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Rest assure that my views on 'blogs' have nothing to do with my activities as ALA president-elect or president. I merely air my views and believe that everyone (including me) has a right to speak in any way they wish and that others have a right to respond.

The immediate past-president of the American Psychological Society writes about why college textbooks are so expensive: Used-book dealers are like video pirates!

Unless and until laws are changed to prevent the organized sale of used books, you can expect textbook prices to keep increasing.

So I'm screaming: "There'd just be a boom in student-to-student book exchanges online!"

Not that that's the only (or even most important) thing his legal solution ignores. Oh, the author also suggests that professors might do their small part to defeat used-book-sales piracy by giving their comp copies to libraries, but he doesn't recognize that we're part of the "problem," too -- I've sure noticed an increase in ILL requests for textbooks in the last year or so.

(Full disclosure: My spouse works for a textbook publisher.) Friday Updates For April 7th It's hard to believe it's Friday again, yet here we are...Transgendered Veteran's Suit Against Library of Congress Can Proceed raised a bit of a ruckus, and some really nasty comments.US News & World Report LIS rankings are out again this year. How did your school do? Library Worker Who Criticized Admin Wins Grievance touched off a little discussion on the value of unions. You probably won't be surprised by the comments.

And last, but not least, the most important story of the week, maybe of the entire year Must-Read Post on Information Overload

In the journals, slashgirl reached out for help with her portfolio, ShockM pointed to an interesting post on the new OPAC at a public library, and GregS* pointed to his library's TV broadcast. This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted. "Libraries are evil" says author | Log in/Create an Account | Top | 6 comments | Search Discussion Threshold: -1: 6 comments 0: 6 comments 1: 6 comments 2: 6 comments 3: 5 comments 4: 3 comments 5: 1 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

• Napsterbrarians

  (Score:3, Insightful) by Blake (2) on Thursday April 06, @09:10AM (#24677)
  ( http://eblake.com/ | Last Journal: Monday July 16, @01:39PM ) "Here's my point, though: About half of those emails I get include a line like, "A friend told me about your book, so I went right to the library and..."
  A writer's immediate thought is: That's freaking awesome!
  A writer's second thought is: One more book sale down the tubes."
  
  That's the same logic that the RIAA uses to measure how much Napster cost them. That's, of course, dead wrong. Every single person that downloads a song (or checks out a book) would not have bought that song (or book) if it weren't available to them. Sometimes we just want to read a chapter, or listen to a song once to see if we like it. Sometimes our needs are transitory? Sure, some % of checked out or downloaded things are lost sales, but not all, I bet not even close to a majority.
  
  I suppose for some authors that it's more true than for others. I bet JK Rowling lost some sales because of libraries, but on the other end I bet there's pleanty of authors who would be sad to find the majority of their sales were to libraries.
  
  I've always wondered if it all evens out, or if libraries really do cause greater losses. I know in Europe it's common for authors to get something back from libraries for lost sales.

• Writers can be jerks

  (Score:5, Insightful) by Lee Hadden (88) on Thursday April 06, @09:30AM (#24678)
  ( http://members.aol.com/leehadden/ | Last Journal: Tuesday July 13, @02:26PM ) Wow! What a jerk. A quick look at FirstSearch shows that there are over 1,400 copies of "About Grace" in libraries, including hardback, paperback, CD, audiobook and netlibrary.com.
        As an author myself, I know that libraries are one of the greatest markets out there. They are the ones who write reviews of books, and help promote books that are often overlooked by commercial houses. Ask michael Moore and Salmon Rushdie about how libraries have stood up for them and their books when commercial establishments wouldn't.
        He is whining because he isn't getting more money. Often, books read in the library lead to individuals purchasing other books by the writer, if the first one was good. I know that is true for me.
        And if he wants more moeny, he should write more and better books. And get a better agent. Splitting author's fees is a cheap shot. I know that when a book club individually published my book, much of the profit went to the main publisher, but my royalties weren't stinted.
        And also, my book is coming out of print, but will remain in print in netlibrary.com. Indeed, the majority of my sales in the past year have been to netlibrary.com, and not through bookstores. I'm happy, because people are reading my book. Used books sales, libraries and others don't bother me. I get my money up front, and I'm happy with that.
        Whining jerks should find another field. His frustrations annoy me.
  
  --
  R. Lee Hadden (These are my own opinions!)

• he actually loves libraries

  (Score:4, Interesting) by librarianscott (4116) on Thursday April 06, @10:17AM (#24679)
  ( Last Journal: Monday May 01, @12:12PM ) "Libraries are little holy lands with giant invisible tentacles of imagination that fly out the doors and plunge through the windows of the houses around them. Libraries are often the greatest thing that has ever happened to any child in any neighborhood in any country."

  He concludes his piece with "Read. Visit libraries. Love books. And consider buying them once in a while." I think we can all agree that the more books that are purchased, the more books that will be published in the future. So I agree with him that everyone should "consider buying them once in a while."

  But here are things we can do to help libraries at the same time as helping authors:

  1. Donate, rather than sell on e-bay, your relatively new books/CDs you are done reading/listening to. Especially new stuff (published after 2004).

  2. For every ten books you purchase on Amazon, purchase one for the library as a donation.

• Re:he actually loves libraries

  (Score:3, Insightful) by opaqueentity (3388) on Thursday April 06, @12:13PM (#24681) Donate, rather than sell on e-bay, your relatively new books/CDs you are done reading/listening to

  This is one of the problems I have with this really. Things you actually like and enjoy you keep, in general you don't sell or give them away. If his book is good enough then people will buy the book for themselves after having read it in the library. I've done this lots of times.
  And the analogy with Napster et al is perfect, when you are exposed to new things you then go out and buy them, or buy other things they have done, or buy things done on the same subject area.

  Sounds to me he's more annoyed about the pathetic % he gets, split between publishers or not. But then I guess most writers don't go into it for the money, or if they do most would find out it's not the land of fame, milk and honey they might imagine.

  [ Parent ]

• Lets test this

  (Score:4, Funny) by Anonymous Patron on Thursday April 06, @10:50AM (#24680) This is simple to test. Lets agree never to buy his books. Lets take it a step further lets destroy all copies we have in all formats. That should provide some measurables to put this debate to bed.

• cached copy (for those who didn't get to read it)

  (Score:2, Interesting) by ADHD_librarian (3061) on Friday April 07, @02:58AM (#24686)
  ( http://adhd-librarian.blogspot.com/ ) Now, I know the author withdrew this, but as you now know that it is parody, I'm sure you can be trusted to read it as suchDoozy Of A Decimal Systemby Anthony DoerrWhy libraries are evil, used bookstore are hardly better, and you should always choose hardcover—Author and TMN Contributing Writer Anthony Doerr argues for buying books, not borrowing them.Libraries aren’t all about benevolence, you know. Free air-conditioning, free internet, free bookmarks, free knowledge, blah, blah. It’s a front. One minute, librarians are handing Hawthorne to a homeless dude and Peas Please to the local gardening club; the next minute they’re chopping your favorite writer off at the knees.It’s been seven years since the dawn of Napster. Musicians and record companies have sued and stomped their big corporate boots until they’ve turned file-sharing into a swampy underworld of fear.But what about writers and publishers? Libraries have been Napstering the hell out of us ever since Alexandria. And we have a much steeper mountain to climb: How do you think P. Diddy would feel if a state-subsidized, all-free-all-the-time iTunes superstore with plenty of parking went up right next door to Tower Records? What if, instead of dragging Shawn Fanning in front of the Senate, lawmakers put bonds on the ballot to help expand his operations?This is silly, I know. But I mean for it to be only partially silly. Every week or so I get a day-brightening, put-a-smile-on-your-face-for-eight-hours email from someone who was brave enough not only to pick up one my books but also actually read it. These are strangers—often strangers in different countries—and this fact never fails to dumbfound me. Someone I’ve never met, someone who doesn’t work with my dad, discovered one of my books and found something worthwhile in it. And took five minutes to write to me about it. When you start thinking about this, about how black letters on white pages can slip across national and cultural and social borders, even slip across the border of death itself, you start to realize that every time you read a book, you’re participating in a miracle.Here’s my point, though: About half of those emails I get include a line like, “A friend told me about your book, so I went right to the library and…â€A writer’s immediate thought is: That’s freaking awesome!A writer’s second thought is: One more book sale down the tubes.My wife is going to kill me for writing this, by the way. Worrying about selling books never got a single novel finished, she says. Writing gets novels finished. Making art is about sitting alone in a room, about trying to shine a completely new light on the world. Making art is not about making money.But this isn’t about money. It’s about being able to do more art-making. I don’t really give a crap about the money. Honestly. If you buy a paperback of my last book, it’ll cost you $15. Guess how much I get. Guess.Thirty-one cents. (See footnote.1)Which is great. I’m not complaining. I’m thrilled to get 31 cents, but far, far, far more than that, I’m thrilled and deeply honored that someone might take 6 or 8 hours out of his or her life to engage with my work.Obviously libraries aren’t evil. Libraries are fundamental pieces of any community, as vital as sewers or snowplows or good pizza. Libraries are little holy lands with giant invisible tentacles of imagination that fly out the doors and plunge through the windows of the houses around them. Libraries are often the greatest thing that has ever happened to any child in any neighborhood in any country.But! If you get a bo --
  It's a sense of humour like mine that makes me proud to be ashamed of myself.Captain Kremmen Read the rest of this comment...