February 2011

Read about the Konomark here.

Story from NPR about the reopening of the Library of Alexandria. It was closed for the last few weeks during the demonstrations, both to protect it from vandalism, and to protest the army’s curfew.

And the library’s director, Ismail Serageldin says that in all the protests, not a stone was thrown at the library, and not a pane of glass was broken.

“What happened was pure magic,” he says. “People from within the demonstrations broke out of the demonstrations and simply linked hands, and they said ‘This is our library. Don’t touch it.'”

The ancient library has been destroyed several times by vandals and conquerors — most notably by a fire, several centuries ago.

On Saturday, 5 March 2011, two days after World Book Day, with the full support of the Publishers Association, the Booksellers Association, the Independent Publishers Guild, the Reading Agency with libraries, World Book Day, the BBC and RTE, one million books will be given away by an army of passionate readers to members of the public across the UK and Ireland.

The book give-away will comprise 40,000 copies of each of the 25 carefully selected titles, to be given away by 20,000 ‘givers’, who will each distribute 48 copies of their chosen title to whomever they choose on World Book Night. The remaining books will be distributed by World Book Night itself in places that might otherwise be difficult to reach, such as prisons and hospitals.

Website for World Book Night

Blog post questioning World Book Night – WORLD BOOK NIGHT – MISGUIDED AND MISJUDGED?

Blog post by publishing consultant Mike Shatzkin:

But it has seemed clear to me for a long time that ebooks offered compelling advantages over print — portability, ease of purchase, and a lower cost basis that must inexorably lead to lower prices — that would increasingly sway many of the inevitably growing number of people who had a readable handheld screen in reach most of the time. And my long experience dealing with bookstore economics made it clear to me that the consequent sales subtraction from brick-and-mortar stores would lead to closures, which would lead to longer travel times for customers to get to the stores, which in turn would drive more people to purchase print or digital books online. And that would lead to more closures. This is a virtuous circle if you’re in the ebook business or sell print online. Or if you want to see Americans consume less gasoline.

It is a vicious cycle — a death spiral — if you’re a bookstore. – Full article

One web page for every book ever published. It’s a lofty but achievable goal.

To build Open Library, we need hundreds of millions of book records, a wiki interface, and lots of people who are willing to contribute their time and effort to building the site.

To date, we have gathered over 20 million records from a variety of large catalogs as well as single contributions, with more on the way.

Open Library is an open project: the software is open, the data are open, the documentation is open, and we welcome your contribution. Whether you fix a typo, add a book, or write a widget–it’s all welcome. We have a small team of fantastic programmers who have accomplished a lot, but we can’t do it alone!

Open Library is a project of the non-profit Internet Archive, and has been funded in part by a grant from the California State Library and the Kahle/Austin Foundation.

On March 3, 2011, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS)-the Library of Congress’ talking-book and braille program-will celebrate 80 years of helping visually impaired and physically handicapped individuals to enjoy reading their favorite books and magazines.

This free library program brings reading materials in digital audio and braille formats straight to the homes of patrons from preschoolers to centenarians. Books on digital cartridge, digital talking-book players and braille books are sent to patrons via the U.S. mail at no cost to users. People who sign up with the program also have the option of downloading books and magazines over the Internet in audio or braille format.

”

Talking books offer a wonderful opportunity for anyone who cannot see to read or handle regular print because of blindness or a physical handicap,” says NLS Director Kurt Cylke. “For 80 years this service has been a priceless gift to people who cannot see to read or handle regular print materials.”

The NLS collection of more than 400,000 titles of bestsellers, classics, biographies, romance, and other genres delights even the most selective readers. Magazine lovers enjoy free subscriptions to more than 40 periodicals in audio format, including Consumer Reports, National Geographic, and Sports Illustrated for Kids, and 30 periodicals in braille, such as Ladies Home Journal, ESPN: The Magazine and The New York Times Large Print Weekly.

The NLS program also keeps pace with the latest book titles, adding 2,500 annually. Patrons learn of new releases through two bimonthly magazines, Talking Book Topics and Braille Book Review.

Patrons are served locally through a national network of cooperating libraries. Beginning with just 19 libraries in 1931, the NLS network today includes 113 libraries throughout the United States and its territories. Congress appropriates funds annually to the Library of Congress for the NLS program, while regional and sub-regional libraries receive financial support from federal, state, and local sources.

U.S. residents and citizens living abroad whose blindness or physical handicap makes reading regular printed matter difficult may be eligible to participate in the audio and braille books program. By law, priority is given to U.S. military veterans. Those interested in learning more or signing up may call 888-NLS-READ or visit http://www.loc.gov/nls/.

Why is Barnes & Noble performing well as a business while Borders is near (or has even reached) bankruptcy?
What is so different about how they are run?
1.Failure to adequately address the internet sales channel and the subsequent ebook market.
2.Poor real estate strategy – Borders leased space that was too large, the storefronts did not compare well to B&N, and they were complacent in picking and relocating existing stores to the best locations.
3.Over-investment in music – while this was a big plus for this in the early to mid 90’s, this was a disaster in the long run.
4.Over-reliance on assortment size to compete as opposed to efficient operations – Borders was renowned for its wide and quality assortment of titles.
5.Failure to build efficient systems and processes

Though she’s seen thousands of bumper stickers, Whitney Baker isn’t all that interested in what they have to say. She’s more interested in keeping them around for a long, long time.

She’s a conservator for the KU Libraries and took a five-month sabbatical to go around the country to look at bumper stickers, and she’s learned a lot about how to preserve them for others.

During her research, she found that the history of bumper stickers points back to Kansas. Many credit Forest Gill, a screen printer from Kansas City, Kan., with developing the idea. He founded Gill Studios Inc., which today operates out of Lenexa. Gill’s son-in-law, Mark Gilman, today is chairman of the board for the company.

He said Gill developed an adhesive paper sticker to replace cardboard signs tied to bumpers that were beginning to gain popularity at the end of the 1930s and early 1940s.

Though many have said the concept can be traced back to Gill, that’s not something the company has definitively established, Gilman said.

Check out the thumbnail gallery and Baker’s video about the collection now housed at the Spenser Research Library at Kansas University.

Amazon announced today that Amazon Prime members get access to 5,000 movies and tv shows for no additional cost. Currently Prime members pay $79 per year to get free two day shipping or $3.95 overnight shipping. See Amazon.com for full announcement.