Daily Thoughts 06/04/2012

Still Life With a Lighted Candle, Peter Claesz, 1627

Daily Thoughts 06/04/2012

I am going to Day of Dialog between Librarians and Publishers this morning.  It should be very interesting.  I am very much looking forward to it.  This is followed by a Librarians Dinner at the Yale Club.  It should be an excellent experience.

On the way to the event, I read some more of The Great Divergence.  It comes across as a liberal argument on why there is so much income inequality.  Part of the argument is that we are trading for manufacturing products with China which has much lower wages as well as Mexico which also has lower wages.  This depresses the manufacturing sector wages in the United States. In addition to trading with lower wage countries, jobs are also being outsourced.  This is increasingly not just blue collar work, but also white collar work like computer programming.

 Timothy Noah also argues that lobbyists from corporations are giving way too much money to politicians, especially business lobbyists and this changes government decisions.  In addition, there are descriptions of there being less unions, lower taxes for the rich, and less regulation for Wall Street. In addition there are descriptions of an inadequate educational system in the United States compared to Europe.

There were a lot of vendors in the morning.  I learned a few things.  Midwest tape who we buy many of our dvds from started selling audiobooks in 2008.  They are supposed to have a very large selection of titles.  I got to talk to the different representatives.

There were lots of galleys and even some original hardcover books.  I filled a large bag full of books and audiotapes to bring back to work on Friday.  There were some really nice hardcover books.

There were some excellent galleys as well.  I put aside a number of galleys to read for myself; Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Prisoner of Heaven which is coming out on July of 2012, Clean Tech Nation How The U.S. Can Lead In The New Global Economy by Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder which is nonfiction coming out in September of 2012, Tom Reiss, The Black Count Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and The Real Count of Monte Cristo, and finally The Twenty Year Death by Ariel S. Winter which is supposed to be a pastiche broken into three sections focused on three authors, Georges Simenon, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson.  The galley is published by Hardcase Case which is a noire specialist.

The first panel was an editor panel with their top picks.  Most of the books were available as galleys or hardcovers in the vendor room.  One book that particularly caught my attention was Jonathan Kozol Fire In The Ashes Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children In America.

The second panel was on Debut Genre Fiction Authors.  I especially liked Ariel S. Winter's book description of The Twenty Year Death.  I plan on reading it.  I had a chance to talk to him during lunch.  We talked about genre fiction, specifically Paolo Bacigalupi and China Mieville.

This was followed by a talk with Gail Collins.  We got to pick up a signed copy of As Texas Goes... How The Lonestar State Hijacked the American Agenda.  Gail Collins is a columnist for the New York Times.

This was followed by a digital panel discussing ebooks in libraries.  There was some talk about how to display high circulation ebooks which was interesting.  The goal was to replicate high circulation displays of trade books that are in libraries.   There was also talk about having job titles in the ebook section.   There was also a bit of discussion on browser based ebooks which do not require applications and are much easier to load.

It was interesting hearing that people weeded ebook collections.  This was only possible when libraries had ebooks for many years.  It was necessary to both remove the cataloging information and contact the vendor to remove the item from the system.  I especially liked the idea that having a catalog of ebooks is like having an infinite closet and the more you have the harder it is to find things.

There was a statement that 4 in 5 libraries now have ebooks, and 1 in 3 of those 4 in 5 libraries got them this year.

I liked the idea of patron driven acquisition for ebooks.  There was a comment that patrons sometimes asked for more technical or academic titles when they could request ebooks.

One of the comments was about the big six who are refusing to supply ebooks.  Some of the people on the panel said they went with smaller publishers who could provide similar titles in the same genres.

There was a recommendation that ebooks should be in the catalog of a library with all the other books so people can find them and check them out more easily.  The information needs to be there.  This includes the digitization of local resources like neighborhood archives.  In addition, people mentioned the use of tags and keywords in catalog records as well as using nontraditional review sources like Goodreads.

There was also a comment that right now what many people are doing is showing people how to use ereaders either as a brown bag luncheon or as a digital petting zoo with a variety of devices.

The last panel was on spy novels.  Two of the panelists said they  had worked at the CIA in their pasts.  .  I picked up a few hardcovers, Chris Pavone, The Expats, and Francine Matthews, Jack 1939, to add to the collection from the panel, I Spy: The Return of  The Espionage Thriller.  I did not stay for the reception.  I headed to the Yale Club for the dinner.  It was quite a bit for a single day.  I will write about the dinner tomorrow.

I also got to see a few of my colleagues from Brooklyn Public Library, as well as recognized some people from White Plains Public Library, and saw a few people who were at the Book2Camp conference.

Web Bits

HTML5 May Be Winning the War Against Apps
http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/06/html5-apps-datajournalism-doj-lawsuit.html
There are a few things to think about in this article.  Overdrive is releasing a browser based e-book reader which should make it easier to read e-books.  One of the central ideas is that HTML5 would be platform independent for ebooks.

Daily Thoughts 05/01/2012

La Lettre, 1908, Jean Beraud

Daily Thoughts 05/01/2012

I mostly relaxed this weekend.  I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library this morning.  I also checked the displays and the gift books.  I also checked the e-reference this morning.

I am looking at the latest copy of Library Journal and Baker and Taylor Forecast.

I found an interesting looking book Networked The New Social Operating System by Barry Wellman and Lee Rainie.

I am planning on going to the Library Journal Day of Dialog on June 4, 2012.  I am registered for it.
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/events/dayofdialog2012/?utm_source=lj&utm_medium=webt&utm_campaign=dayofdialog

The latest Publishers Weekly, April 30, 2012 also has coverage of Book Expo America
I very much enjoy going to book conferences.

We have our computer classes tonight.  We have been having very solid attendance.

I finished reading The Power of Habit.   Charles Duhigg describes habits at the individual, company, and societal level.  A lot of it is about how to change habits in people and organizations.  There is quite a bit about destructive habits like gambling and alcoholism.  He gives a very simple method to change habits.  I think I might start by trying to figure out how to change my habit of buying chips from the snack machine. 




Web Bits

Barnes & Noble Deal Gives Microsoft Door to E-books
http://draft.blogger.com/goog_2014849185

Video Libraries In Flux presented by Metro & ACRL NY
http://acrlny.org/?p=1550

Daily Thoughts 5/23/2011 (Day of Dialog)

Le Cannet, Madame Lebasque Reading in the Garden," oil on canvas, by the French artist Henry Lebasque. 55.4 cm. x 61.3 cm. (21.81 in. x 24.13 in.) Private collection. Image courtesy of The Athenaeum, Circa 1923

Daily Thoughts 5/23/2011

Last night, I finished reading Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi.  It is a rewrite of the classic H. Beam Piper novel, Little Fuzzy.  I especially liked the dislikability of the main character.  It was very well done.  Right now, I am reading China Mieville, Embassytown.

I went to Day of Dialog today presented by Library Journal.  It was very enjoyable.  I got to see some colleagues who I have not seen in a long time.   I had chicken wraps and diet coke for lunch.  It was a very pleasant event. You get a sense that things in the library world are very much on the edge.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/articlereview/889795-457/story.csp 

One of the speakers, Karin Slaughter who writes mysteries talked about her campaign to raise funds for libraries.  http://savethelibraries.com/

The line up was quite impressive.  It was well worth going to. I got to see a few new things including a Playaway device for videos with preloaded sets of videos.  http://playaway.com/view/  All three major library vendors were present at Day of Dialog, Baker and Taylor, Ingram, and BWI.

I picked up a lot of things to add to the collection, several audiobooks;  Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath Cliffs Notes CD Audiobook, Sue Grafton U is For Undertow CD audiobook, The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell CD Audiobook, and Martin Misunderstood by Karin Slaughter.  I also picked up some MP3 CD Audiobooks which are a slightly different format than regular CD Audiobooks, Danielle Steel 44 Charles Street, Harlen Coben Live Wire, Paul Reiser Familyhood, and Nora Roberts Chasing Fire.

There were a number of panelists who also signed books which I picked up sign copies from, Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America Mightier than the Sword by David S. Reynolds, A Young Wife by Pam Lewis, and When Tito Loved Clara by Jon Michaud.  Jon Michaud is a librarian for the New Yorker magazine in their archives.

I don't want to go into exact details about everything that was said.  There were some common themes in the conversations with authors, however.  Jon Michaud said that his love of reading started in the library and Karin Slaughter said that libraries are what made her an author.  Most of the authors did their research in libraries.

There was also an idea that word of mouth had become even more important because of blogs and social media.  Getting the word out included covering blogs, talking to librarians, and doing outreach to publishers and bookstores.

I rather liked John Lithgow's statement that libraries are a combination of intensity and serenity and that librarians are on the side of the angels.  It was quite pleasing.  I also might read P.G. Wodehouse because of him.  I do like the classic authors.

Another theme was that ebooks were becoming the standard way of reading books.  There is going to be an online conference on October 12, 2011 presented by Library Journal called Ebooks The New Normal.  This should be very interesting.

Some of the coverage of social media was a bit different.  Some librarians are using Facebook as a way to give Readers Advisory for books as well as make book recommendations.  I have noticed that there is a fairly common practice around recommending books for people to read on Twitter.  Several of the presenters suggested that libraries have a specific social media policy.

In addition to the freebies, there were three nonfiction books that were recommended by panelists that stood out; A More Perfect Heaven How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos by Dava Sobel coming in September 2011, Three Famines; Starvation and Politics by Thomas Kenneally, and The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke and the World by Samantha Power.  I liked others, but these caught my attention.

Daily Thoughts 5/27/2010 (Book Expo America)

Burgundian scribe (portrait of Jean Miélot, secretary, copyist and translator to Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, from a copy of his compilation of the Miracles de Notre Dame, 15th Century

Daily Thoughts 5/27/2010 (Book Expo America)

I took a short break in the morning and finished reading Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay. It is an excellent fantasy novel set in ancient China. I'll probably write a review later this week.

I found out to my amusement that I have been comped as a journalist because I write this blog. This is the second time that I have been comped as a journalist with a byline. The first time was at O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing in 2009. It is a very different experience. Right now, I am sitting in the Press Office writing on this blog. I did not expect this. I have two badges, one as a librarian, and one as a journalist because of this blog. I paid for the librarian badge. Right now, I am carrying both.

The Bookcalender badge will be of use for tomorrow for the Book Bloggers Convention at the Jacob Javits Center in room 1E15. It is the kind of thing which I have to just "go with the flow."

I spent a little time walking the floor of the convention. I did find Fantagraphics at a booth. I didn't think they were at the convention earlier. They had an interesting portion of a galley of a short story prose collection, What Is This All? Uncollected Stories by Peter Dixon. This was surprising because Fantagraphics is known mainly for its graphic novels. However, I have seen other novels being published recently by comic book publishers. DC published Peter and Max, A Fable by Bill Willingham.

Dalkey Archive was right next to Fantagraphics. Dalkey Archive is one of my favorite presses. I am familiar with them because at one time, I used to visit Small Press Distributors in Berkeley, California, http://spdbooks.org/ . They have a new line of english translations of literature from Catalan, Slovenian, and Hebrew. Dalkey Archive prints very high quality literary works. http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/

I also picked up a practical book for our Job Information Center, Military Education Benefits for College by David A. Renza, M.A. and Edmund J. Lizotte, Lt. Col. Ret. published by Savas Beatie.

While I was walking around, I saw that Housing Works was at the convention. They have a very nice used bookstore in Manhattan which supports providing shelter for homeless people who are HIV positive or have AIDS. They are a social enterprise. http://www.housingworks.org/social-enterprise/bookstore-cafe/

After finishing walking around, I went the Fall Hot Graphic Novels For Libraries in the conference area from 2:00- 3:30 p.m. I especially liked the title Archie Marries... which has two stories, one where he marries Bettie, and one where he marries Veronica. The other graphic novel which intrigued me which they talked about was Ghostopolis by Doug Ten Napel. I plan on giving the list to our young adult librarian to look over. There are also a few childrens graphic novels.

The final librarian session was the 2nd Annual Librarians Shout and Share from 3:30-5:00 p.m. in room 1E16. It was a panel of eight collection development librarians sharing their picks from the show. They basically showed forthcoming books which they had collected. It was interesting hearing which books they liked. Certain books were repeated several times. The titles which I remember that more one collection development librarian mentioned were The Passage by Justin Cronin, Cleopatra: A Biography by Stacy Schiff, Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Nora Rawlinson, The Sleepwalkers by Paul Grossman, and The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Bailey.

It was quite interesting hearing the librarians book talk their choices in very short presentations. Barbara Genco announced that they would have a complete list of all the books mentioned published in Library Journal. I look forward to seeing this.

After the collection development book talk, I went to the opening reception for the Book Bloggers convention. They served cookies and coffee and met in a large meeting room. There were over a hundred people in the room. I recognized Natasha of Maw Books who has a very nicely designed book blog. http://blog.mawbooks.com/ Also, I had a chance to chat with a couple different different people. Christopher Herz told me about his book, Last Block In Harlem. He is an interesting website on the book http://herzwords.wordpress.com/the_last_block_in_harlem/ It is being picked up by Amazon Encore which is the new publishing house attached to Amazon.

I thought one of the attendees was the librarians blog Stacked http://stackedbooks.blogspot.com/, but it turned out to be a different blog, Stacked Attractively Well Read http://stackedbooks.blogspot.com/ run by Christina R. Oppold. It has a different style.

I had a brief conversation with a gentleman named Simon Van Booy from Harper Collins. It was interesting.

The day was a very productive day. I did get a similar question thrown at me to the one about bloggers being journalists. Am I a reviewer? I am really not sure how to answer this in a traditional sense. I do review books regularly and recommend books, however I am not being paid to do it for a magazine like Library Journal or Choice. This would beg the question of are bloggers really reviewers. Do I need to be a reviewer to ask for a review copy. I know that librarians regularly get review copies as selectors of materials. In a way this makes me both a reviewer and a selector of materials.

It adds to another question. Are bloggers writers? Do I get paid for this. Maybe, I don't get paid in dollars, but I get some social capital (look up whuffie if you want to be a bit science fiction oriented) or if you are old fashioned brownie points, as well as free stuff, or comps to events occassionally. I enjoy it anyways. I still haven't figured out quite where it will lead, good or bad. What seems to be the best thing to do is if someone decides I am a reviewer is to go with the flow. Maybe I don't need to decide that I am a journalist, reviewer, or writer, someone else will just say yes. What I do know is that I am a librarian and a blogger.

Daily Thoughts 5/25/2010 (Day of Dialog Between Publishers and LIbrarians)

Luc Lafnet, Still Life, 1927, Oil On Canvas

Daily Thoughts 5/25/2010 (Day of Dialog Between Librarians and Publishers at Book Expo America)

Ready to go to the Jacob Javits Center this morning. I have a folder for all my papers, pens, business cards, a notebook, so I think I should be ready. It should be excellent.

I was surprised to only find conference sessions on the first day of Book Expo America. I went to the Library Journal Day of Dialog at the Jacob Javits Center, directly across from us was the School Library Journal Day of Dialog. It was nice to see some of my old colleagues among the attendees as well as a few people that I recognized. I had a very interesting talk with one of my colleagues about purchasing foreign language materials.

I also picked up a lot of free books and audiobooks. I was surprised at the amount of free audiobooks. I am going to list a few free books and audiobooks that stood out; Churchill A History of the English Speaking Peoples as a cd audiobook put out by BBC Audio, Niall Ferguson The Ascent of Money by Tantor Audio. There were also a number of cards which had the cover of a book and a free code to download an audiobook; My Spirtual Journey by The Dalai Lama and Sena Jeter Naslund, Adam & Eve A Novel were two downloads that were free on postcards.

I also had a chance to slip across the hall to pick up some books from School Library Journal. They were giving away some Kimani Tru titles which are African American romance titles aimed at teenagers. The imprint is very popular at our library.

The first session was Editors Picks. Among the books which were recommended that most stood out were The Burn by Nevada Barr coming in August, Barrier Dead by Louise Penny which is a mystery coming in September, and Stephen Hawking's new book The Grand Design. There were a lot of excellent suggestions of titles.

The next session was on ebooks. It was about two new ebook platforms, Blio and Copia. It is hard to describe what these are without looking at them. http://thecopia.com/ is a social network platform for reading, it allows a variety of features including annotation, video, audio, sharing reading, and other functions. Blio was an ereading platform designed to include a variety of media formats worked on by Baker and Taylor. It was also interesting to look at. http://www.blioreader.com/

This was followed by another session on ebooks. Mostly this was about the coming changes we should expect in how ebooks and other media are going to be introduced to the library. Overdrive was the most interesting presenter. They talked about the process of how we we have to tell industry what we want. There was a statement that ebooks would be 22-30% of the market five years from now. Electronic books and media are growing extremely fast. I find this to be a little exuberant.

There was an interesting point that many of the changes in the introduction of electronic material to libraries had already been tested out in academic libraries. It seemed a little bit too up front. Academic libraries and public libraries are very different in their mission and content.

Some of the statements very much surprised me. They talked about how there were going to be no hardcover books, more paperbacks, mass market and ebooks. This was a bit strange. I am seeing a dropoff in mainstream publishers hardcover books, but not in specialty hardcover titles from small presses. There has been growth in presses like Subterranean, Nightshade Books, Pyr and other specialty hardcover presses for science fiction. I see more titles with higher prices and more limited runs coming out from these presses. I also see many more oversize hardcover books that are heavily illustrated coming out at more affordable prices.

They talked about how content is going to integrate with your catalog. This reminds me of Bookletters which we recently got to show recommendation lists, widgets, newsletters, and events for our library system. It is additional content to market books integrated with the library catalog. Bookletters is a product of Ingram. Baker and Taylor said their product Blio is designed to integrate with library catalogs. Baker and Taylor says they have already done this with academic libraries with the system called Content Cafe.

The sessions were quite interesting. Some of it took on the older idea of the "library without walls." This is the idea that the library will eventually extend beyond the physical building to manage all the content which is sent outside the building electronically.

There is very much the flavor of the old internet boom days where lots of people were making very wild predictions about what would be happening. There is a constant emphasis on better, faster, cheaper while the backend systems have not changed that much. There are still writers, agents, and publishers. This has not changed that much.

There was a gadget gallery with a variety of devices, the Nook, the Kindle, the Ipad, the Sony Ereader, Blackberry, Android smart phone, and other devices. I got to play with the Ipad and read a bit of the original Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne as an Ipad book. I found the Ipad quite pleasing and easy to read. The pictures were clear, the text was very well defined and easy to manipulate. In comparison, the Kindle was not so easy to read, nor was the Sony Ereader. If it was not so expensive, it would be something that I could easily see having.

I decided to skip the session on international thrillers. I then took some time to wander around through the different conference areas. I found a session called Leading Latino Authors are Representative of a Vibrant Market in room 1B 01 from 3:15-4:15 p.m. , I went there at about three o'clock and I heard a panel of bestselling latin authors; Camillo Cruz, Ph.D., Dr. Ana Nogales, Juan Gomez-Jurado, Matt De La Pena, and Daisy Maria Martinez. It was a refreshing break from library stories. One book that looked quite good was a cookbook, Daisy's Fiesta by Daisy Maria Martinez which is coming out in November.

The final hour was looking around and gabbing with wine, cheese, and appetizers. It was a nice way to spend a late afternoon.

There was enough happening in that one day to decide to skip going to the evening events. I also asked registration about the Book Blogging convention. I have to check on it tomorrow. I am going to relax for the long walk around the exhibitor convention floor tomorrow. Jacob Javits convention floor is bigger than a football field. There will be thousands of books.

This time, I have permission to ship back boxes of books which I find on the convention floor. I have also been asked to take a look at the childrens and young adult books too. I plan on picking up a lot of material to send back.

I handed out a few business cards and did get to pick up one thing for myself. Sterling publishers was giving away free blank journals made from 100% recycled materials. They have a nice feel to them. http://www.ecosystemlife.com/

Daily Thoughts 5/24/2010

High life java & mocha coffee. ([1895-1917])

Daily Thoughts 5/24/2010

Sometimes you find the little things; Linked In Group Ebooks, Ebook Readers, Digital Books and Digital Content (Has over 6100 members.). Some of us are getting together for drinks on Tuesday (May 25th) night from 5:30-about 7pm at the Landmark Tavern which is located fairly close to Javits (about 8 blocks). Here’s the address: 626 11th Avenue (on 46th Street) New York, NY 10036 I might go, this is the real purpose of social media; to make contacts.

I have been reading some more of Under Heaven. There is plenty of intrigue. I like how Guy Gavriel Kay describes the inns, red light districts, and concubines of the imperial palace. There is more than just sex; he also includes the intrigues of the court, poetry, assassins, and plenty of intricate language.

Busy Mom's Who Love To Read Blog is hosting the 44th Book Review Blog Carnival where blogs share their reviews to a specific host blog. http://busymomswholovetoread.blogspot.com/2010/05/book-review-blog-carnival-is-making.html

I am looking over the Day of Dialog schedule tomorrow. It should be quite entertaining. http://www.libraryjournal.com/info/CA6720797.html

Daily Thoughts 4/19/2010

This is an image of the book cover designed by Alfred Garth Jones for the first hardback publication of Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902

Daily Thoughts 4/19/2010

Today has been a quiet day. I signed up for Library Journal's Day of Dialog on May 25, 2010. http://www.libraryjournal.com/info/CA6720797.html It is well worth going to this to learn what publishers are planning for the coming year for public libraries.

I think I am going to the Channel 13 archives today. http://www.meetup.com/NYLibrarians/calendar/13068957/

We put up a sign today for a display of jazz books, dvds, and cds. Displays with more than one media are often better than displays with only books. We also moved most of the fiction books out of the old fiction room. I also picked out some books to show for the graphic novels club on Wednesday.