Friday, September 24, 2010
My Thoughts on the Public Library Task Force Report
My thoughts are that we should all work toward better funding for libraries.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Change Before our Eyes and Sign of the Times
Here's some professional insight, from Rhonda Kleiman, Economic Development Manager for the Library System of Lancaster County into the cessation of hard copy publishing of the OED.
I think it might be a little of both! It is a sad thing to see happen with one of the most respected (and revered) publications. There certainly is a paradigm shift going on in the publishing industry. The Internet has forced the publishing industry to invent new business models to survive. As a reference librarian (and also someone who has worked closely with the publishing industry in a former life) I'm not at all surprised by this - I've seen it coming gradually and now it is a speeding train. So many of the standard reference books I've worked with in my career are either going by the wayside completely, or becoming electronic products. It is just too expensive for publishers to continue to churn out reference titles, particularly because they are printed in small runs, sometimes less than a few thousand copies. The other thing is that as you all know, reference books are outdated by the time they hit the shelves because between editing and production, a year or more sometimes elapses. That is where the beauty of electronic products comes in, because they can be constantly updated. Just the other day, Diane and I were commiserating about the fact that one of our key demographic print resources will now be in electronic format only, and a few days later I had a long conversation with the head of the business and technology division at the Chicago Public Library and he brought up the same thing. In just the last week, the Wall Street Journal ran three articles on three separate days that illustrate the "revolution" that is going on in the industry. Now, it is going beyond reference books to regular consumer and business books. One of the articles was about Seth Godin dropping ties with his publisher in order to produce his books strictly in various e-formats. He is one of the most popular business writers around, so if Diane and I want to add his future titles to our collection, it will have to be in electronic format only. If you are interested, here are the links to the articles.
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=2119247291&Fmt=3&clientId=11668&RQT=309&VName=PQD
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=2118039351&Fmt=3&clientId=11668&RQT=309&VName=PQD
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=2122054311&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=11668&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Okay - I'm climbing off my soapbox now - thanks for listening!!
Rhonda
I think it might be a little of both! It is a sad thing to see happen with one of the most respected (and revered) publications. There certainly is a paradigm shift going on in the publishing industry. The Internet has forced the publishing industry to invent new business models to survive. As a reference librarian (and also someone who has worked closely with the publishing industry in a former life) I'm not at all surprised by this - I've seen it coming gradually and now it is a speeding train. So many of the standard reference books I've worked with in my career are either going by the wayside completely, or becoming electronic products. It is just too expensive for publishers to continue to churn out reference titles, particularly because they are printed in small runs, sometimes less than a few thousand copies. The other thing is that as you all know, reference books are outdated by the time they hit the shelves because between editing and production, a year or more sometimes elapses. That is where the beauty of electronic products comes in, because they can be constantly updated. Just the other day, Diane and I were commiserating about the fact that one of our key demographic print resources will now be in electronic format only, and a few days later I had a long conversation with the head of the business and technology division at the Chicago Public Library and he brought up the same thing. In just the last week, the Wall Street Journal ran three articles on three separate days that illustrate the "revolution" that is going on in the industry. Now, it is going beyond reference books to regular consumer and business books. One of the articles was about Seth Godin dropping ties with his publisher in order to produce his books strictly in various e-formats. He is one of the most popular business writers around, so if Diane and I want to add his future titles to our collection, it will have to be in electronic format only. If you are interested, here are the links to the articles.
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=2119247291&Fmt=3&clientId=11668&RQT=309&VName=PQD
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=2118039351&Fmt=3&clientId=11668&RQT=309&VName=PQD
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=2122054311&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=11668&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Okay - I'm climbing off my soapbox now - thanks for listening!!
Rhonda
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