LISNews: Librarian News

Clusters of TV and computer screens beam chatty videos about cooking, travel and wellness books. A music kiosk lets visitors download MP3s or burn CDs, while another offers tips on how to publish your own novel.

Welcome to the newly opened Borders bookstore in Southbury, Conn., which looks less like a traditional branch of the nation's second-largest book chain and more like what customers might see on their home computers.

"We wanted to go beyond selling books, CDs and DVDs and become a headquarters for knowledge and entertainment," said Borders Group Inc. Chief Executive George Jones of the recently opened "concept stores," including one in National City, near San Diego. "We needed to do something new in our stores to compete with all the alternatives people have at home when they shop online."

Full story in the LA Times

Marketplace story on American Public Media:
Even in an era of economic downturn and the big box store, independent book store Skylight Books is expanding. Commentator Kerry Slattery says it's all thanks to growing shopper awareness for the impact of local businesses.

Read and listen to full story.

Publisher's Weekly reports that Borders Web Site is now live.

After seven years of outsourcing its e-commerce function to Amazon, Borders relaunched its Borders.com Web site today under its own control. The site contains many of the same features that the retailer had been beta testing for several months, including The Magic Shelf home page which allows browsers to scan 20 rows of books, face out, and click on any title to get more information on the book, few some text or to buy the title. According to Kevin Ertell, Borders v-p of e-business, the Magic Shelf is designed “to make customers feel they’re browsing one of the front tables at one of our stores.”

Complete story here.

"Unless a miracle happens, we'll close at the end of June," Judy Christenson, co-owner with daughter Jen of Imagine That! Children's Bookstore , Riverside, CA told the Business Press. They have owned the bookshop since 2003, when they purchased it from Karen Rosenburg, who had run it since the mid-1970s.

"Times have really changed," Judy added. "When Karen started 30 years ago, there was nothing like it and there was no Internet and no big chains. Today we don't have the school business anymore because of the budget cuts and we can't make it on just walk-by traffic sales anymore."

"The concept of pleasure learning and reading isn't there anymore," said Jen. "These days, parents will buy their kids a $3.99 drink at a coffee shop but pass up a $3.99 book. It's truly a sad commentary on our society today. . . . We love books. If we won the lottery, we'd keep the store open just as a hobby."