I remain baffled why Publishers Weekly would delete inside-page archives for my E-Book Report and two other blogs. But meanwhile here’s a rose to PW Editor Sara Nelson for realistically noting that the U.S. economy is sailing into a “perfect storm” and that books are not recession-proof. Long term, she’s still optimistic. I just wish she’d mentioned E. The popularization of e-books, cheaper to consumers, could help. So could a well-stocked, TeleRead-style national digital library system, as I see it—with care taken to preserve private alternatives so D.C. couldn’t censor the rest of us, and so we’d still have a wide diversity of books, not just the library-blessed variety.
But what to read e-books on? Forbes says that “as U.S. consumers go on recession watch, lower-cost PCs could help shore up flagging demand for new computers in developed economies.” Fine. But will screen resolutions be adequate for books? And how about tablet capabilities like the OLPC XO’s machine’s? I hope libraries and e-booksellers alike will speak up on these issues. Not everyone wants or needs a $400 Kindle, the price of which ideally will come down.
The library angle: The recession means that more people will be turning to libraries not just for recreation but also for reading up on careers and new skills.
>>>The library angle: The recession means that more people will be turning to libraries not just for recreation but also for reading up on careers and new skills
When was the last time you WENT to a public library?
When the budgets get trimmed, public libraries get the deepest cuts. They’re in the Top Ten of Things To Slash.
We’ve had services restored to glorious levels here in NYC and now I expect a harsh Undo on all that.
BTW, don’t take it personally. I’m feverish and really shouldn’t be posting. I’m also sick from two decades of Public Library Budget Ping-Pong here in NYC. Especially now with a frikkin Mayor who could simply donate ONE YEAR OF INTEREST INCOME and keep everything going swimmingly for a good while.
Hey, Mike, I went earlier this month to the Alexandria, VA, library and need to return my p-books. No prob with your being POed ahead of time at NYC’s gov over the probable lib cuts! Let’s hope enough people join you in your anger, so the cuts don’t happen. Good luck in your anti-cut efforts! David
Once in a while I check the Mobipocket titles at eNYPL and they got to almost 4000 titles; I found 6 interesting new ones including the just published novels of J. Morrow and J. Ford that I e-checked out. Also NYPL has lots of free databases with tons of magazines, journals, many accesible from home, some only from the library
At my other library system, the local Westchester one, I go usually twice a week to get a bunch of books – mostly children but new releases for me too – movies, music.
We do not have ebooks, though we have tons of databases, again mostly available from home, and since there are about 40 libraries in the system and the reserve is easy, fast and free – up to 20 items a time reserve, pretty much unlimited checkouts, I just add the titles that interest me and collect them at my local library about twice a week as mentioned. Also renewals and account management is a click away, so no need for library slips…
In the city the reserve is slower and I rarely use it, though there are occasionally foreign language books available only there…
Libraries are very useful. And the database access at both NYPL and WLS is really amazing…
I visit my library at least once a week. This Saturday I’m having a OLPC meeting at a local library as well, and my storytellers’ group meets monthly at a meeting room in a public library. A woman from a recent panel mentioned that in Denver they have game activity rooms at libraries for parents and children to play video games. In Houston I find libraries to be useful and still relevant.