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If you pay any attention at all to scholarly publishing, you're likely aware of the current uproar over PLOS' recent announcement requiring all article authors to make their data publicly available. This is a bold move, and a forward-looking policy from PLOS. It may, for many reasons, have come too early to be effective, but ultimately, that may not be the point.

Make no mistake, data availability is an important new frontier in scholarly research. Last year's White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memo on public access to research results

The finalists for the 34th annual L.A. Times Book Prizes were announced Wednesday morning: 50 books in 10 categories are in the running to win the L.A. Times Book Prizes, to be awarded in April. Two authors will receive special recognition: John Green with the Innovators Award and Susan Straight with the Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement.

Prime members get two-day shipping on a large number of Amazon items at no extra cost, plus the ability to borrow Kindle books and stream movies. Prime currently costs $79 a year, but that might jump to $99 or even $119, according to Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) chief financial officer Thomas Szkutak.

An extra $40 would represent a 51% price hike and could push customers away. But the math might still makes sense for Prime members, depending on how often they take advantage of the free two-day shipping option.

The way print is used and produced is changing. Transformative technologies have arrived. Economies have shifted. Customers are demanding more added value. Discover the ten key trends that will shape the printing industry in 2014, and how you can harness them to thrive and succeed.

Everybody knows what a book looks like. Even as e-books become more popular, the basic idea is the same as it's been for centuries: a rectangular block. And Chang-rae Lee's On Such a Full Sea is no exception-on the inside, at least. On the outside, however, the novel is something entirely new.

The book will be available Jan. 7 in limited edition with what the publisher, Riverhead Books, is calling the first-ever 3D-printed slipcover, the result of a collaboration with the 3D-printing mavens at Makerbot.

Shebooks (shebooks.net) entered the booming e-singles market today with a collection of nine titles aimed at the largest reader segment women. Shebooks also announced plans for a unique subscription offering for accessing the publisher's growing collection of titles. The nine titles released on the Shebooks preview site today (view on shebooks.net) include six memoirs and three works of fiction by well-established authors and essayists, including Hope Edelman, Marion Winik, Faith Adiele, Jessica Anja Blau and Suzanne Paola.

2013 has seen a drastic rise in requests to ban books - especially those about race or sexuality - from schools. The Kids' Right to Read Project (KRRP), which is part of the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), says that, in the past year, it has investigated 49 book bannings or removals of books from shelves in 29 states, a 53 percent increase from the year before.

In a trendy coffee shop called Elixr, on a side street off of Philadelphia’s toney Rittenhouse Square, there is funky décor, loud music, strong coffee, and, by the door, a small vending machine. From this machine, for two dollars, one can purchase not cigarettes or candy or any of those other typically unhealthy vending machine wares, but, instead, a short story.

Publishers from Bloomsbury, Faber, Penguin Press, and more choose their books of the year, and the ones that got away.

The book that made my year: Many years ago, I was sitting in Blake's bar in Enniskillen with John McGahern and he recommended an American novel from the 60s, written by John Williams: a book called Stoner. I thought it was astonishing, and I passed it to vintage, who brought it out in 2003 with John's introduction.

Banned and challenged books get a lot of press during Banned Books Week, but I think it's important to discuss issues like censorship year round and not just for one week at the end of September. Since most challenges involve material read in schools or marketed to young adults and librarians who serve teen patrons are often at the center of these issues, I thought an overview of books that were challenged in 2013 would be of interest to Hub readers. Of course, this isn't meant to be an exhaustive list,