LISNews: Librarian News

The Asheville Citizen-Times Takes A Look at Biblio.com. Since he launched his Internet business, Sherar has seen his site mushroom into the world’s third largest Web site for used, rare and out-of-print books. Biblio lets online shoppers browse through 22 million titles online from 3,000 independent booksellers in 24 countries.

But Biblio isn’t just about putting books into buyer’s hands for a good price. The company is concerned that free books make their way into needy communities in South America. Biblio has just finished building a public library for a poor Indian village in Bolivia, with plans to build a larger library this fall near the capital of La Paz.

One from Arizona Daily Wildcat - Tucson, AZ that says Tucson readers are a lucky bunch. In addition to the two bookstore giants (Borders and Barnes & Noble), Tucson has a good selection of independent, locally owned bookstores, each serving their own niche in the community. Score some good reads (and some good karma points) by supporting them the next time you're feeling literary.

Harry--the latest 'hot sell' that was supposed to create a margin of relief for indie booksellers instead created a lack of profitability. Several days after the 'roll out', this reporter saw bunches of Harry hardbacks stacked up at the Super Stop and Shop (next to the produce aisle) in Pittsfield MA. No pajama'ed kids, no lines of wild customers waving their money at cashiers.

And from across the Atlantic, an article from Scotland's the "Herald and Times"...

"When you think of price wars, the town of Aberfeldy (Scotland) doesn't spring to mind as a likely battleground. Even so, last Saturday, as history's most hyped novel was hoisted by forklift truck onto shelves, the town's two bookshops were a prime example of the agonising calculations that were going on all across Britain and North America over Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." More here on how books are sold these days, and how in our current economy, bookshops are essentially becoming passé.

Neat Little Story on The Southwestern Company. They started selling Bibles door-to-door just after the Civil War, and the sales strategy hasn't changed much since.
They don't sell many Bibles anymore, but each summer 34 hundred college students can still be found tramping through neighborhoods, knocking on doors and making their sales pitches _ nowadays for educational reference books and software.