LISNews: Librarian News

'Even the bad books are awesome': Meet the woman behind $45m empire that allows anyone to become a published author (talented or not)
Most people harbour a secret desire to be a singer, an actor or a novelist but aspiring writers and artists looking to publish their material need no longer dream.

Thanks to Eileen Gittins, the founder and CEO of Blurb, creative types can see their work in print for as little as $3 by filling out a simple template and printing the requisite copies.

In search of a 'cathartic, creative outlet' herself, the former Kodak executive and technology start-up guru launched the business after discovering there was no way to print a book of photography on which she had been working in her spare time.

In Praise of E-Books. (NPR)

Author and NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu offers the same praise for ebooks that you might hear coming school adminstrators. He cares about his back more than he cares about books.

When I retire, I promised myself I will read all the great books I said I would read one day, and I'll reread all the books I once loved. And all my life, it seems I carried boxes full of these books from one city to another, from one house to another, and I furnished endless rooms and gave away hundreds of volumes, and I put out my back many times. And as soon as I retired, I was ready to begin. I picked up my featherlight Kindle, the great chiropractor, and took off for the woods....

Jonathan Franzen: SELL
Toni Morrison: HOLD
Philip Roth: BUY

Article mentions the Ransom Center at the University of Texas has started guessing which authors will have lasting historical import and then buying up their papers.

Details here

Maurice Sendak's Long History of Scaring Kids
The librarian's comment reveals the paradox of Maurice Sendak books: So often, children and adults disagree about them. She's on the defensive, her persnickety "we should not like" suggesting some standard of tact or dignity has been broached; meanwhile, the "sensitive" child is not terrified but enthralled, poring over the work with awe and wonder. It's not the child who feels threatened, but the adult.