By Siobhan O’Leary

The Research Services group of the German Parliament is now weighing in on the pros and cons of Open Access and Google Book Search.  As reported in Boersenblatt, the group has issued a 19-page letter stating that opposition to the concept of Open Access is nearly impossible to comprehend. The report praises the transparency of Google’s compensation settlement and points out the company is offering the first practical solution for bringing out of print books back to life, thus allowing publishers and authors to tap into an entirely new income stream.

The Cape Town Book Fair, aka the CTBF (which is a joint-partnership with the Frankfurt Book Fair) will be getting a new managing director as the current director, Vanessa Badroodien, is leaving. Badroodien oversaw the launch of the fair in 2006 and has helped it to become one of the most popular book events on the continent. Next year’s fair will shift from June to late July in order to avoid conflict with the FIFA World Cup. In the interim, Claudia Kaiser, Frankfurt’s Vice President of business development, will be assisting with the transition.

Don’t even think about discounting that book. The drug store chain Kette Müller in the city of Ulm recently offered its a customer appreciation rebate of 3%, which could be used toward their next purchase. They failed to exclude books, which are subject to price fixing, resulting in the authorities issuing a temporary cease and desist order.