“That is, a comprehensive library of digitized books that will be easily accessible to the general public. Simple as it sounds, the question is extraordinarily complex. It involves issues that concern the nature of the library to be built, the technological difficulties of designing it, the legal obstacles to getting it off the ground, the financial costs of constructing and maintaining it, and the political problems of mobilizing support for it.”
Category: publishing
Split Decision in The Guardian‘s Not the Booker Prize
“We have a winner! No, hang on, we have two! Deloume Road and The Canal have polled the same number of votes in the final round of the Not The Booker prize. It was never going to be straightforward, was it?”
Bookmakers Slash Odds On Booker Prize Winner
The move followed a decision by Ladbrokes last week to suspend betting on C after an “unprecedented” surge in bets, raising fears of a leak.
US Government Buys Books, Destroys Them (Why This Isn’t Censorship)
“Here’s why this is visionary and not simply stupid. Getting rid of a lot of books may sound uncomfortably like censorship — a kinder, gentler version of that preacher in Florida threatening to burn copies of the Koran. While destroying a holy book is a desecration, buying 10,000 copies of a war memoir is economic stimulus.”
What Really Pays The Bills In Bookstores
“Publishing houses earn kudos from having a Booker prize-winner on their books, but it is these Christmas tomes, written by actors, television presenters, pop stars and sports personalities, that offer many publishing houses their best hope of stiffening their commercial backbone.”
Stieg Larsson’s Brother Says There’s A Fifth Book
“It is reportedly to be in the hands of Eva Gabrielsson, Larsson’s longtime partner, who lost control of her boyfriend’s estate to his father when he died. Swedish law does not recognize common-law marriages.”
Toxic Waste – “Creative” Writing Programs
“The world of letters: does such a thing still exist? Even within the seemingly homogeneous sphere of the university English department, a schism has opened up between literary scholarship and creative writing.”
The Creator of Dilbert Explains How to Write Humor
Scott Adams: “Humor likes danger. … Humor works best when you sense that the writer is putting himself in jeopardy. I picked the French-fry story specifically because it is too risqué for The Wall Street Journal. You can’t read it without wondering if I had an awkward conversation with my editor.”
Yuppie Parents Are Abandoning Children’s Picture Books
The popular evergreens by the likes of Sendak and Seuss still sell well, but newer picture books are languishing on the shelves. Why? Anxious parents are pushing their kids to read earlier and earlier. Says one bookseller, “They’re 4 years old, and their parents are getting them Stuart Little.“
Bodleian Library Solves Its Storage Problem
“This week, “the Bod” unveiled a £26 million storage facility to house 8.4 million books and maps (always a crucial element in the collection). It will be built in Swindon, which is a long way from the fan-vaulted Gothic ceilings and Palladian reading room of the Oxford library, but much more convenient than dumping them in a salt mine in Cheshire, the current fate of thousands of volumes.”