Last time I mentioned that publishers fear libraries. Today I'm going to show why they shouldn't. One of the reigning arguments against ebooks in libraries is that they don’t provide enough “friction” for readers. If library patrons can just log on and check out an ebook from the library, no one will buy one! It’s bad logic, since the Stieg Larrson novels are available as library ebooks and they seem to have sold pretty well, but who cares about logic when you’re trying to sell books. The argument is also true for print books. If print books are available from libraries, no one will buy them! Except of course they do. I suppose the publisher’s argument, such as it is, is that if the books weren’t available in libraries, then people would buy them instead. That seems a dubious suggestion to me, because libraries are the place to get books that you don’t think are worth buying. Libraries are for cheap people. As an example, take a look at ...
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I really am quite prescient these days. It’s an amazing time to be the Annoyed Librarian. Several months ago, I put forward a proposal in a post I timidly titled, In Which I Solve the Ebook Library Lending Problem. That post was just before a meeting between librarians and publishers, which was preceded by some ridiculous tough talk and some whining about current bestsellers being the “bread and butter” of libraries, as if that mattered to publishers. I pointed out that from the publisher’s perspective, selling newly released ebooks to libraries “would be like movie studios releasing DVDs alongside their theatrical releases.” Penguin has just announced that new releases would no longer be sold to libraries, and the status of Penguin sales to libraries was in flux. What did that mean? I asked whether that meant that "at some point after release, maybe 6-12 months after the initial publication, libraries could then buy the ebooks, is that really such ...
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It’s that time of year again, time to head off into the wild blue yonder to the ALA Annual Conference. I already have breakfasts, coffee breaks, lunches, cocktails, dinners, and after hours drinks lined up, guaranteeing that my conference experience will be as enjoyable as possible, even if it’s in Anaheim. Not that there’s anything wrong with Anaheim. If I were a suburbanite with young children who wanted to spend a lot of money to be really bored at an amusement park and wander around a city with no there there, Anaheim would be the place for me! For all of those poor lonely souls whose social calendars aren’t as full as mine, I’ve perused the ALA Conference program to find you some exciting workshops and presentations to go to. For example, you can go to “Matauranga Maori in New Zealand Libraries: A presentation and workshop on Maori knowledge in New Zealand libraries,” which might be the first time a subtitle has almost the exact same wording as ...
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Almost immediately after the last post about the MLS being the worst master’s degree for jobs, I received an “American Libraries Special Delivery” (i.e., spam advertising) informing me of the wonders of the San Jose State Post-Master’s Certificate Program. Since they say that the program is “fully online” twice within two sentences, I’m assuming the program is fully online, so you wouldn’t even have to travel to San Jose. They claim the certificate will  help you “Update your knowledge about emerging trends in the library and information science field and stay competitive in a challenging job market,” which implies they don’t think their massive multiplayer online MLS is sufficient. If the MLS is the worst master’s degree for jobs, would a “post-master’s certificate” help at all? The certificate calls for 11 courses. For that much work you could probably get another master’s degree, which would probably look better on your resume ...
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For those of you in or contemplating library school, this ranking of master’s degrees from Forbes sent in by a kind reader might give you food for thought. It ranks the 10 best and 10 worst master’s degrees based on mid-career median pay and projected employment increases. Guess where the MLS fell in the list? The No. 1 Worst Master’s Degree for Jobs: Library and Information Science. Ouch. That’s based on: Mid-career median pay: $57,600. Projected employment increase for common jobs associated with this degree: 8.5%.” But, some of you are saying, $57,600 is nothing to sneeze at! However, you’re only saying that because you’re used to living by librarian standards or worse. That’s not much more than the median household income in the U.S., and at mid-career in a job requiring a master’s degree. Good thing we’re doing this for the public good instead of private gain! The second worst is English, the third music, the fourth education, and the ...
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This Fifty Shades of Grey controversy just won’t go away. The most amusing part of it is watching presumably sane and occasionally rational people invoke irrelevant arguments to defend a badly written porn novel. One of the latest “controversial” decisions to not acquire the book for a library comes from Maryland. The reasoning seems pretty straightforward. The library has a policy against buying pornographic books. The librarian thinks Fifty Shades is a pornographic book. Thus, she didn’t buy it. QED. This isn’t rocket science, people. But some librarians are outraged (!) that a library wouldn’t stock a particular book, so outraged that they write letters to their local news outlet quoting the ALA claims about censorship left and right. Think about that for a moment. What cause would possibly get you to bother writing a thousand words to your local news site about how important it is, and for free? What would be worth wasting that much time? And if you ...
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