"Libraries exist to preserve society's cultural artifacts and to provide access to them. If libraries are to continue to foster education and scholarship in this era of digital technology, it's essential for them to extend those functions into the digital world." One of the most important battles in the book world today is the fight for who gets to digitally archive our literary heritage.From the leading university libraries to the great collections housed in our public institutions decisions are being made that could potentially alter access to the treasure trove of material that lies within their walls.It is an idea...
The Disappearing Book Middle -Class
Much like the disappearing middle-class of American society the world of used books is being redefined as the market for mid-price books ($25-75) is slowly vanishing.Within the last 10 years, the influx of technology, the advent of online bookselling and widespread internet connectivity, has brought into the market millions upon millions of books that were simply unaccounted for.The book resale market has become a petri dish of supply and demand economics. Here the true free market is deciding price points.This flood of available material has taken many of the books in the $25-75 price range and reduced them to $1-$15...
Don’t Believe the Hype: The Book Shop Remains Endangered
You would think the world of independent bookshops was flourishing.The New York Sun recently ran a piece titled ""Booksellers Fight Back As 5 New Stores Open" and the American Booksellers Association (ABA) started the year off with this headline "A Plethora of New Indies Open in 2006" touting the arrival of 97 new bookshops that opened for business in 2006 (and were members of the ABA).Unfortunately, if you look a little closer you can still see some trouble spots.2 of the 5 bookstores that have opened in New York were opened by publishers not booksellers. I am a big fan...
Forbes & Book Collecting
There was plenty of buzz in the book blogosphere back at the beginning of December when Forbes released their special report on BooksIn reading the special report and spending some time on Forbes.com I was struck by the absence of anything to do with the non-new book market. The articles in the report dealt with the many different aspects of book culture but none ventured into role of the secondary market in book culture.When I checked the Forbes.com website I noticed that the collecting segment of the ForbesLife contained very little if anything on book collecting.Finding this omission a little...
Reading Recycled: Time to Print Green
There is a quiet green storm brewing in the book world. A storm that has been a long time coming, long overdue and when it hits will change the face of publishing forever.The Independent has a brief take on the push by authors and some publishers to print their books on recycled paper.The lowlight:-"pulp and paper mills produce ... some of the most toxic substances on Earth" wrote poet and green activist Mandy Haggith in an article published in Mslexia magazine.Think of the smell of some of the new books you opened recently.A few highlights:-The Canadian editions of all the...