Amazon Announces Kindle Textbook Rentals

One of the major things that is keeping students around the world paper-free, is the fact that textbooks just aren't available on electronic devices. Well, weren't. Amazon, the creator of the popular Kindle eReader device, announced today that they would be launching a textbook rental service, and claims that students can save up to 80% on their textbooks.

"Today, Amazon.com announced the launch of Kindle Textbook Rental," Said the Amazon.com press release, "Now students can save up to 80% off textbook list prices by renting from the Kindle Store. Tens of thousands of textbooks are available for the 2011 school year from leading textbook publishers such as John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis. Students can find details about the program at www.amazon.com/kindletextbooks"

The Kindle textbooks can be rented anywhere from 30 to 360 days, so students really have flexibility. Also, like other Kindle books, these are, as Amazon.com calls it, "Rent once, read anywhere". This means that you can read a Kindle textbook on, of course, the Kindle device, as well as the Kindle app for iPhone, Android, and even for the Mac and PC.

This seems extremely convenient, however, although Amazon is claiming prices up to 80% than hardcover books, that is not countering in the fact that many people can sell used textbooks after using them, and earn back a percentage of what they paid originally.

Do you think it's worth the convenience to lose the reselling value? Are you going to be using this new Kindle feature? Let me know by simply commenting below. Thank you.

eResource Feature: What's Next

Over the next several weeks, I am going to write about a different eResource that the Troy Public Library offers our patrons. Today, I will focus on What's Next, an excellent eResource.

What's Next is an easy to use online resource, provided by the Kent District Library, that allows you to find out the next book in a particular fiction series based on any of the following criteria: Author Last Name, Author First Name, Series, Book Title, Category (Adult or Youth), and Genre.

The screenshot below gives you an idea of what the results will look like after performing a search. In the shown example, I searched for Lee Child under the author fields and received a listing of the entire Jack Reacher series of novels.

As you can see, the results are presented in a clean, chronological order that lists the title and the book number in the series. Being a fan of a tools that are great at one particular thing, I can see myself using What's Next more and more. I encourage everyone to check it out!

You can find What's Next by going  to the Library's website. Click eResources on the left under Library Links, then click Literature and Reading, and finally click What's Next. Or, you can access it directly here. 

Ken Auletta on eBooks and Publishing

Ken Auletta, author of Googled: The End of the World as We Know It, was a recent guest on the NPR program Fresh Air. He discussed how the rise in popularity of ereaders and ebooks is affecting book publishing and the book industry. He also discussed how ebooks are being marketed and priced, and what the rise of ebooks means not only for the future of book publishing, but also for the future of independent bookstores. While libraries are not mentioned specifically, this is an important trend for libraries to follow.

Go here to listen to the piece.

Fun Friday: 2009 Diagram Prize

The winner of the 2009 Bookseller/Diagram prize has been announced. This award is presented annually to the book that has the oddest title of the year. This year the winner is Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by Dr. Daina Taimina. While the Troy Public Library does not have a copy, several universities in Michigan do have copies.

Click here for more information about this year's winner, other nominees, and to see the award-winning author's reaction. For more info about hyperbolic crochet, visit Dr. Taimina's blog Hyperbolic Crochet. For more about last year's Diagram prize winner, go here.

Seattle Tops List of Literate Cities

For the third time in five years, Seattle is the most literate large city in the United States (population 250,000 and above), according to Dr. John W. Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University.

Dr. Miller, working with the University’s Center for Public Policy and Social Research, looked at six key indicators of literacy – newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources (including number of libraries, volumes held, and circulation), periodical publishing, educational attainment, and Internet resources – to put together the ranking.

Rounding out the top ten are: Washington, DC; Minneapolis; Pittsburgh; Atlanta; Portland, OR; St. Paul; Boston; Cincinnati; and Denver. Detroit finished 51st of the 75 cities surveyed.

The top five cities in terms of libraries are Cleveland; St. Louis; Pittsburgh; Seattle; and Cincinnati.

Dr. Miller writes:

"For the 2009 edition, I also examined how well the most literate cities fared in other quality of life surveys. What I discovered is that quality tends to be associated with quality, and highly literate cities often rank high in other quality of life metrics.

Cities ranked in the top 10 most literate tend to offer the most active singles’ scenes (Boston, Seattle, Washington, and Atlanta), are safer (Minneapolis, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Denver, and Cincinnati), more walk-able (Seattle, Washington, DC, Portland, Boston, and Denver), and healthier (Washington, DC and Denver).

They are not, however, immune to financial hard times: only #2 Washington DC has even relatively low unemployment."

[via EarlyWord]

Stephen King's Top 10 Books of 2009

It’s that time again – time for the various top lists of 2009.

Here’s one from one of my favorite authors: Stephen King: My Top 10 Books of 2009.

[via EarlyWord]

2009 Holiday Gift Guide

The New York Times has published their 2009 Holiday Gift Guide. The guide is broken into categories such as Books, DVDs & Video Games, and Electronics. Articles include "The 10 Best Books of 2009," "Holiday Music CDs," and my favorite, "Mildly Huge Televisions."

Check it out. It may help you find the perfect gift for that hard to buy for person on your list!

Where to Read Free Books Online

Wonder where to find free books online? There are tons of online libraries that provide electronic fiction, nonfiction and reference books at no charge. Here, from EduChoices are 25 Places to Read Free Books Online.

2009 National Book Festival

Bibliophiles take note! The 2009 National Book Festival will be held on Saturday, September 26, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The festival is free and open to the public.

Best selling authors James Patterson, Judy Blume, John Grisham, John Irving, Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks, Kate DiCamillo, and Shannon Hale will be among the writers and illustrators scheduled to attend the festival.

For more information about this year’s National Book Festival, visit www.loc.gov/bookfest

The Future, They Believe, is Digital

"There are rolling hills and ivy-covered brick buildings. There are small classrooms, high-tech labs, and well-manicured fields. There’s even a clock tower with a massive bell that rings for special events.

Cushing Academy has all the hallmarks of a New England prep school, with one exception.

This year, after having amassed a collection of more than 20,000 books, officials at the pristine campus about 90 minutes west of Boston have decided the 144-year-old school no longer needs a traditional library. The academy’s administrators have decided to discard all their books and have given away half of what stocked their sprawling stacks -- the classics, novels, poetry, biographies, tomes on every subject from the humanities to the sciences. The future, they believe, is digital."

Read the entire article Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books.

[via boston.com]

Libraries, With or Without Books

Libraries are no longer just quiet places to read and borrow books. In a world where information is more online and digitized, librarians are changing to meet the needs of their patrons. They are called on to give technical support as well as deal with reference questions and assist patrons with online catalogs and social networking.

Physical books and electronic books are here to stay, but the role of the library will continue to change and develop. Read more about it at CNN.com/technology.

"Think of the changes as a Library 2.0 revolution--a mirror of what's happened on the Web."

Book Review: Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music

Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music by Greg Kot, music critic for the Chicago Tribune and co-host of NPR show Sound Opinions, is an excellent study of how the music industry has changed during the past decade.

Kot begins by discussing the state of the industry before the Internet: payola exchanged to get radio airplay; the increasing tendency for labels to look for a "hit" to move product instead of allowing artists' careers to develop; and the overall dominance of the major music labels. This began to change when artists such as Prince abandoned the major label system and began making distributing music through their own label, and, more importantly, with the development of the Internet.

Kot recounts the major music stories of the late 1990s and 2000s, including the rise and fall of Napster, the RIAA's court battles with consumers accused of illegal downloading, and the development of iTunes. This is framed within studies of bands such as Bright Eyes, Radiohead, and Wilco who have used the Internet to tremendous advantage to market their music.

One of the more important discussions is the influence that music blog and review sites such as Pitchfork play in the role of shaping a band's fortunes. For some, such as Arcade Fire, this has led to tremendous success. For others, such as Black Kids, whose initial EP was lauded by Pitchfork but whose album was panned with a one word review, this flavor-of-the-month celebrity can come at the expense of a band not yet ready for playing sold out shows at 2,000 seat venues.

Ripped is a great read for anyone looking into the recent history of the music industry. Those interested in music from the 1990s and 2000s, especially those who like indie rock, will also find much to love. Additionally, this is an excellent book for people whose industries are being affected by the new content distribution model which the Internet has made possible. By learning from the pitfalls of the music industry, industries where change is happening rapidly can be better prepared for the future.

Colorado Library Drops Dewey Decimal System

The six-branch Rangeview Library District, in Adams County, Colorado, will be the first library system in the country to drop the Dewey Decimal Classification, and change the way it shelves its material. In place of the 133-year old three-digit numeric system, the District will use a subject arrangement, adapted from the book industry.

From the Rangeview Library District blog:

"As part of Rangeview Library District’s “Customers First” philosophy, the district is replacing the 133-year-old Dewey Decimal Classification with its own WordThink system. This new method was generated from a retail-based standard for organizing materials. Similar to what you might see in a bookstore, materials are arranged by simple categories like history and science instead of the old numeric system. Customers are delighted at the ease of use of this new system, which is geared more towards browsing and helps customers find exactly what they need quickly and intuitively."

I like the idea, and have since I read about the Maricopa County Library District in Phoenix, Arizona, adopting a similar system two years ago. I think it makes more sense for our library users, which will help to increase library use.

What do you think?

[via MetaFilter]

Awful Library Books

Awful Library Books is a collection of the worst of public library collections. The items featured are real items in real libraries today. As the site's creators write: “The items featured here are so old, obsolete, awful or just plain stupid that we are horrified that people might be actually checking these items out and depending on the information.”

Fun Friday Bonus Edition: Odd Book Titles

The winners for the Bookseller/Diagram Prize have been announced. The Diagram Prize is an annual award for the oddest book title of the year. This year's winner is The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-Milligram Containers of Fromage Frais. Want to read it? It will only set you back £795 (or $1,136.00), and no, the Troy Public Library is not going to be purchasing this title.

For more information about this year's winner check out this story from the New York Times. For a list of previous winners, go here.

Spectacular Second Novels, Cursed Second Novels, and One-hit Literary Wonders

Here, from the timesonline, are lists of ten spectacular second novels, ten cursed second novels, and ten literary one-hit wonders.

[via boingboing]

Fun Friday: Books and Music That Make You Dumb

Here are some books and some music that make you dumb, according to Virgil Griffith, a PhD student at CalTech.

As you take a look, I'll be reading 100 Years of Solitude and listening to a little bit of Beethoven.

[via MetaFilter]

Check Mittenlit for Books about Michigan and Michigan Authors

Interested in books about Michigan? You might want to try Mittenlit.com.

Mittenlit gives you up-to-date information about new books by Michigan authors, books about Michigan, and news of authors touring in Michigan. It includes author interviews, upcoming literary events at bookstores and libraries, and more.

Mittenlit is written by Bill Castanier, a literary journalist for Lansing City Pulse, and Ben Castanier, an on-line bookseller and reviewer from Ann Arbor.

Book Lovers: Here's 10 for You

Attention book lovers: Here, from iLibrarian, are 10 websites that you might not have heard about.

Publishing at the Crossroads

The February 2, 2009 issue of Time magazine has an interesting article by Lev Grossman about the future of the publishing industry. He sees the rise of e-books and the ease in which authors can self-publish their material creating a major shift in the publishing world. Anything that happens in publishing has a direct link to libraries, and it will be interesting to see how this change will impact libraries in the future.

The complete article can be found here.