LISNews: Librarian News

From The Business Journal (WI)...

Random House will soon be taking over operations of Golden Books, publishers of \"Little Golden Books.\" Classic Media will take over the entertainment division of the downed organization. The acquisition comes after a federal bankruptcy court approved the sale of the organization by \"a joint bid betwen Random House and Classic Media for $84.4 million plus liabilities.\" During its operational time, Golden Books published over 500,000 titles, including the favored \"Poky Little Puppy.\" more...

For The Houston Chronicle, Tom Fowler writes...

\"Questia Media continues to adjust its marketing strategy this summer with a plan to offer universities the ability to buy subscriptions for its online library and research service in bulk. The bulk purchase is something of a departure for Questia, which in the past was emphatic that it would only sell its $19.95 per month service to individuals. According to Michael Bell, VP of Academic Affairs at Elmhurst College \"Keeping the library staff involved in the use of Questia is important since the service had a tendency to raise the hackles of librarians initially. Questia has been seen by some as a replacement for the library, but it can\'t do that. For us it serves as an answer to a very tough challenge of trying to meet a variety of needs with a limited budget.\" more...

I came across this while doing one of those library things ... It seems that B & T and Gaylord have joined forces to develop a means of allowing libraries to download and circulate electronic text. This is what Katherine Blauer, the prez of Gaylord has to say: \"Truly efficient workflows for ordering, order acknowledgement and invoicing have been elusive in the world of acquisitions processing. Our close collaboration with Baker & Taylor will streamline the acquisitions process and reduce the amount of time it takes to get materials into the hands of library users.\" Yeah, but what\'s it gonna cost? [more...]

The Chicago Tribune has an article about two alternative distribution channels for literature: the Chapter-A-Day e-mail service; and Travelman Short Stories, which are being sold as fan-folded sheets from a machine in a London Underground station.

A quote from an American short-story author about the vending machine: "I don\'t think it would work here. So few people read short stories in this country. Selling them in the same way you sell gum or condoms, I don\'t think it would appeal to the same people who read short stories."