Book Biz 

Is J.K. Rowling propping up the book biz? Suppose her latest were offered online by David Kipen

What if publishing phenom J.K. Rowling announced that she was going to publish her popular cycle's breathlessly anticipated fifth book, provisionally titled "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," exclusively as a downloadable e-book?

The snorfling sound that would result would be every soul in the book business swallowing his gum in abject, cowering terror. Rowling has thus far signed no final contract for "Order of the Phoenix" -- still tentatively scheduled for this fall -- with either her usual publisher, Scholastic, or anyone else. So the question only naturally arises: What if? [read more]

World Book Day 

{pictureRef(, align:"left")} World Book Day

World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and was marked in over 30 countries around the globe last year.

World Book Day 2002 in the UK and Ireland will take place on Thursday 14th March.

World Book Day is about helping children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.

The Electronic Book 

Evolution of and Electronic Book: The Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography.

The Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography has become an invaluable online resourse. This is Charles W. Bailey, Jr.'s own story of its history.

Life in the Digital World 

A year without print at Princeton, and what we plan next by David Goodman (pdf)

Abstract:
Princeton began to receive some major titles as electronic only, starting with the 2000 subscription year. We are expanding this in appropriate cases where we have confidence in the publisher, and the financial advantage is significant. There have been no complaints, and also almost no comments. Apparently users now look for current journal articles online, using the paper versions only if online is not available. We plan further developments to facilitate user convenience. [read more]

Collateral Damage 

Ingenuity's Blueprints, Into History's Dustbin

On these frigid winter nights, Randy Rabin can be found combing through trash bins outside the United States Patent and Trademark Office, trying to rescue from destruction yellowed copies of patents from America's golden age of invention.

The patent office, home to nearly 6.5 million patents dating to 1790, is converting to an electronic database and discarding a significant portion of its paper files after they have been scanned and digitized.

Tonight, at least 30 large recycling bins are sitting in a driveway near the patent office's public search room, crammed with documents ready for destruction.

A few random swoops into the bins produce aged prints of patent documents dated from the 1880's and 90's, with spidery intricate sketches of inventions.

Four of the reproductions have the name T. A. Edison at the top of the page. That's Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the light bulb and the holder of more than 1,000 United States patents. One of the sketches retrieved from the dust bin of bureaucracy is of Mr. Edison's "dynamo electric machine or motor," patented March 15, 1892. [read more]

Read any good books or seen any good movies lately? 

Based on the Book

'Based on the Book' is a compilation of selected books that have been made into movies. Utilizing the Internet Movie Database as the authority on release dates, all movies in this collection have been released in 1980 or later. In the case where more than one movie has been based on the same book, the most current movie is listed.

Heard any good jokes lately? 

An Angel appears at a faculty meeting and tells the dean of the library that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. Without hesitating, the dean selects infinite wisdom.

"Done!" says the angel, and disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. Now, all heads turn toward the dean of the library, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispers, "Say something."

The dean looks at them and says, "I should have taken the money."

For more laughs, check out, Fun for Bookworms

The Library 

Libraries focus on new technology by Kelly K. Spors

Come March, the Cerritos Library is more likely to resemble a theme park than a community center. The suburban Los Angeles public library will unveil its new digs, a $40 million expansion complete with a floor-to-ceiling saltwater aquarium, a life-size replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a rainforest room with trees, a stone-paved "Main Street" walkway and souvenir shops.

But just as jaw-dropping may be the library's technology effort -- 200 computer workstations, 1,200 laptop ports, wireless headsets and handheld computers for librarians, multimedia rooms, and a more efficient circulation system that uses radio frequency to track books instead of bar codes or magnetic strips.

The new circulation system, which alone cost the library about $150,000, automatically checks in books as they fall through the drop-off bin. Eventually, this wireless technology could allow cardholders to borrow books by simply walking out the door.

"We've been compared to Disneyland, just down the street," says library director Waynn Pearson, who dubs Cerritos the first "experience library." [read more]

Print on demand 

Technology: Bringing the Press to the People by Bill Marvel

Someday soon you'll walk into a bookstore, browse an online catalog for the book you want, order it, then repair to the coffee bar for a latte while your book is printed and bound.

It could be any book, because in this bright new future, no book need ever go out of print. Every title will be at least potentially available at any bookstore.

It's called on-demand printing, and it's closer than you think.

In the wooded hills 12 miles out side Austin, the future is already arriving at the rate of one book every five minutes.

That's how long it takes Eakin Press' new BookBuilderOne to print, trim and bind one paperback book. [read more]
(link via futureofthebook)

The Information Game 

My Rules of Information by Marylaine Block

A few years back, just before doing my first bibliographic instruction session for a class of freshmen, I had to figure out what the few, most important things were we could teach them, the things we information professionals knew and the students didn't, the lessons that would make all the difference between finding and not finding what they needed. I emerged from my office with a piece of paper with four sentences on it: my four rules of information. I have added to them over the years, but the fact that I and my colleagues still know and practice them seems to me the signal difference between us and our users.

I didn't invent the rules. I merely codified them. Codification ã another one of the things that information professionals routinely do when people ask them questions. [read more]
(link via Library Juice}