Libraries, Archives, and all things Bookish...

[hmaria1609]

The American Library Assoc. (ALA) Annual is coming (back) to DC this year!  It'll be in person and virtual.
Registration is now open:
https://2022.alaannual.org
I've gone to each ALA Annual when DC was the host city. 2019 was the last ALA Annual I attend in person and DC hosted the conference.

Still thinking of going or not.

[apl68]

The American Library Assoc. (ALA) Annual is coming (back) to DC this year!  It'll be in person and virtual.
Registration is now open:
https://2022.alaannual.org
I've gone to each ALA Annual when DC was the host city. 2019 was the last ALA Annual I attend in person and DC hosted the conference.

Still thinking of going or not.

I had a great time when I got the chance to go to ALA in DC some years ago as part of a rural library sustainability workshop.  Small-town librarians seldom get a chance to go to national conferences anywhere.  It was mind-boggling!  I also had a chance to spend one long day ranging all over the famous parts of DC.

[mamselle]

Life of a library book:

   https://bookriot.com/lifecycle-of-a-library-book/

M.

[apl68]

Life of a library book:

   https://bookriot.com/lifecycle-of-a-library-book/

M.

Word to the wise:  When you're buying book covers for your library books, don't buy the cheapest stuff the supplier offers.  Many years ago one of my predecessors tried to economize by buying a batch of cheap book cover material.  The covers soon looked awful, and felt awful to the touch.  I spent years cringing whenever I had to handle one of the books covered with that lousy material.  I think they're just about all gone from our collection now.

Getting rid of old books to make way for new ones is usually called "weeding," but I've always thought it should be called "pruning."  The old books aren't unwelcome intruders in the collection like weeds.  They're just old wood that has to be removed to let the new grow in its place.

[mamselle]

Getting rid of old books to make way for new ones is usually called "weeding," but I've always thought it should be called "pruning."  The old books aren't unwelcome intruders in the collection like weeds.  They're just old wood that has to be removed to let the new grow in its place.

^Like.

A distinction with a difference.

Also applies to one's home library (gulp...!)

M.

[mamselle]

There's another entry in that series (they persist in using the "w" word, sorry!) on the variety of jobs possible:

   https://bookriot.com/back-of-house-library-jobs/

Meanwhile, my newsfeed, catching my interest in libraries, sent this along:

   https://www.boredpanda.com/heartwarming-stories-libraries-safe-spaces/?utm_source=com.google.android&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic

I wonder about some of the practices noted, churches I've known that let people stay overnight have been reminded the insurance doesn't cover guests lighting a cigarette and starting a fire when they fell asleep with it half-smoked (as has happened) so I'm guessing the same is true of libraries.

But the kindly impulses of librarians that prompt the anecdotes noted--I can attest to those, indeed.

M.

[mamselle]

And, of course, the British Library always has fun, useful stuff:

   https://britishlibraryemails.bl.uk/5JXV-HKQ9-C0B9A3B24156DF9E13LM50029CBBC879F39141/cr.aspx

M.

[mamselle]

So, can any resident librarians comment on this?

   https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/89017-maryland-gives-up-on-its-library-e-book-law.html

Feels a bit like I've opened the book in the middle,  but all the preceding pages are glued shut...

Meanwhile,  just got my regular email from these folks....

    https://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa

True love...

;--》

M.

[apl68]

So, can any resident librarians comment on this?

   https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/89017-maryland-gives-up-on-its-library-e-book-law.html

Feels a bit like I've opened the book in the middle,  but all the preceding pages are glued shut...

It's like this:  With physical books, a library can buy the very same book you could buy in a bookstore or elsewhere at the same price you would pay (or less if we get it wholesale), catalog it, and offer it to patrons.  The library can keep offering the book to patrons until it is lost/destroyed/stolen, wears out, is weeded for lack of interest, or forever, whichever comes first.  There are such things as "library bound" books, which have a stouter than usual binding (usually to take abuse from younger readers) and cost a premium.  We can buy special library-bound versions where available if we think it is justified.  Or just buy the usual consumer edition, if we don't think library-bound is necessary or affordable.

Circulating e-books are, in effect, all "library bound."  They have to have special software that enables them to be checked out to a patron's device for a limited period, then cause the patron's "copy" to go away and make the item available for circulation again.  This is necessary to prevent unlimited numbers of copies from being created.  You can understand why publishers want it that way.  Endless electronic duplication and sharing of music has long since all but killed the music industry.  We don't want that happening to publishing.

But that means that libraries can't just buy and offer the same e-books that consumers can, as we can with physical books.  And library e-books come with special strings attached.  They can cost 3-5 times what a consumer copy would cost.  They may not be actual purchases, but rather a type of lease that automatically goes away after x number of months or x number of checkouts.  And they must be used with certain proprietary platforms.  Nearly all popular fiction comes on a platform called OverDrive, for which libraries must pay thousands of dollars a year in platform fees before they have bought a single actual title.  Were we ever to fail to pay the platform fees, we could lose access to our entire accumulated e-book collection.

These state library laws sound like efforts to make publishers offer e-books to libraries on much the same terms as they offer them to consumers.  But they've proven unenforceable, and are now falling by the wayside. 

[apl68]

Libraries have mostly learned in recent years to live with the restrictions that surround circulating e-books.  Small libraries initially were priced out of e-books by the need to pay platform fees.  Our library was able to start offering them before most other small-town libraries in the region.  We sacrificed maintaining a DVD collection to be able to afford it.  Some other librarians I know tried to go with a cut-price service that proved unpopular.  It had very few truly popular authors.  I suspect it may have been largely a platform for self publishers.  At any rate, it seems to have been a case of "you get what you pay for."

Several years ago our State Library coordinated the development of a statewide e-book consortium for public libraries.  This enabled us to share collections and platform fees.  The cost management of the consortium means that our library now spends much less on e-books, yet can offer far more.  The consortium has proven popular, affordable, and sustainable enough to pretty well satisfy all parties involved.  I think at this point that public libraries and the publishing industry have groped their way to a reasonable compromise.  So the problem that e-book laws were designed to solve seems to have been solved without them.  Whether academic libraries are satisfied with the deals they're getting from their e-book vendors, I don't know.

[mamselle]

Wow, complex, but I do understand it better, thank you!

This also just appeared:

   https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/nyc-libraries-are-offering-free-digital-library-cards-to-people-across-the-u-s-041322

In the face of widespread book-bannings, the NYPL seems to be standing tall.

M.

[dr_evil]

Getting rid of old books to make way for new ones is usually called "weeding," but I've always thought it should be called "pruning."  The old books aren't unwelcome intruders in the collection like weeds.  They're just old wood that has to be removed to let the new grow in its place.

Unfortunately, my institution has pruned just about everything and has almost no physical books anymore. I had heard they threw the old ones out, including one on an art technique that I used to check out periodically. It hurts my book-loving soul. The old library space is practically empty. I think I heard echoes coming from there, or perhaps ghosts of those poor disposed books crying in agony. 

The issue for me is that I want a break from all the reading online. It causes eye strain that bothers me (probably more now that I'm old, or so I feel at times).

[apl68]

Getting rid of old books to make way for new ones is usually called "weeding," but I've always thought it should be called "pruning."  The old books aren't unwelcome intruders in the collection like weeds.  They're just old wood that has to be removed to let the new grow in its place.

Unfortunately, my institution has pruned just about everything and has almost no physical books anymore. I had heard they threw the old ones out, including one on an art technique that I used to check out periodically. It hurts my book-loving soul. The old library space is practically empty. I think I heard echoes coming from there, or perhaps ghosts of those poor disposed books crying in agony. 

The issue for me is that I want a break from all the reading online. It causes eye strain that bothers me (probably more now that I'm old, or so I feel at times).

Last time I visited my old job, a couple of years ago, they had moved massive numbers of books into off-site storage to create thousands of square feet of computer lab and study space.  There were a couple of floors in the building that still felt like a library, though.

The other day I had the chance to browse through the stacks at Alma Mater's library.  It really took me back!  I spend my days mainly in a public library, where most of the stacks are occupied by popular fiction.  I miss getting to browse extensive nonfiction stacks that give the sense of being surrounded by a whole world of knowledge.

[mamselle]

A piece on the important place of libraries in society in a broader sense:

   https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristatorres/library-safe-space-twitter

M.

[hmaria1609]

Side note to apl68's previous comment, Libby is replacing the OverDrive name. Still the same service!