Library and increasing awareness of this requirement
have ensured a high degree of compliance.
v. In the past, it was difficult for the national Library to monitor the
numerous titles published in the country. Now, with more
organizations using the ISBN (which is issued by the National Library),
it has become easier to monitor and take follow-up actions.
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ii. Under this Act, such publications are those prejudicial to public order,
morality, security, the relationship with any foreign country or
government, or which is likely to alarm public opinion, or which is
country to any law or is otherwise prejudicial to public interest or
national interest. Any person who publishes, imports, or distributes
such publications can be fined up to US$8000 or jailed for 3 years.
iii. This Act is currently being viewed to tighten some of the provisions.
For example, those involved in selling pornographic materials are
allegedly making big profits from this business and many have
returned to this business after paying the fines. There is a proposal to
increase the fine to the maximum amount and jail sentence to 5 years.
ii. This Act provides copyright protection for 50 years for published
editions from the beginning of the calendar year following the year in
which the edition was first published. Under this Act, copyright is
considered as movable property which can be transferred by
assignment or by operation of law. Penalties under this Act for
copyright offences are severe.
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iv. Book piracy in Malaysia has declined over the years. Today, it is no
longer considered a serious enforcement matter, though reports of
infringement do surface once in a while. There is widespread feeling,
however, that book piracy is quite widespread in the area of Islamic
publications.
vi. Book piracy can take a variety of forms. Today, photostating of entire
books is considered an important problem area requiring action. This
type of book piracy is big business for several photostating shops. In
particular, expensive tertiary-level student textbooks and reference
books attract this type of piracy.
vii. To deal with this problems, three book trade associations (MAPOBA,
MBIA, IKATAN) have formed a private limited company, Copyright
Clearance Centre Malaysia Sdn Bhd, to license photostating
companies to collect royalties on behalf of publishers. Because of
various difficulties, this company has yet to start its activities.
viii. Other legislation relevant to the book industry include the Trade Marks
Act 1976, Trade Description Act 1972 and Cheap Sale Price
Regulations 1987. In some instances, it would be easier to take action
under the Trade Marks or Trade Descriptions Act for copyright
infringement. For those planning to hold book warehouse or retail
sales, familiarity and compliance with the regulations concerning them
are required.
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ii. Publishers are already claiming losses of $600 million dollars due to e-
book piracy (Masnick, 2009), but these claims are probably
outrageously inaccurate. Consumers buying habits must be changed.
The best way to do this is to get a potential e-book customer
accustomed to buying from a legitimate source. Customers should be
allowed to move a legally purchased object from machine to machine,
even if it only allows usage on one machine at a time.
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Many books have changed peoples’ mind and becoming the proud of a nation
For examples, Mega trends 2000 (John Nasbit), The age of paradox, Power
shift, War and anti war (Alvin Tofler)
All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been; it is lying as in magic
preservation in the pages of books
You have now reached the stage where you should be able to discuss the content of the
topic with your group.
Identify one title of great book that you know and discuss its contribution in changing
people’s mind.
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With 112 companies as members, the MBA represents the book retailers in
the country. Established in 1969, it is the oldest book trade association.
Together with the MBA, it fixes the conversion rates for the sale of imported
books.
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In addition to the above, there are other associations whose activities directly
or indirectly affect the development of the book industry. Among these are
Malaysian Reading Association (MRA), National Writers Association
(GAPENA), Malaysian Academic Publishers Association (PAPIM).
The council works on a voluntary basis. Its strength and support come from
members, both the public as well as the private sector. But the administrative
function is provided by a professional secretariat in the Ministry of Education.
Among other things, the council’s main objectives are to promote
professionalism in the book industry, co-ordinate book development activities,
encourage reading habits and facilitate negotiations among the parties that
are involved in the production and consumption of books.
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In Malaysia, most of the major publishers have published their materials in the
CD-ROM formats as well as online publications (i.e., e-books and e-journals)
Currently, the users of libraries and information centres are becoming more
and more familiar with electronic resources, such as reference works,
databases and electronic journals with full texts.
These resources have been easily adapted to the digital format, and they
have been rapidly accepted and assimilated by the users.
A few years ago, there were very few readers that could give documented
answers about the use and knowledge of e-books (IDPF, 2006). However,
nowadays more and more people know and handle these new formats.
On the other hand, until very recently, e-book reading devices were almost
non-existent in the libraries, in view of the many deficiencies they presented.
Currently, many of those deficiencies have been solved. Electronic books are
emerging as the last frontier that publishers, libraries and information centres
alike must cross in order to adapt their resources to the digital revolution.
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Many librarians feel that the technology to solve the problems and take
advantage of e-publishing is either currently available or clearly under
development. How the advent and increasing presence of e-publications will
impact the people who will read them may ultimately be of more importance
than what will do with the machines, the storage media or the delivery
mechanism. Therefore, emphasis in this special theme issue is more on the
humaninteraction aspects of e-publishing rather than on the technology or
delivery mechanisms.
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Some of the advantages to libraries and their users in solving these problems
and using the solutions in providing library services are:
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In addition to individuals with the know-how to crack these files, there was an
even easier way to acquire these files. The internet has provided us with not
only a publishing technology, but also provided a home for entities such as
USENET and bitTorrent. USENET has actually been around much longer
than the world wide web.
It consists of many user groups that have banded together for their own
singular purposes. That is not to say that all individuals who frequent the
USENET sites are evil, but it is known to be a hot bed of file and interest
sharing. Torrents, on the other hand, work differently but are reviled as file
sharing neighborhoods just the same. To date, most of the digital rights
management types of software have not been very effective. Every time a
company comes out with a new type of digital rights management, someone
in the internet community will find a crack in the armor of the DRM and
publish it online for everyone to see. It is just like the constant battle between
the arms maker and the armorer, each one besting the other until a new and
more effective scheme can be hatched.
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The changes that are taking place in publishing are much more a revolution
than a transition. The development of electronic methods of communication
has been tremendously beneficial to the user community in facilitating the
rapid transfer of ideas between them, with no barriers, wherever in the world.
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text and pixel retrieval, storage, local and Source : taken from Google image
other networks, personal computers, the
workstation, laser printer, network computer, Internet, Intranets, Java, digital
broadcasting, etc. Many new products emerge based on hypertext and other
navigation systems with clickthrough facilities. Services like alerts, based on
personal profiles would come into existence. The information industry is
working on meta indexes and intelligent agents. Information could be
searched and presented in different layers, using standard generalized
markup language (SGML), that makes rich indexing. A new world for 3D
simulation, video and sound embedded documents would be possible due to
multimedia. Virtual reality allows for a new vision and could be used
extensively in design, production, education, telelearning and teleteaching.
The future would be InterCast, a combination of cable or digital broadcast
television with a telephone line for interactive communications.
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a) To what extent has scholarly publishing promote the reading culture among
Malaysians?
b) What are the major threats and opportunities associated with electronic publishing?
c) Discuss how the National Book Development Council promotes reading and
publishing in Malaysia.
e) Discuss the importance of the copyright laws in protecting the publishing industry.
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