LISNews: Librarian News

Bob Cox sent along This Story from SF Gate on Adobe Books in San Fransico. Sounds like quite a place.

\"Used bookstores, like cockfights, tend to attract a rather motley crowd of gawkers and hucksters, those seeking to broaden their own horizons by latching onto the matted feathers of someone else\'s life experience.\"

Kenneth Lonergan, author of the sibling-reunion tale \"You Can Count On Me,\" won a top honor from The Writers Guild of America. He won for best screenplay based on material written specifically for the screen. [more...] from The Nando Times...

Wired has an Audio Story that says Independent booksellers are regaining ground on the mega-retailers both in stores and online, with a stong and devoted following.

Lee Hadden writes:
\"The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story of an entrepreneur
who has placed \"reading vending machines\" in the London Underground to sell
short stories to commuters. The stories are packaged like folded maps, and
can be read easily in a crowded subway car. The cost is one pound each
(about $1.50), and are designed so the average reader would spend about 40
minutes reading the story.
At the Baker Street Station, for example, are short stories about
Sherlock Holmes. Elementary, of course. Backers claim there is massive
potential in this market, and others claim it is the best new idea in
publishing since the paperback book. The backers of the new service want to
end the practice of commuters reading tabloids on the train.
Their website is: travelman.co.uk.

Wade Lambert. \"Publisher Puts Story Machine in London Tube.\" Wall
Street Journal. February 22, 2001, page B1, B4.