That's the title of a seminar that took place yesterday at the London Book Fair.Tania Kindersley has the recap over at the Guardian. Her aptly titled story "The Death of the Book, Again" conveys the almost monotonous battle of print vs. digital that has been hovering over the book industry for years. As Kindersley says "It is an immutable law that the Death of the Book must be debated at least once a year". Actually once a year would be refreshing. The drone seems constant nowadays."The old pro-book arguments are so rehearsed as to fade almost to background noise".Feeding off...
The Illustration Divide
The study was called "Gender Stereotyping and Under-representation of Female Characters in 200 Popular Picture Books: A Twenty-first Century Update."The authors looked at the top-selling books in 2001 and a seven-year sample of Caldecott Award-winning books.What did they find:That "images of men continue to dominate children's picture books."-There were nearly twice as many male as female title and main characterswith male characters appearing in 53 percent more illustrations than females-Female main characters were more nurturing-Men were shown outdoors more often and women were seen indoors more -More women than men appeared to have no paid occupationIn 2005 the same team...
The E-Book Takes Another Hit. Time For a Name Change?
The e-book has lost another round in it's epic battle to overtake its archenemy, the printed book.Computerworld has included the e-book on its list of "The 21 Biggest Technology Flops" of all time.This is their take:"The idea is attractive because, theoretically, e-book technology allows you to load many books and periodicals on a reasonably small handheld device, making it easier to travel with lots of reading matter. Also, e-books are easily searchable, another huge advantage over paper books.However, e-books are much in need of standardization. Specifically, the number of potential formats for e-books remains huge." Over 20 exist today.Much like...
Library For Dummies
The publisher of the For Dummies books is holding a contest for the best display in a library.The image above is the entry for the Lansing Public Library in Lansing, Illinois.Winners will be announced in late June.Thanks to the Shifted Librarian for the lead
The Page Curler
Cara Barer is a page curler. She also happens to be a photographer.Her Dimensions and Of Words, Paper, and Shapes series are are among the finest examples of biblio-photography.How does she find her subjects:Barer realized that she owned many books that were "no longer of use to me, or for that matter, anyone else. Would I ever need "Windows 95?" she says.What next:"As I begin the process, I first consider the contents of each volume." Thenthe books go into the "bathtub for a few hours" and emerge with "a new shape and purpose. She "uses everything from hair rollers to...