The public libraries of the United Kingdom are on a treasure hunt.The goal:To find the coolest item in their collection that has yet to be digitized and enter it into a contest being run by the British Library.The contest is sponsored by the British Library with financial support coming from Microsoft.If a particular library doesn't feel they have anything worthy they can they include "local partners such as museums, archives, churches or stately homes" to come up with their submission.Finalists will be "invited to a high-profile awards ceremony at the British Library."There will be one winner for each part of...
The "Overly Attached Syndrome"
That's the diagnosis given to many book lovers by Alina Tugend in her piece New Ways to Do It Make Giving Away Books a Bit Less Painful that appears in the New York Times today."Getting rid of books creates tension for many, although it is often one of the first things people have to do when downsizing or simply trying to organize their lives." says Tugned.For some, including the author, giving away or selling their books at the appropriate time is a liberating experience. There is little remorse. For others, the disposing of books from their library is one of...
Who Needs a Bookmobile?
Here's the deal:The Seattle Public Library bought this roving library three years ago to serve the various populations that can't easily get to any of their 25 branches. Day care centers, assisted living facilities and underserved neighborhoods all benefit greatly from this book bus.But, lo and behold, the bookmobile is up for sale.How can that be?Because its too big. Our beloved city of Seattle is pretty near impossible for a car to drive in let alone a book RV, we have so many hills that there only a few places you can drive straight. Why this wasn't apparent 3 years...
Books: The Last Physical Media Product That Makes Sense
That's how Chris Anderson, Editor of Wired Magazine and creator of The Long Tail concept, put it during his keynote at the inaugural O'Reilly Media Tools of Change for Publishing Conference taking place this week in San Jose.The goals of the conference are:-To raise "the level of technology knowledge and discourse in the publishing industry"-To provide "a meeting ground for everyone involved in the future of publishing"It's a big week and I suspect a much more relevant one these days than the recently held BookExpo.As comforted as I was by Anderson's acknowledgment of the staying power of the book I...
Gotham Breathing
Robert Schuster's piece in the Village Voice "The Gotham Book Mart's Final Chapter" confirms that we haven't heard the last of it."Something's cooking," and "important things happening" is what people in the know are saying."Don't issue a death certificate just yet" says Schuster.Why is this not surprising? The more you talked to veteran booksellers after the auction shenanigans the more you got the sense that this was not the end. There were still too many unanswered questions for it to be over. At minimum, the sheer carnival of the auction guaranteed a second act.The auctioner Eliot Millman sums up the...