LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Morning Edition on NPR

The growing popularity of e-books has raised a difficult question in the publishing marketplace that used to have an easy answer: What's a book worth?

Because they cost less to produce, consumers think e-books should be cheap. But publishers are afraid that if the price goes too low, they may never recover from the diminished expectations.

Some observers wonder if the publishers' pricing strategy is short-sighted. Jason Epstein, a well-known editor, publisher and author who has worked in the business for more than a half-century, says e-books are "the most exciting event, as far as books are concerned, in 500 years."

Full piece

This week a federal judge heard arguments to determine whether to approve the settlement between Google and two major arms of the publishing industry over Google Books. Many groups used this week's hearings to air grievances with the project. Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig argues an unintended consequence of the settlement could alter print culture as we know it.

Transcript and MP3 file here

About 10 years ago I was having my annual holiday party, and my niece had come with her newly minted M.B.A. boyfriend. As he looked around the room, he noted that my employees seemed happy. I told him that I thought they were.

Then, figuring I would take his new degree for a test drive, I asked him how he thought I did that. “I’m sure you treat them well,” he replied.

“That’s half of it,” I said. “Do you know what the other half is?”

He didn’t have the answer, and neither have the many other people that I have told this story. So what is the answer? I fired the unhappy people. People usually laugh at this point. I wish I were kidding.

Full article here.

New Zealand: Government Internet Filter Now Being Used by Two ISP’s
The Resource Shelf points out the government managed Internet filter is now being used by two ISP’s, Maxnet and Watchdog.

On March 10, appropriations committees in the Florida House and Senate adopted positions eliminating all funding for Florida’s State Aid to Public Libraries program. This devastating action will result in some Florida library branches closing and will seriously cripple libraries’ ability to serve Floridians. Libraries have already taken their share of local and state budget cuts. This will be especially damaging to libraries in Florida’s rural communities, as these libraries rely heavily on provisions in the program that help communities with lower tax bases.

ps - to commentators: would some of you jokers please add some jokes to our Librarian Joke Contest? thanks~

Behavior Changes Linked to March Madness
Charles Clotfelter, Z. Smith Reynolds Professor of Public Policy at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, used data from 78 research libraries in the U.S. to determine the number of articles viewed from February through April in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The number of articles viewed on Monday through Wednesday of those weeks averaged more than 1,000 a day per library.

Clotfelter found that the number of articles viewed through the JSTOR digital repository of academic journals increased an average rate of 5 percent a week in the weeks leading up to “Selection Sunday,” but fell 6 percent in the week right after the NCAA field was announced. The following week, library usage resumed its increase, at a rate of 3 percent a week.

Having a Nose for Degraded Documents
At long last, scientists have developed a “sniff test” to measure the telltale aroma of old books and irreplaceable historical documents. You know the smell — that “combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness,” as the authors put it. Inhale and smell the Industrial Revolution!

Nation Shudders at Large Block of Uninterrupted Text
"Unable to rest their eyes on a colorful photograph or boldface heading that could be easily skimmed and forgotten about, Americans collectively recoiled Monday when confronted with a solid block of uninterrupted text...Dumbfounded citizens from Maine to California gazed helplessly at the frightening chunk of print, unsure of what to do next. Without an illustration, chart, or embedded YouTube video to ease them in, millions were frozen in place, terrified by the sight of one long, unbroken string of English words."

Literary Monster Mashup
Seth Grahame-Smith started it. He wrote a monster mash-up of Jane Austen and his own imagination called “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” It sold a million copies and set off an avalanche: “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters” … “Emma and the Werewolves” … “The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies” … “Alice in Zombieland” … “Jane Bites Back.” Now Grahame-Smith is back with his follow-up — “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” Literature and zombies. History and vampires. Selling like hotcakes. What’s going on?
This hour, On Point: the monster mash-up craze.

One of my favorite lists to read is NGC4Lib "'next generation' library catalogs" list. I'm not much of a cataloger, nor do I even use a catalog at work, but NGC4Lib has some of the best discussions anywhere. This one is no exception, and worth a read. Set off by This Article over on LJ about the dispute over cost to use non-OCLC records for ILL. It's a great discussion on the role of OCLC, WorldCat, SkyRiver and DIY approaches to resource sharing and collaboration. Tim Spalding of LibraryThing takes a big swing at OCLC:

The real work here is done by librarians, not OCLC.... Today, when libraries are starting to realize OCLC's core service isn't worth what it was worth in 1967, OCLC is looking to permanently lock up their central position with viral contracts and, as the MSU case makes clear, monopoly pricing and flat-out bullying.

Lorcan Dempsey: Ting: collaboratively sourced library infrastructure
Ting is an initiative which is creating a shared systems and data infrastructure for Danish public libraries - and potentially others. At its heart is a 'data well', an enriched aggregate of data (see a list of data sources here). Another important component is Ding, a Drupal-based content management system for presenting library resources.

Because this is the business we've chosen
For Dan Chudnov... "Help people build their own libraries." Another attractive aspect of the mission to "help people build their own libraries" is that it provides yet another obvious twist on Ranganathan's five laws of library science: Libraries are social organisms.

What Two Challenges are Most Critical to Public Libraries?

The ALA election season is upon us (electronic polls open and paper ballot mailing begins) on March 16 and polls close on April 23, 2010. We wanted to find out a bit more about the two ALA presidential candidates, so we asked them to provide us with an answer, for the PLA blog, to the following question: “What two challenges are most critical to public libraries today and how can ALA and PLA help public librarians meet those challenges?”

Both said budgets, one vot for technology and one for "Managing in a rapidly changing environment"

In what is apparently an effort to correct the glitch that caused the wild discounting of graphic novels on Amazon.com, the online retailer has been forced to remove the buy buttons from all comics publishers distributed by Diamond Comics Distributors. Right now, graphic novels from Marvel, IDW, Dark Horse, Archaia, Image Comics, Top Shelf and others—comics publishers distributed by Diamond—cannot be purchased on Amazon.com except through resellers.

While neither Amazon nor Diamond has commented officially on the situation, there has been speculation that the glitch was caused by Diamond. The current development seems to confirm it.

Full story at Publisher's Weekly

According to NFI Research, these are the top public libraries on Twitter who

Book publishers have long seen themselves as the gatekeepers of literary culture. But when they’re not looking, the truth has a way of being left at the door.

Last week Henry Holt & Company stopped printing and selling “The Last Train From Hiroshima,” about the atomic bombing of Japan, because its author had relied on a fraudulent source for a portion of the book and possibly fabricated others.

This is not the first time a publisher has been humiliated by an author’s unverified work. But this instance has occurred at a time when the publisher’s traditional role is under economic and technological stress.

Full article in the NYT

Here is the first paragraph from an intriguing essay. “People who reject e-books often say they can’t live without the heft, the texture and — curiously — the scent of traditional books. This aria of hypersensual book love is not my favorite performance. I sometimes suspect that those who gush about book odor might not like to read. If they did, why would they waste so much time inhaling? Among the best features of the Kindle, Amazon’s great e-reader, is that there’s none of that. The device, which consigns all poetry and prose to the same homely fog-toned screen, leaves nothing to the experience of books but reading. This strikes me as honest, even revolutionary.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07FOB-medium-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Hey, LISNews has company...Salem Press (they publish literary and history reference libraries in a variety of formats) is looking for the coolest library/librarian blogs around. Here's their contest announcement:

As you are probably aware, blogs about libraries have spread across the web. There are (literally) hundreds of people writing about books, libraries, librarians and related subjects. If you count the blogs that come from specific institutions, spreading local news, there are thousands of the things. Some are funny. Some are brilliant. Others, aren't.

Salem Press' staff includes many fans of library blogs. We're entertained and enlightened by them. So, we've decided to recognize the best efforts in the field. Not only to praise the praise-worthy but also to publicize the good stuff. To that end, we're hosting something we call the Library Blog Awards. We think there should be a well-organized directory of library blogs and a "peoples' awards" program of some kind to let folks know what blogs are best-liked and most widely read.

Go for it bloggers!! Thanks to the Effing Librarian for the tip!

Do you think Amazon.com and other internet-only businesses have a right to sell product without collecting sales tax when brick & mortar businesses have been collecting and sending in taxes for years?

If so...skip to the next story...or add your comment below.

E-FACT provides independent businesses and booksellers in particular in the 42 states that collect sales tax but do not have e-fairness legislation state-specific templates to their state legislators and Governor calling for e-fairness. Businesses can simply go to E-FACT and navigate to their state, where they will find the relevant documents that can be adapted and then e-mailed to the appropriate person. We plan for E-FACT to grow over the next few weeks to include op-ed pieces, FAQs, relevant articles, and practical suggestions for advocating on behalf of e-fairness.