WILL UNWOUND #381: “Rave Thursday…In Support of Real Books”
March 10, 2011There is a well intentioned eReaders Bill of Rights going around in the internet. It’s a response to the controversial Harper Collins decision to blow up ebooks that get 26 library circulations. Enough ink, I’m sorry …bytes, have been spent on discussing this issue. Suffice it to say, without wasting any more, that ebooks have huge problems for libraries that right now are nowhere near being solved.
There is one good thing that has come out of the Harper Collins ebook controversy…a new appreciation for good old paper and glue antiques. These are often called pbooks for print books or physical books. I on the other hand call them real books.
I have had a love affair with real books for 61 years and I am not about to dump them over an infatuation for the latest shiny new toy. Therefore, stubborn as ever, I propose the following bill of rights for readers of real books:
- Public libraries should not cut already diminished real book budgets to purchase the fleeting licensing rights for ebooks until libraries get a fair deal from publishers. Far worse than the 26 circulation limit is the stipulation that you can only lend one e-book out to one patron at a time. This totally negates the biggest advantage of ebooks. Until this basic stipulation is changed, boycott all e-books, not just Harper Collins ebooks.
- In these harsh economic times public libraries should not subsidize affluent borrowers who can afford ebook reading machines at the expense of readers who cannot afford them.
- With diminishing budgets, public libraries should stop throwing money at videogames and movies and focus on maintaining real book budgets.
- With the graying of the American reading public, libraries should invest more money in real books with LARGE PRINT.
- The big advantage of real books is their lasting value. Libraries should therefore stop wasting megabucks on multiple copies of bestsellers that will be weeded in a year or two.
- Libraries should emphasize diversity and quality in real book acquisitions. Do taxpayers really want to fund media entertainment centers?
- Scarce public resources should be spent on educational and enrichment resources. This means returning to the foundational principles of American librarianship.
- The best return on the real book investment is with children’s books. Children are the catalysts who get the entire family involved in the library. The last thing that any library should do is cut real books for real children. Children have enough shiny toys at home. They need real books. Give them what they need.
- Reference jobs should be replaced with readers advisory jobs. Today Google makes everyone a reference librarian, but very few people are book experts. We need to reinstill a reading culture in America. The readers advisory librarian needs to be taken off the endangered list.
- Library weeding programs should be based on keeping books with enduring value. Whole collections should not be gutted by the tyranny of circulation statistics.
- Libraries should constantly be acquiring fresh new copies of the classics and should keep up with new and robust translations (eg. Fagles’ Homer and Heaney’s Beowulf).
Ball’s in your court, Unwinders.
1. Why is it librarians like Bill of Rights so much?
2. Most of these I have major problems with, but, at this time, my proverbial head hurts. I love my career, but, as I’ve said before, I don’t always understand my peers. Currently, I’m seething too much to make a cogent argument.
AE…I’m just riffing off the ebook bill of rights thingy.
Sorry…this entire debate and the terms “bill of rights” and “professionalization” just make me want to stab my hand with a fork. Hard.
AE needs to talk to Boris quick!
Why would you restrict such a Bill of Rights to just “Public Libraries?”
Other than that – large print – nope – either you can upgrade your optical needs or get books on tape/CD – which of course requires us to support “Books for the Blind.”
Unfortunately there are holding limits for brick and mortar buildings – so judicious weeding still is needed.
Frankly, I don’t need yet another edition of Dickens, Bronte, the Bard or Beowulf – enough already. Give me translations of the Spanish Golden Age poets if you have to go there – despite their bloody hands they could be pretty funny – I think the Bard lifted some stories frankly…
Send that to American Libraries Will.
He (the so-called Bard) did JDB.
I always thought people accused him of stealing from Bacon – not the Spanish. But, ok my surmises are good.
Bacon or Marlow, but if you read works from Spain and Italy…striking, uncanny similarities.
apropos of nothing here – but I’m putting some of my newest poetry up on my FaceBook page tomorrow – so if you want to read it you have to friend me: jberry@library.berkeley.edu
John…one man’s classic is another man’s bore.
I approve. Will done
Dan…ever the punster!
I personally prefer real books, too, and am continuing to purchase them. I have even replaced a number of the classics in the past few years.
However, as a public librarian I am also having more people request e-books since Christmas than ever before. We will begin to offer them this spring. We also had a few non-real-book readers ask about them. I am hoping that some of these people will eventually become library users, too, as there will be much more limited offerings.
Margaret, why can’t state libraries be the ebook lenders?
Texas State Library, if the bill passes, will lose about 75% of its staffing. If the bill passes, most of the programs and services that benefit all libraries, including academic and school libraries, will end. Not cut, but will end. ebooks aren’t even on the radar.
How is that funding picture different from the local libraries. They are under the same funding limitations and yet they still spread themselves thinner with ebooks.
Some states do participate as a part of an ebook consortia with public libraries in their state.
I love real books, Will, but you’ve got to pay attention to what your community wants. Since this past Christmas, which was a watershed for ereaders, my ebook circulation has been rising fast. I do need to serve my ebook patrons, and will allocate my budget to do so. Never fear, we have never had computers in the children’s area, for lots of reasons. No one misses them, as kids are welcome to use the computers in the main area of the library. But the children’s room is full of kids reading, doing puzzles, and playing the occasional game of checkers. Low tech, but works for us. As a director, and selector of materials for the library, I am format neutral. Whatever best suits my patrons is the guiding principle. We need to deal with what the situation is, not with oughts and shoulds.
Leslie, Does this not lead down the path to ever more with ever less?
I’ve wanted my public library to do a lot of things they have never done – gee if I move near you you’ll do them? Cool…
John…if you try to do everything; you end up doing nothing.
Leslie, let the state library be the ebook lender.
Will, exactly my point…
Our consortium purchases ebooks, with each library deciding the amount they wish to contribute to those purchases. As for doing too much with too little – that’s a specious argument here. If a format is not moving, it is eliminated. I’ve stopped buying videos, music on cd, etc., so that I can fund new formats. No sentimentality allowed. And my budget is stable – perhaps, because we GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT.
Ditto what Leslie said — and I don’t see state libraries being the only lenders of ebooks — I just don’t see it happening.
Or, Leslie, are you giving them what they need?
Who gets to decide what they need? And if I fill my library with what I think they need, will they actually show up? I think it’s better to follow use patterns,keep in touch with the community, find new ways to fund the library —that mosaic of things that a professional librarian who happens to be a director must do in order to maintain the library as a viable resource in the community.
Need/want? Aren’t we professionals? Do we ask our doctors and dentists for what we need or want?
Well, Will, what do you think my patrons need?
Leslie you are exactly right. My public library does collection development like this and they are busy, popular, and well funded.
Will, for once, I have to say I think you’re out of touch on this one.
Ahhh the Heaney Beowulf. I don’t even like Beowulf, but that translation is jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
It is amazing!
#9 I love and totally agree with. All public librarians need to be doing RA, and school librarians too.
Instead of more large print (which is heavy, clumsy, and just as often not large print enough) why not go for ebook readers which can make all books large print?
If the person with the visual problem also has light sensitivity (such as me) they will end up with a horrible headache. I have to make adjustments constantly when I’m at work just to deal with my computer screen. I have no lights in my office except for a lamp. Two years ago, I almost lost my vision. During that time, I turned off all lights in my office and could barely read a regular book. I don’t own an ereader because every time I try one, I end up with the worst headache, and my eyes can’t focus for hours.
Jessica…because one of the reasons I like real books is because they are not machines. We all need a break from machines.
A.E., I’m surprised you have such problems with eyestrain and the eye readers. I’ve always been prone to headaches and eye strain (and have terrible vision), and I’ve found that when I read on my Kindle or Sony Reader, I have less problems than when I read a book. The text is clearer and I can make the font the size that works best for me.
Maybe it’s a generational difference, but I don’t think of my ebook readers as machines, so much as nice easy ways to read. They’ve certainly made nighttime reading easier since they are much easier to hold in one hand for many hours of insomnia.
Jessica-
I was surprised too. My opthomalogist said that because my eye muscles never developed will and my optic nerve is so sensitive that most light hurts me, even natural light. I’d like to try the new media (even though I’m partial to physical books) just so I’d have another method of reading. As I get older, even reading print can be difficult. I’ll have to wait for the price to go down, but I think it could be interesting mode of reading.
Jessica, you may find this interesting. I took a Book History class which looked at books as communication and artifact…so both ebooks and print books were examined for their content as well as the medium. It was very fascinating because we had writers, library, and museum students in class. Very lively and heartfelt discussion!
That sounds like a wonderful class! It is very much like something I hope to teach one day
It was Jessica. We went from oral tradition to electronic media. I have to say, it was an amazing class! It combined library history, conservation (of both print and electronic artifacts), and literature (anything that carries information of any kind-maps, wanted posters, everything).
One other option is to use an iPad. Persons with visual problems can adjust the settings so it will read aloud to them!
OUCH! With Google, everyone is a reference librarian?! I agree with everything else in your wonderful post, but that line gets my hackles up. I would argue that librarians have to tools to use Google better than the average patron. Just because I can find just about anything with Google doesn’t mean my next door neighbor can…And, as with ereaders, not everyone can afford to have a computer and internet access at home.
Okay, good point. I will concede you this point, Amy.
I agree. Google cannot do my job.
I agree, Amy. I am frequently surprised at how much faster I can use Google to find an answer than one of my intelligent-but-non-librarian friends can. It comes from lots of experience using catalogs, reference tools, and indexes/indices, I suspect – I learned a lot of search strategies. I also seem to be able to find relevant information among the thousands of hits more quickly than many of them.
In my job, we had a lot more requests for information than for readers’ advisory, but that may have been because I was working in a subject division of a major library rather than in one of the branches.
I use the ‘net, especially with Google, frequently to find information, and it is handy to have it at home, but I do miss access to reference books – if you know your collection, you can often find what you’re looking for more quickly there than on line.
I am currently about 25% through my first reading of “The Count of Monte Cristo.” *shakes her head wondering how she missed this in her reading odyssey* I bought it as a free book on my Kindle. Today at the library I looked at the Penguin edition and realize I could NEVER have read that type font for over 1000 pages.
I love real books. I love owning real books. I could stock a small library with the books I own. But I do not like reading books with small print. How long would the “Count” be in large type? I do not like reading paperback books-even trade paper. My arthritic hands just can’t hold them open.
Next quarter in school I’m reading War and Peace (Pevear/Volokonsky). I own the paperback which I will take to class. I will take the hard cover out of the library for reading at home. And I may buy it for Kindle as well.
However, the one thing I will always get from the library is mystery books because they are pure entertainment and not something I’m going to buy to read only once. The classics (which are classics because they can be read over and over) are the heart of any great library. But at this point I need not only to decorate my house with books but have book formats which I can actually read-whatever that turns out to be.
That is one of the great things about ebooks — every one of them becomes a large print book.
And I certainly notice print seems much smaller than it use to so I am pleased to be able to increase the font size on any book I’m reading.
Not every ebook can be large print. I downloaded a free ebook onto my Sony ereader and just could not make the print larger. That said, another one works fine. I too don’t want to pay for my mystery addiction so I am looking for free ebooks for my reader. So far what I look for is a bit scarce. Much easier to find at the library in a “pbook”. I do hope to use my ereader more as I get more familiar with downloading, but I do enjoy a substantial print book more.
I am so happy that as a librarian I work at an academic (law) library. There’s no way that we could afford to add ebooks to our budget. The big packages won’t work for us as there are none (as yet) that target the particular mix that we need. Isn’t it enough that almost all our reference materials require robust computer systems? I don’t see us going for ebooks in a big way for awhile and hopefully I’ll be retired by then!
Alice, thanks. I agree. How can libraries afford ebooks when they can’t even afford real books anymore?
Donna, but a lot of older people (like me!) don’t want to fiddle with an e-book?
I’m 3 years younger than you, Will. I had my Kindle up and was reading on it in about 15 minutes. But I agree it may not be for everyone.
@Alice: I was in the last group of law students before WestLaw & Lexis became mandatory. While I realize that both are very expensive subscriptions, the concept that you can actually look up statutes and cases remote from the library is fantastic…to say nothing of Shepardizing (gosh I hated those books!)
Will, I am 57. I have e-reader apps installed from B & N, Borders, Books A Million, Apple, and Google on my iPad so I could take advantage of price differences and giveaways of free books with each reader. They’re wonderful for travel, and so easy to use a child could do it. You flip the pages with your finger. Stop being a Luddite!
[leaps on the bar and cheers]
I love tech as much as the next girl, but I have this theory that the slashing of book budgets for all manner of electronica is motivated in part by pernicious gender stereotypes.
Since all that female librarians see of ourselves in the media is the backwards, dumpy, unloveable shrew, we relentlessly pursue respectability and redemptive masculinity by way of technological prowess. To be cool, librarians have to be male (e.g. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “The Librarian” movie series).
Ever since the first baby boomers finished library school, this profession has spent an entire generation being hip, cutting edge, and out-of-the-box. Not to indulge in cliches or anything.
The result for the last 40+ years is the annual or semi-annual national media piece whose newsworthiness is the earth-shattering discovery that librarians fail to conform to the media’s own cherished stereotypes.
It would be like four decades of feature stories with themes like ‘Meet some Jews who aren’t greedy’ or ‘No lazy Mexicans in this barrio!’
Anyway, my point is that the pressure, whether internal or external, to disavow anything coded as feminine and/or “gay,” such as a commitment to books and art and literature, is intense and self-destructive.
Seriously? All I hear is male-bashing in my library (which I’m totally sick of).
Which in no way refutes my theory. Mexicans probably snipe about white folks and Jews probably snipe about gentiles pretty often.
I don’t really see it as a theory. And just because it is done, does not make it right or excusable.
However, at this point and time, I’m having a hard time being part of the library family.
Good night, and good luck.
Betty, I never saw it as a gender thing to want to be hip and cool, but you may be on to something.
Since this is rave Thursday I’m not going to rant.
However, I will say this – I am as passionate about ebooks as Will is about “real” paper books – and I personally find ebooks perfectly real. And as annoyed as some people get about ebooks because they are not paper books– that is how I feel when I keep hearing people slam ebooks – if you don’t like ebooks -you don’t have to read them!
And I must say in the end the argument doesn’t make sense to me – what difference does it make from an intellectual perspective if you’re reading a paper book or an ebook?
It is the content that matters most not the format – it’s how the words play out in your mind – not whether you reading a paper book or an ebook. I can read Frost or Keats poems in any format and still find them vastly enjoyable; the words aren’t any different to me because one copy of the work features paper pages and another a backlit screen.
But as this is rave Thursday, and I can’t really rave over this topic – I’m going to leave this brief post and go get my recycles and trash ready for the city pick up tomorrow.
Oh, and Boris – here’s a $100 tip for having to listen to all this debate over which is better ebooks or traditional books.
Linda…here’s my point in a nutshell: You are right the format is secondary to the content. Everyone can read a real book; not everyone has the means to read an e book. Go with the format that everyone can read. It’s the fair and democratic thing to do.
But not everyone can read traditional print books, whether because of visual problems or hand problems, there is actually a significant portion of the library service population that finds traditional print books off limits.
I’m not opposed to audiobooks.
Why are audiobooks different than ebooks? I imagine there was a similar uproar when audiobooks came out. “But paper books are superior! Long live paper books!” etc.
From my house:
“So moved. All in favor say ‘Aye.’
(Resoundingly) “Aye!”
“All opposed?”
(Deafeaning silence)
“Motion carries. Proceed to put all proposals into practice — immediately.
“In the meantime, would someone recharge my Nook? Haven’t used it, or missed it, in a month.”
Jim, here’s the question: how are e-books an improvement over the real thing?
The content is the real thing; the medium is just the medium.
(But here’s your chance to go McLuhan on me. You know, the medium alters our cognition. A book on paper is a different experience than a book on iThingy. Expand. Cite examples.)
Joe, I don’t need to go there. Everyone can read a real book; not everyone has the means for an emachine. That settles it. Libraries should focus shrinking funds on the medium everyone can use.
Will,
For me, and it’s personal for everyone, E-books are not an improvement on the real thing most of the time (and I hope you realize my comment was really in support of your proposal). A Nook is nice on a flight or to take on vacation if you intend to read several books and don’t want to lug them around. I read a few books on it after I was one of the first to buy a Nook. But I haven’t used it in two months and haven’t recharged it. The bigger question is, just because we can do something (read digital copy, watch 3-D movies, text instead of talk to people on a phone), should we and must we feel obligated to do so? Because some people do those things (and if someone enjoys them, that’s fine with me) does it mean that everyone else has to?
Joe, I can actually answer your question with real empirical proof.
There is no difference between reading a print book and reading an ebook (on a Kindle) in terms of comprehension of the text and engagement and interest in the text. None at all, not even close.
This is my dissertation findings, which I am just now writing up, and I’m pretty excited about it.
Which just proves my point. If it makes no difference, then libraries should invest in the format that works for most readers.
Will, man, I hear you.
But the world is moving inexorably toward reading on various screens, many of them attired as electronic tablets or handhelds of one kind or another. The advantages are just too overwhelming — every book a large print book (if you want), an immense library in the palm of your hand (if you want), new kinds of “books” which blend text, sound, and moving pictures, the ability to pull new books out of the ether, and the phasing out of paper mills and their toxic effluent, printing presses and their toxic inks, binderies, trucks to haul books, bricks and mortar to house books, and dumpsters to receive worn out and unwanted books. All gone — poof! With nothing now standing between an author and his or her reader. Middlemen — at least the ones who made and schlepped books when they were physical objects — poof!, gone!
Librarians, by the way, are middlemen. I can do my reader’s advisory myself, thank you, or crowdsource my request for a readalike. Those alternatives don’t need desks, salaries, health insurance, and pensions.
And you may as well not even talk about the current prices for, and capabilities of, the various devices. Those are moving targets, though for price the trend will be down and for capabilities the trend will be up.
Last year I found reading the Wall Street Journal on a demo iPad a great pleasure. Crisp text on a paper-white screen. Color. Ease of use. Compactness (no tired arms!)
But you know what, the iPad is a stone tool compared to what is coming. Incredibly, e-reading technology is in its infancy. You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
You can write your manifesto, Will, but, like King Canute, you’ll find the sea sloshing over your feet and over the hem of your robe despite all your commands to it to stop.
I’m in sympathy with several of your demands, but my sympathy is really beside the point. E-reading has so much going for it that it is bound to win out. And what will it be like when it is a mature technology? We can scarcely imagine.
Joe…you’ve just presented the other side of the argument. When you go electronic who needs a local library. Question of the day: why do you need a library building to lend ebooks? Why can’t the state library do this function for everyone in the state?
You need a local library to do this so that they purchase ebooks that reflect their local population needs. In WI readers in Madison have different wants than readers in Milwaukee than readers in my small town up in the NW. We have a state wide ebook program, but it didn’t really take off at my library until the librarians were able to buy new and additional materials that were requested by the local population, and are available to the local population first.
Not to mention all the other activities that place in the library. I live in a pretty rural area where broadband internet isn’t available outside the city limits, so internet access at the library is really important for a lot of people. I moderate a book group at the library which meets at the library. There are other bookgroups in town that meet at other places, but they don’t have the same openness and public access that the library group offers.
And you are going to need a public library for the people who for, whatever reason, do not have the egadgets. We are packed in here today — people who can’t afford to rent a movie, people who have no cable tv, people who do not have a computer. We have services they want. And I think we will continue to have services for people for a long time.
Vickie…please educate me. How do the electronically disenfranchised benefit from libraries lending ebooks?
Jessica…the beauty of having a state library doing the ebook service, is that they can offer a much greater diversity of titles…something for everyone and economy of scale in pricing.
Will, state libraries will be lucky to survive, much less add new services.
Vickie, egadgets are going to get cheaper. A lot cheaper. Many governments may choose to subsidize needy citizens’ purchase of devices and licensing of content. That may turn out to be a lot cheaper than building and maintaining library buildings and paying the salaries and benefits of the people who work inside them. Eighty percent of a public libary’s costs are salary and benefits. E-reading technology may provide a way to reduce those. Middlemen are expensive!
That leaves those who refuse to read on gadgets out of an engrained paper habit, or because they are Luddites, or just plain ornery and inflexible. As the advantages of egadgets mount, that will turn out to be a lot smaller group than we are now thinking it is. As they pass on, presumably buried with book in hand, they will be replaced by people who have grown up reading on screens and who find it completely natural.
In short, history will discard the book Luddites, and move on.
…and when we run out of energy for producing cheap products and running them without excessive costs – the techie fans will find themselves w/ nothing to do but trudge to their local libraries if any are left…LOL
More likely we’ll try to stretch our arms yet again to encompass everything and fail yet again to have everything our patrons think they want.
I’ll drink to that, Will (raises a glass to the printed book)! I can’t imagine there being a complete end to the printed book, especially with children. I think the printed book is extremely important when young children are learning to read. I think the illustrations are just as important as the content of the book and these factors are what helps kids develop their reading & comprehension skills.
As for the printed book in general, I’ve noticed the value of the printed book (& the idea of being able to pass on these books to others) when I was volunteering for a Friends of the Public Library book sale a few years ago. The community waits at the door to get in to purchase what they want, especially since a lot of them may not be able to buy them at bookstores. What I found to be the most important aspect of this was how affordable the children’s books were (especially since children’s books can be expensive at the store).
For this reason alone, I can’t see how the print book could become practically non-existent.
I also agree with you, Will, on two other things you mentioned: weeding multiple copies of the latest bestseller and the amount of money being thrown at the entertainment section (e.g. DVDs, video games). Although I get what you say about the amount of money spent on DVDs, I do have to say that it really helps me to have the option to check out DVDs since I really don’t have the money or the access to rent DVDs (I guess I should read more often). As far as videogames are concerned, I really do think that’s a waste of taxpayer resources. My one older sister lives in a rural area & she told me that, at her small public library, the computers are always taken up with kids playing computer games. I just get the feeling that its purpose is to “babysit” these kids since a lot of these kids have working parents. I think that the library resources would be better spent in other areas (e.g. educational programs, reading materials), especially since it sounds like this library has a pretty small budget.
I also found the issue of gutting collections to be problematic in my academic library experiences. Aside from the fact that some faculty liked having the bound print journals at their fingertips, I also like having the option to browse the collections, especially since I did a lot of research & writing & a lot of the times, I would find resources on the shelves that end up bieng better resources than the titles I found on the library OPAC.
I know that libraries can’t leave every book on their shelves but I do think that more thought should go into it before going through the process of weeding collections. I do think that demand, though, is important & that should be considered when purchasing materials but I also think that libraries can strike a balance between print & electronic resources.
There really should be rights for those of us who still love print books. I am just a natural researcher & I like having the print materials to refer back to when I need information (I sometimes find it easier to grab a book to search for info rather having to go to the Internet). Again, strike a balance!
Jeannine — re: your first paragraph. There will be iKidpads. Spit-proof, shock-resistant, and with big screens. Most likely cheap, too. Books on iKidpads will interact with kids, too. Green Eggs and Ham may be an enhanced experience! Reading will be different for them than it was for you and me.
Joe, we are already there. Two of my grandchildren are ipad experts already.
Jeannine…thanks for validating that I am not totally a dinosaur. I needed your supporting words.
Maybe it’s the $6 riesling talking (thank you, Trader Joe’s), but every time Biblioterra gets into the e-book vs. paper book kerfuffle, I think that we’re failing to see what R.A. might call “the 600-pound pile of dead fish in the room” (I’m paraphrasing your expression, R.A.–please forgive the approximation.) What I mean by the pile of dead fish is that one-a these days, probably in my lifetime, cheap energy will go the way of the dodo. Books, whether paper or pixels, will be more expensive and harder to produce. I imagine that for mass-produced books, preference will be given to texts that help us navigate our brave new world.
Also, when the oil runs out (don’t be calling me an alarmist, that shit is a finite and non-renewable resource), there’ll be no more plastic. Good luck making Kindles then, Amazon.
Am I sad about these things? Nah. Kinda excited, actually: we’ll have to reprioritize, and I think that a lot of the results will be positive. Better relationships with Nature and each other, more variety in the skills that each person knows, more care for what we *do* choose to expend our energy resources on. I suspect “self-publishing” will ascend to new heights when most books have to be hand-made… how cool will that be?! *excited, honestly*
Not sure where this all fits into Rave Thursday, but if I’m not dreadfully off-topic, who will be? :p
Oh, do I miss TJ’s! (And not just the Two Buck Chuck)
Jessa…comes the apocalypse and I’ll be the gatekeeper. I’m hoarding real books on the subject of animal husbandry and farming.
At our library booksale, I always buy up all the classic gardening/farming books. We’re going to need them.
Lynn…in 20 years they will be worth their weight in gold.
There will be no apocalypse. More expensive gasoline? Yes. A lot fewer people in the middle class? Probably. Less money for services? Definitely. Apocalypse? You wish. But no. Things may get crappier, bit by bit, for more people, but no apocalypse.
Joe, your description sounds a lot like the Roman empire circa 385 AD. Hmmm.
…as I’ve said before. One (or several) large EMP bombs in the upper atmosphere over the USA and that would substitute for the Apocalypse quite nicely.
Any electric gizmos will simply and suddenly emulate a rock.
Us book Luddites will still be able to read.
WWCS? (What would Charlie say?)
Well, of course it would vary by community, but I suspect that he’d embrace 4, 8 & 9. Maybe 2 again depending on the community.
I’d agree with him for the most part. “Returning to the foundational principles of American librarianship” not only shrinks our activity and our audience, it destroys our relevance to the wider community.
Nope. This one is a Will of Wrongs.
It gives us a serious singleness of purpose – education – the University of the people.
A One Legged Stool
We can only afford one leg.
Oh, Will. Was this meant to be the kind of raving that leads to a long rest in a room with soft walls?
I have many issues with this but let me address my top two.
Google does not make everyone a reference librarian. If fact, more and more it makes everyone an advertising shill for the most popular “knowledge farms” – websites like about.com, ehow.com, wikipedia, etc.
Reader’s advisory tends to put people off. In fact in a recent survey we did in our library over 50% of our patrons said they were not interested in getting reading suggestions from the library. Annoying 50% of your patrons is not a good way to get continued funding and support.
Ok – three things – people DO want to fund media entertainment centers. Especially now that they can’t afford to buy this stuff on their own, they want the library to be a PLACE where they can come and experience programs, surf the Internet because they had to drop their home subscription (too expensive), apply for jobs online, get help with their resume, work on their homework or online classes, get some free entertainment such as movies and games, relax with friends, exchange ideas with other members of the community, and leave with a feeling that there is still a place that cares about providing what they want instead of trying to force some ideaology on them.
It is pure arrogance to think that an MLS makes you smarter than your patrons and gives you the godlike power to decide for them what they need and what is best for them. The original concepts of libraries founded by the upper class ladies to help raise up the working classes is not a foundation we really need to get back to. The world has moved on, and so have we.
p.s. – I still love you Will.
Deb,
I could kiss you for your last paragraph. You just made me seethe a little less-however, I’m still keeping that fork handy
Deb…do you want your kids and grandkids to be taught by teachers who will give your kids what they need or what they want? Ditto for doctors and dentists. How is the public library different? It is the university of the people and as such should provide our patrons with the materials they need to be self educated.
Will-
Define educated. Is there a litmus test somewhere I can lay my hands on to judge if someone meets this “educated” standard? Is there a reading list that people have to conquer between two jobs, three kids, and foreclosure to be “educated”? And who the hell are librarians to decided what “educated” is?
AE…if our job is not to educate, what is it?
To provide information and service…not to tell people what they need to do to meet some ivory tower measure of intellectualism. Making “readers” out of people? E-books vs. Real books? Seriously? Technology as a gender plot? Will librarians be out of job? And no one has defined “educated” to me.
I’m sorry. This whole entire week’s conversation is honestly a good wake-up call for me about the people I am “colleagues” with and how I should manage my opinions as well as my personal background.
Yes! Give them what they want, not tell them what they need
Will – another difference here is that by law children have to be taught. It’s easier to involve them in what they need over what they want because they’re a captive audience. No one is required to USE a public library. In order to justify its existence, it has to have more of what its patrons want as well as what we believe they need.
A.E…by education I mean giving folks the diversity of resources they need to follow the path that they want to self educate in. You want to learn how to wire a house, we have the book for you. How about plumbing? Ditto. Medieval art…bueno. Existential philosophy…check. You can’t provide these educational options to people if you are investing in many multiple copies of bestsellers. No value judgments on my part…just diversity of choices.
Then if it is about choices, if affordable and done with all logistics in mind, ebook, physical book, audio book…what’s the difference?
And “We need to reinstill a reading culture in America” sure sounds like a value judgment.
It is a value judgment. Americans don’t think critically enough because they don’t read enough. I’m a librarian for life. I believe reading is a very, very good thing. Is that wrong? Now back to formats: if you spread your book budget over two different formats, that cuts in half your title diversity. To me diversity of titles is much more important than diversity of formats.
So you are saying that most of the people I know that managed to get through life, can’t think critically because they are not avid readers. I’ll have to tell my grandparents and parents that, Will. And I know some very good librarians who probably need to be fired. And a crap load of parents who manage to keep their families together…obviously not using any of your critical thinking skills.
And as far as budgeting, do what you need to do to maintain a budget but order items that will actually be used.
Yep. I’m done. Boris, coat please.
AE…I’m basing my argument on a lack of critical thinking skills when the American people elect politician after politician who espouses 3 things: cut government, cut taxes, increase services.
And reading the classics, or whatever you deem worthy, will fix that? Reading doesn’t always teach people logic.
AE – you go, girl! I’m nodding like mad in agreement every time I read one of your comments. Thanks for articulating it so well!
Leslie-
I working very hard to maintain some semblance of dignity and civility, but I’m very close to “releasing the Kraken”.
Elise… a classical education will teach these politicians that usa circa 2011 is looking a lot like the roman empire circa 385 AD. We are on the road to apocalypse.
On the road to the apocalypse? Seriously? Will, a little less rhetoric please! I am disappointed that you have stooped to such iflammatory analogies. e-Books appear to be the way things are going, like it or not. Print is still here and will be for a long time yet I suspect. As for a lack of critical thinking skills in the American public, it is clear that has been the case for a while, if, as you say people are electing politicians that don’t sit well with you. It is hardly the fault of e-Books! Is the lack of critical thinking skills attributable to other factors? Yes! I think (as you do) that Libraries in general are one of the last agencies encouraging critical thinking skills and self-education. However, they are NOT museums to critical thinking. They need to change and evolve to reflect the times and to best serve those very people. For them to totally ignore e-Books would go against that mandate and make librarians seem more like the steroetype that has haunted them for ages. We don’t use and support e-Books because we are AGAINST reading or print books, but because we have made a committment to providing equal access to ALL forms of information, in as many formats as possible, to ALL people…(or in my case, ALL students). Reading is reading and if we can get more people doing it, and coming into our libraries to find things to read, then I say DO IT!
Good idea, but wrong direction. The bill of rights that real book lovers need would:
– change federal tax law so that book publishers’ backstock inventory would be tax-free
– provide both a property tax break and a tax break on inventory for used book stores
– provide grants or low-cost loans for bookstore construction or expansion, especially in communities (like mine) where there are no bookstores
– remove the Postal Service requirement that books have to be mailed at cost and instead provide a federal subsidy so that the mailing rate for a book would never be higher than the first class rate for a three-ounce letter
– give publishers a tax break for publishing books in signature-bound hard cover format, which is the most easily readable and most durable of all
Wayne…tax breaks are a rabbit hole you want to avoid. As a city manager I saw the destruction to the tax structure that happens when you begin to give tax breaks and abatements to one group over another.
1) Which e-readers do Unwinders use and like best? I am seeking recommendations for a future purchase.
2) Has anyone tried a program at their library about where to go to find free material for e-readers? I imagine a program like that might go over well with the demand libraries are seeing for that sort of material.
You should check out the ebook reader reviews on CNET – in fact I’ll look up the links and insert them into this posting.
What type of ereader you buy I would say depends upon how much money you want to spend.
I’ve worked with and read ebooks on: a Sony ereader (a non-WI FI edition), an iPad, a Color Nook, a Pandigital Ereader and a Kindle. (Note: The Kindle won’t allow you to get ebooks from anywhere other than Amazon.com)
And I should note I own five different ebook reading devices a first gen iPad WI-FI edition, a Sony Reader, an iPod Touch and a Color Nook – I found it easy to read ebooks on all those devices although the iPod Touch does have much smaller screen than the others at less than four inches.
And if you want to download ebooks from Public Libraries be sure to get an ereader that accepts epub books.
And of the ereaders I’ve used — there are three I’d recommend above the others– the iPad (9.7” screen) which is not simply a dedicated ebook reader but with it you can buy ebooks from a variety of stores like Amazon, B&N & Kobo and also download ebooks from Overdrive; the Color Nook (7” screen) from Barnes & Noble which really is a reader’s tablet as it allows you to go online and surf the web in color as well as look at books in color which is quite notable for anything that has color photos in it – or for kids books (B&N has a whole line of Color Nook kids books) and it also feature the open epub format so you can buy books from B&N and also download them from Overdrive; the standard Nook (6” screen) with the e-ink screen which isn’t not a color device but does again offer the open epub format so you can buy books from B&N and also download books from Overdrive. All of those previously mentioned devices are WI-FI only – and that is the cheaper road to go down although you can get the 3G editions too…
And as a last thought, if want an even less expensive dedicated ebook reader that accepts epubs so you can buy ebooks and also download them from Overdrive you might consider the Sony Digital Reader Pocket Edition it has the black and grey e-ink format, a 5” screen and requires you to plug it into a computer to download your ebooks to the computer first before transferring them to your ereader but it is cheaper than the rest.
Here are some prices:
The iPad, entry level WI-FI only model $499 (the iPad 2 is coming out this Friday (3-11) – so I’d wait to buy one until then) Note the following CNET review is for the entry level 16 GB first gen iPad since the second one hasn’t come out yet – a full review for the gen 2 isn’t available yet)
http://reviews.cnet.com/ipad-16gb-review?tag=mncol;lst;1
An early CNET Editor review of the iPad 2:
http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/apple-ipad-2-16gb/4505-3126_7-34529777.html?tag=mncol;lst;1
The Color Nook also WI-FI only — $249
CNET Review link:
http://reviews.cnet.com/nook-color-review?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1r
The Nook (e-ink) Again WI-FI Edition: $149
http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/barnes-noble-nook-wi/4505-3508_7-34122435.html?tag=mncol;lst;2
CNET Review link:
http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/barnes-noble-nook-wi/4505-3508_7-34122435.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;2r
And the Sony Digital Reader Pocket Edition (Not WI-FI or 3 G) – Amazon currently has it for $109.99
Here’s the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Digital-Reader-Pocket-PRS300SC/dp/B002MSNS4S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1299769547&sr=8-2
And the CNET Review link:
http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/sony-reader-pocket-edition/4505-3508_7-34167290.html?tag=mncol;lst;1
And just FYI, the WI-FI Kindle, although you can download public library/Overdrive ebooks onto it – is a solid device too. So here’s the links to the CNET Review of the latest generation Kindle which costs $139.
http://reviews.cnet.com/amazon-kindle-review-wi-fi?tag=mncol;lst;1
Note: The Color Nook & The Kindle both received CNET Editors Choice reviews – which means – they really, really thought those devices were great feature-wise and money wise…
Linda…thanks for the awesome research. This helps a lot.
The prices will go down, and the format wars will eventually be won by one standard… or something that allows easy conversion among them.
All information technologies in their infancy are characterized by high prices for the pioneers and format wars.
This situation will change.
The Kindle is the easiest to use and to buy books for, so if you want to purchase most of your books (and have access to the largest bookstore) that is a great option.
I also have a Sony Reader, which is lovely and has a beautiful and excellent touchscreen. If you want to focus on borrowing library books, then the Sony is your best bet. Sears was recently having a sale with $50 off the Pocket reader, making it only $129. And the case that you can get with the built in light is excellent.
Shannon, my grandkids have an ipad. Yesterday we read parts of Winnie the Pooh from the ipad. I was impressed with the sharpness of the print and illustrations.
The ipad hurt my eyes after one paragraph of Winnie the Pooh. I’ll stick to my sony.
I use a Sony Reader and like it a lot. The fact that it’s not connected to WiFi and amazon or whoever leases the books to me can’t take the books away or alter them whenever they like was the biggest seller. Nook was a runner up, but the support was awful when I was making my decision. My emailed question of “Can I borrow library ebooks on a Nook?” was answered with “You can lend your books to friends!”
And typos stike again! I meant to say you can’t download Overdrive books to a Kindle – not that you can. Sorry about that!
Re “subsidizing” affluent borrowers… I admit to having a bias in terms of who libraries are a bit more responsible for looking after. But it’s a fine line. At some point, you really can’t keep purchasing VHS tapes. Is that point (as you suggest) based on the new technology reaching a certain affordability? Did most libraries see that DVD players were hitting the $50 mark and decide it was time? Or did most libraries wait until VHS really wasn’t a purchase option anymore?
I don’t think we can wait until physical books are no longer being sold to get on the ebook bandwagon, so I hope – at the least – that it’s the former.
Tim…vhs tapes and dvds are things borrowed from a building. ebooks are electronic resources that can be downloaded from a computer. Why do you need a building to do that. Let the state library take on ebook services.
And where will they get tech support? The state librarian cannot and will not field questions from the entire ebook reader population in the state. They have other things to do, like find money to buy databases to support education.
If it’s a harper collins book, 26 check outs spread out over 6 million (in Kansas) is gone. The state library should be ashamed of itself for thinking that ratio will work out and people will not be angry that they didn’t get the book. We don’t all have the money, or hell, even a local book store, where we can go buy a book for ourselves. The nearest book store that’s worth anything is over an hour away from me. Amazon takes money away from local businesses and leaves the area with no money, so no jobs.
Elise…this is why the ebook service is not a good value right now for libraries. We need to be patient and see how things shake out.
God bless you, Will, for trying.
I’m in the “mostly don’t agree” camp, but appreciate the folks who do stand up and say something. Most days, I can’t get my head around this enough to know what to say.
I think there is a line of argument to be had with publishers that we are among their greatest marketing tools (anybody have a correlation study of library use and book spending handy?), but that’s for another time.
I truly appreciate the point of children’s book spending, and I think about how that meshes with one of my favorite of your columns, if perhaps one of your more cynical ones from the end of your days as city manager (“A Child Shall Lead Them,” American Libraries: December 2008).
Is that substantially different from pandering to elites with iThingys? Even they can’t buy it all for themselves.
Christine…I totally agree with you. Libraries have done great work developing and maintaining a reading culture in this country that greatly benefits publishers. That’s why I do not think that libraries should spend money on e-books until publishers give us a fair deal. The article I wrote about children in AL was actually not intended to be cynical. I’m a little surprised that it was perhaps taken that way. It was based on what Henry Kissinger would call realpolitick. Thanks, Christine for the moral support today.
I will cop to the “GenX” stereotype of seeing cynicism where it is not intended. Realpolitik is probably a nicer way of looking at it
[...] The rest is here: WILL UNWOUND #381: “Rave Thursday…In Support of Real Books” « Will … [...]
Whew! The responses here are all over the place today, going many different directions.
First, can’t more than one ecopy be purchased at a time so that two people can be reading it at the same time – you know, like buying two copies of a “real” book.
Will asked, “Jim, here’s the question: how are e-books an improvement over the real thing?”
To repeat other comments above, ebooks are just a different format. If you’re going to condemn ebooks, shouldn’t audiobooks fall into the same category? They have to have power to work. Anyone with ears can “read” the book, so font size isn’t an issue. Only one person can listen to a borrowed audiobook file at a time. Also, audiobooks don’t always allow the reader to add their own interpretation to the words. The reader’s inflections help set a tone that a written word may convey differently.
But audiobooks have been available outside of the Libraries for the Blind for over 20 years now. We’ve overcome many of these hurdles and now accept them. We still have more “real” books than audiobooks. Ebooks will find their proper niche. It’ll be many years yet before “real” books are passe.
Long live the book – in any format!
Takes a sip of water. Thanks, Boris, I needed that. Could you follow it up with coffee?
Vicki, two people can read the same etitle at the same time but you have to buy 2 ecopies, which seems vastly more absurd than the 26 check out limit. You are right about real books and ebooks – they have the same content and as Jessica’s research has shown they give the same reading experience. My point is that all things being equal, why wouldn’t you want to leverage your book budget by diversifing titles rather than formats? The audio version gives not only a different format but also a different “reading/listening” experience. That in itself justifies its separate purchase. Also you can’t read an ebook or a real book while driving a car (at least I can’t).
If you own the real book, only one person can read it at a time. I can see an argument for two licensed copies of one ebook – as long as the library owns them, not just rents them. Again part of this goes back to what the library’s community wants. That has to be factored in.
I agree that the 26 check out limit is absurd. That is a play for money, nothing else. Their arguments don’t stand up. (On the boycott note, I was glad to see that only one of the books that I bought new last year was from HC. Most of my favorite authors have different publishers.)
As to title diversity, I have found some ebooks available for lending that are not in the system’s real books. I had figured they were part of a package deal.
Mind you, I’m not giving up my real books. I probably read 5 to 10 of those for every ebook I read. Since I’m not a public librarian, I don’t know the costs or percentage of the budget ebooks are.
And no, I don’t read the printed word while driving (although I’ve met people who do). If I have other people in the car, I usually don’t turn on the audio book, either.
V…I really believe that HC is imposing the limit of 26 checkouts because they are afraid their bestselling authors will go directly to readers with the ebook rights.
I am always going to love printed and bound items. It’s an always and forever kind of love.
However … we’re testing tablet computing on our campus. Since we don’t “teach” here in the library (I howled with laughter over that one), we weren’t included in the test. An iPad recently made it’s way into my hands and … I am enthralled. Apple’s iBooks is a free app and, for new iPad owners, there was a free book.
Will, it was Winnie the Pooh. And not disney-fied pooh. It is an electronic version of the Milne/E.H. Shepard version. And it is beautiful. And I began reading it, despite the print copy in my living room. It isn’t painful to read like a friend’s Kindle. It is … quite lovely. That confessed, I assure you I will continue to acquire printed books and use my library’s print collection.
Google replaces reference? Will, anyone can find information with Google, most likely in Wikipedia. (did you hear the one about the Koch Brothers hiring a PR firm to airbrush their Wikipedia entries?) If anything, I think the reference desk is busier than ever before because smart students realize that critical thinking is a skill that must be learned and developed. These are the youngsters who are keeping us busy asking about “reliable academic resources.” That certainly isn’t Wikipedia, though I have referred some students to World Book and Britannica. Look!! It’s authored and it has references!!
Ellen…I don’t know if you read my comment above but I enjoyed the ipad Pooh with my granddaughter. Sharp print and brilliant illustrations. It was a revelation indeed. I’m rethinking the “everyman reference point” and will post about it on Saturday.
I shall scroll up and look for it. Books worth keeping I will continue to buy in print. I take notes inside the back covers, identify passages that I want to remember/refer back to – I learned to do that from dear old dad (who taught me to love gin – martinis and G&Ts)
I have one book that I will never reread but I keep it for one page only: a meditation on Stonewall Jackson’s last words “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”
Will, this list should be
bill of rights for readers of real books IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
1. Public libraries should not cut already diminished real book budgets to purchase the fleeting licensing rights for ebooks until libraries get a fair deal from publishers…..
Agreed.
2. In these harsh economic times public libraries should not subsidize affluent borrowers who can afford ebook reading machines at the expense of readers who cannot afford them.
Sort of disagree. My students must have access to a computer to be a student, so they have an ereader. Computers are not dedicated ereaders, but then, neither are ipads.
3. With diminishing budgets, public libraries should stop throwing money at videogames and movies and focus on maintaining real book budgets.
Agreed but only because you specified which libraries.
4. With the graying of the American reading public, libraries should invest more money in real books with LARGE PRINT.
I will not. Libraries that serve a community who need large print should stock large print. I do not have that population in my library. I will not spend money on things that are not needed.
5. The big advantage of real books is their lasting value. Libraries should therefore stop wasting megabucks on multiple copies of bestsellers that will be weeded in a year or two.
Agreed. I hated seeing fifteen copies of a Grisham book at the public library.
6. Libraries should emphasize diversity and quality in real book acquisitions. Do taxpayers really want to fund media entertainment centers?
They do because borrowing a DVD from the library is generally cheaper than a rental place or redbox. My students demand new DVDs.
7. Scarce public resources should be spent on educational and enrichment resources. This means returning to the foundational principles of American librarianship.
Are you deciding what the community wants, or asking what they need? Is entertainment not allowed at all? What of your mystery project?
8. The best return on the real book investment is with children’s books. Children are the catalysts who get the entire family involved in the library. The last thing that any library should do is cut real books for real children. Children have enough shiny toys at home. They need real books. Give them what they need.
Agreed.
9. Reference jobs should be replaced with readers advisory jobs. Today Google makes everyone a reference librarian, but very few people are book experts. We need to reinstill a reading culture in America. The readers advisory librarian needs to be taken off the endangered list.
A. Google cannot do my job and you have angered many librarians by telling us we are irrelevant. Google cannot figure out what class my students are in, neither does Google know the standards of my professors, neither can it teach students how to find books, neither can it give a simple answer when appropriate because machines cannot gauge a situation, neither can it deal with distance students who don’t understand why the library is online but is not the internet.
B. Every reader advisory I’ve ever been part of, whenever someone recommends a book to me, I’ve been disappointed in the book. I cannot tell people what they will like. Much like Google cannot accurately suggest books I will like.
10. Library weeding programs should be based on keeping books with enduring value. Whole collections should not be gutted by the tyranny of circulation statistics.
What constitues that value? Are you making decisions for your community again? You think the classics are “better” (whatever that means) than the new craze that gets people reading? I thought you wanted people to read to increase their critical thinking skills. Here’s news for you: some people, including me, a good portion of my generation, and a majority of my students, think classics are boring. If that’s all we have available to read, we will not read.
11. Libraries should constantly be acquiring fresh new copies of the classics and should keep up with new and robust translations (eg. Fagles’ Homer and Heaney’s Beowulf).
Why? Are they checked out so much that the copies are falling apart? Really? Beowulf is not pleasure reading to most people.
Will, you are letting all your biases show. You seem to think that if people don’t read books you deem quality and worth of the space on a shelf, they are not important in the community. I’ll get that Louisville slugger out if you can’t look past the end of your own nose to see that you cannot dictate what people will read and like.
Excellent post! Excellent! I am especially found of your 9th point and I agree– librarians are much better than Google!
And I’m also with you on your final paragraph; at least in the sense that this is suppose to be a Rave Thursday conversation and it really is a Rant Thursday conversation in disguise…
A skilled reference librarian with electronic and print tools at her fingertips probably beats Google hands down most of the time.
It is also beside the point. People want to do their own googling, and most of them think they are good at it, just like most of them think they are excellent drivers.
Librarians are middlemen, and patrons don’t want to appear before them as supplicants. Middlemen are also expensive.
That some of us were good at it is irrelevant. The tide of technology and of funding is what’s relevant.
Well, yes, finding misinformation and half truths on the internet is much easier than asking for help. At least, that’s what my students demonstrate. If it’s between cheap easy half-information and a middleman, I’d choose a middleman. Just like I won’t tackle the federal codes by myself, and lawyers are MUCH more expensive than librarian.
You’ll ask for help, and I’ll ask for help, but will they ask for help? Especially if they have to pay the help with tax dollars?
Remember that people generally realize that they need to defer to a doctor or a lawyer (though even in these cases there are do-it-yourselfers), but they don’t accord us the same respect. Time and again I see library stories in my paper and time and time again I see “we have the internet so we don’t need libraries” in the comments. That is the mindset we’re up against.
They know they need doctors and lawyers, but they don’t think they need us.
So you’ve given up. I won’t.
Good luck with that.
If you’re so pessimistic, get out of the library world. Many people who care will be glad to apply for your job.
Elise, thank you so much for a reasoned and very comprehensive response. I am processing all of your info and will be writing a follow-up on Saturday’s post.
Libraries are changing, and I suspect that in another decade as I near retirement that it may be easier to leave it behind. I have a Kindle and I like reading on it at lunch and on the train. I also like print books. I like discovering an author and going to the library to read her earlier works. I just feel less confident that in the future I’ll find those earlier works on the shelf. Hasn’t been out in a year, weed it. Looking a little worn, weed it. Save expensive staff by outsourcing your selection to a book jobber. How many of us have had total junk dumped on us in opening day collections? And yet we’re willing to turn over a key library function to the same people. The culture seems to favor lean, mean collections that meet the demand for the current hot items and leave those of us with more diverse tastes poorly served.
I like that libraries have DVDs and CDs. What’s different about ebooks is that there is no physical item and the services and their contract terms are such a moving target. The demand is certainly there, but we’re buying without any real plan for long term sustainability and access. I’ve worked in library technology long enough to know that formats are fleeting, as are the vendor offerings. We’ve had two ebook vendors, one that sold their operation to another company and changed the terms, and another that ran into technical difficulty that kept us from adding any new books. Ebook collections are a great idea for consortia; a jointly owned collection, but with no delivery costs to serve everyone. But I wonder how many libraries really know what they are buying.
Will, your reference comment is disturbing. Assisted suicide comes to mind when I think about contemporary reference service. When I left academic libraries the hip thing was to get the librarians off of the front line, and only refer the “hard” questions back to the “professionals”. I see the same thing going on at my current public library workplace. When the librarians aren’t on the front line they become invisible and eventually irrelevant. Only the most insistent library users will ever see a reference librarian, and without constant practice on the “easy” questions as well as the harder ones, skills deteriorate. The younger generation will never even develop the skills. And let’s face it; if you’re invisible then no one will miss you when you’re gone. But I do think that quality reference service is an important component of library service. I received a question from one of my libraries the other day about the search capabilities of a database. A lack of basic reference skills was the real reason the question ended up being sent to me instead of answered right away.
Oops, this was rave Thursday, not rant Wednesday…
Met-
I’m an academic reference librarian; we have to beat the students and faculty off with a stick! I had 16 emails today that ranged from “how do I cite…” to I need help finding information on Mary Astell’s original publications and their readership.” However, most of the librarians here are very involved with the departments, and we all take turns on the reference desk so we can at least get students started on any variety of questions. But maybe that is just my library.
A.E. – Yours is the model that I like. What I’m seeing here and at other places is that they don’t want librarians on the reference desk, because they might spend some time answering a question that doesn’t require the full professional skills of a librarian. I’m all for academic librarians actively working with departments and public librarians working on programs and outreach, but it disturbs me when they take the librarians off the front line. Who is going to teach the library assistants how to give good reference service if they aren’t out there working with experienced librarians? I used to be a very good reference librarian because early in my career I had the opportunity to work a reference desk with other very good librarians. Of course, I may be a tad touchy about the subject, since my current employer has a plan on the table to cut over 30 positions, mostly librarians, and add a handful of library aides.
met…excellent comments. Your info about ebook vendors is certainly enlightening to me. Also I appreciate your support for diversity in book selection.
Will, insisting on giving people what we think they need instead of what they want is a quick way to make libraries extinct. Certainly, we should use our bully pulpit to creatively engage patrons of all ages with ideas. But sometimes you just want to read a good book, in whatever format works best for you. I don’t want an ethingy, so I’ll take mine in print. For some people, it’s a movie. Who am I to tell some stressed out single mom or out-of-work family that it isn’t “enrichment” to have a family movie night that they can afford? Who am I to tell an older woman exhausted from caring for her husband with Alzheimer’s that she must read a classic instead of checking out a movie that she can click on and off as his needs dictate? (Yes, that’s a real patron who expressed her gratitude toward us for giving her some respite at a hellish time in her life) How many new immigrants learn better English from watching our movies?
Librarians have fought against each new format since we left the papyrus scrolls in Alexandria. (Gee, Mr. Gutenberg, I can’t see wasting our coins on your new invention. We have perfectly good monastic copies chained to our reading tables…) If people want to read on ethingys, we should rejoice that they are reading…and adjust our budgets to accommodate both. It saddens me, but economics will inexorably drive us in this direction. If we fight it, we just look stupid. Like I said, I don’t want one, but my patrons do.
Bestsellers and movies and such can certainly be enrichment. They can also be loss leaders to get someone into the library where a real librarian can lead them to more thoughtful reading or documentaries or programs or book groups or whatever…that’s where readers advisory (and viewers and listeners advisory) comes into play.
If we treat our patrons with intellectual snobbery, they’ll stay away. And we’ll be gone…
Hear, hear!
Mimi, thanks for the comment. I guess I would take issue with the statement that librarians resist change. Sometimes I think librarians leap before they look when it comes to change. Does the ebook format really lend itself to the public library? Maybe we should work out the kinks before we start investing beaucoup bucks.
While I am in sympathy of your beliefs (I don’t own an e-reader and don’t plan too) but have many issues with the “Bill of Rights”.
1. Ebooks are simply another format that the library chooses to spend their money on. If we do away with ebooks should we also do away with audio (which are often significantly more expensive than the books).
2. Since the thought is that we should not subsidize affluent readers should we do away with our subscriptions to Barrons, the Wall Street Journal, and other financial databases and papers. After all, I have yet to see a poor person reading the Journal.
3. With our decreasing budgets, most libraries are already purchasing fewer best-sellers, which increases demand. One way to limit the need to purchase best-sellers is to use e-books, which gives readers another option and in two years we won’t be stuck with 20 unneeded copies.
4. I agree with the need for large print. But remember that one of the nice features of an ebook is that the reader can choose the size of the type.
5. Looking at circulation statistics and demand at our library, I would argue that, yes, taxpayers do want to fund media entertainment centers.
6. I do agree that libraries tend to be overaggressive in weeding and with the need to keep up with classics. Unfortunately, libraries usually tend to use only two considerations when weeding: condition of the item and popularity of the item.
6. I would rather spend the money on a best-seller that circulate twenty times or more over a two year period, than a book that sits on our shelves and goes unused. I understand that this may not be a popular opinion, but it is the reality that we have to deal with.
Obviously, in a perfect world we wouldn’t need to have this discussion. Right now, we don’t live in a perfect world. We are living in a world where we are constantly having to justify our existence. I see the money that we spend on items such as ebooks, entertainment media, and other non-book options as an means to an end. That end is the continuation of the public library.
Scott, ebook readers can read real books; whereas real book readers don’t read ebooks. Why not invest in real books that everyone can read rather than spreading our precious book dollars even thinner? Also audiobooks are very important because you can’t (at least I can’t!) read a real book while driving. Thanks for the comment. It’s getting my brain working this morning.
Will, several points about e-books:
They don’t take up room on the shelf.
You will always have that “classic” on the shelf.
Cookbooks will not get spattered with food.
Patrons in remote areas have access 24/7. It saves gas!
You can enlarge the type as long as it is epub and not a PDF file.
I resisted purchasing e-books for my library because of cost but found a way to begin a collection with a state grant and by forming a consortium with other small libraries. We go live in a few weeks so it is a new adventure for our libraries. One thought, if the state library runs the system, who chooses the collection?
Carla, great comment. I love cookbooks with food stains. In fact I wrote a whole column about that. The best cookbooks (the ones that people like) are the ones with the most food stains.
Now you’ve done it. You’ve actually written the column that’s going to force me to sit down and write a sustained response.
The short answer: Hell. Yes. Especially on #5, with the exception of #9. I have a lot to say about reference librarianship, esp. after a seriously busy shift here that involved the use of masks in Elizabethan drama and the partition of Palestine.
Thanks for being the pot-stirrer! I can’t wait to retire so I can be an elite blogger again, too.
LAV…a) you already are an elite blogger (I see that you have graduated to Lead Pipe…congrats!) and b) can’t wait for the sustained response.