Teen Reader's Advisory

A library in St. Paul, Minnesota, is allowing teenagers to help make some decisions about their local library.

The idea is that because teenage interest in the library has surged in recent years, the libraries would be served well to find out how to serve the demographic better. (Apparently, this means more copies of 'Twilight', which I wasn't going to mention but the reporter did. Twilight gets kids interested in reading; it gets some adults interested, too, and even if the series is drivel, at least there's that. Kind of like the Harry Potter phenomenon, only creepier. In the interest of being fair, I have not read the Twilight books, but what I've heard has been pretty awful. And I saw the movie.)

This is pretty cool. If I'd had this option as a teenager, I might've gone and pitched in, met some other bookish kids, that kind of thing. I would've lobbied for more Terry Pratchett books. What a good idea!

E-Book Readers Are Being Marketed to the Wrong People

Jason Pinter says e-book readers are being marketed to the wrong people. I think he's right - currently, e-book advertisements are aimed at people who already read a lot instead of at reluctant readers. Why not aim it more toward that market? Maybe take a note from the iPod and design them to be a little more fun. I wonder if there could be some way to add in a kind of dictionary function that would help people read - when you don't know a word, you could click it and get an option to look it up in a dictionary on the reader itself.

Ebooks should expand the book buying market, not be used as an alternative for the print edition. Look at the ads for the iPod: they're fun, they're cool, they feature all sorts of (pastel-colored) people who are far funkier than anyone you or I know grooving to the licensed beat. Then consider the ads for the Kindle: the music is straight out of your local elevator. Hesitant readers aren't going to rush out to spend $299 for the reading equivalent of John Tesh. iPods sell the experience. E-readers are selling the gadget. And that's bass-ackwards.

The author of this article gets points from me for his hilarious insertions of pop culture history, like 'Informer'. Except now I want to listen to that song, which is less good and might cost me ninety-nine cents.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-pinter/why-the-digital-revolutio_b_308108.html

That Book Will Cost You $11K, Sir

An article by Jason Boog* informs us the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) revised their 'Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials'. Bloggers reviewing items to disclose whether they got it for free when giving an endorsement. Breaking the new rules can cost a blogger up to $11,000 in fines.


* Sorry about your childhood, man.

Text Markup

So Princeton arranged for fifty students to get free Kindle DXs with their course material for the semester already loaded on 'em. Apparently, most of them don't like 'em.

One point of dissatisfaction was that the texts couldn't be marked up; I'm kind of against marking books permanently, but there are some books I wedge paper bookmarks between the pages of or add sticky labels to. It's just easier. (I will admit to having a couple of books on my shelf used for research with hiliter marks. Gasp.) I didn't even think of this when I thought about having e-textbooks, and it's a big advantage of the physical textbook. There's also a thing I do where I will try to recognize text by sidebars or illustrations; when I'm not sure where the stuff I'm looking for is at and it's not very conveniently in the index, I'll flip through quickly. It also helps when I can see how close to the beginning or end of the book I am. There are visual cues that would be much harder on an e-reader.

Can this be overcome? Probably, though I think I'll never feel as comfortable with an e-textbook as I do with a hard copy. Maybe younger people could do it more easily, though I consider myself fairly young and technologically inclined. Do Kindles allow you to see the text of two books at once or flip between them easily?

Napsterization?

More of the same: Will Online Piracy Become a Problem for E-Books?

I think the term (and I use that 'word'* loosely) 'Napsterization' is kind of dated to begin with, but I suppose it's the case most widely shouted about, so fair enough.

Will people stop buying books if they can just download them? Where is the line between library and download?

I think there's less of a case for book sales dropping than there is for music sales. Many reactions to stories like Cushing Academy's move to a 'digital' library go on about how people like reading books better, and the smell of them and memories of comfort and safety and all that. Which I am not denying; I have lots of good memories of books and being contorted while propping them up somewhere to read. The point is, book lovers love books as much as they love stories, while music lovers don't love CDs, at least not to the same extent (though record collectors can be pretty outspoken). Affection is more likely to be applied to whatever device plays the music, and one device plays a lot of music whereas one book only contains so much text. So let's kill some more trees, stack them up on shelves, and not let anyone else read them without paying the author.



* I did it again!

Like This

I want to be a librarian like this. When I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher. I still do, I like helping people. Librarians do that, too. I think I would like to make a difference in someone's life. Probably in not such a dramatic way, but still. There are worse things to aspire to.

Social Media Policies

Do you really need a policy at your library or school regarding social media? Twitter. Facebook. Blogs. LiveJournals. There are all kinds of ways you can get yourself in trouble on the internet, yes. People have been fired over things they've posted, even.

Here is a simple rule: if you have something to say that might not be well received by the parties in question, do not say it online. Just don't. As secret as you think your Twitter account, Facebook page, blog, or LiveJournal is, you don't know for sure that someone can't find something incriminating online. That's just for personal stuff, like saying something snarky about your sister-in-law.

When you work for an organization and can be recognized, do not badmouth that organization. Don't post about it. If you simply must tell a story, give everyone a fake name or don't name names at all.

Be careful what you sign your real name to. Nothing on the internet ever truly goes away; you can write something that can get pulled up years and years later, and things that seem like a good idea when you're seventeen don't really reflect well on you when you're twenty-seven. Anything you post can be used against you. If you're going to use your real name, you had better be very professional.

Some of the suggestions in the article include:

• Use a disclaimer. Agreed. The opinions expressed do not reflect on BigNameCompany.
• Don’t share secrets. Agreed again. You do not want to be breaking news.
• Be yourself. Not really agreed for all situations. You can 'be yourself' in the way your mom told you to be yourself without using your real name. There's always the option to reveal your real name later, but there are no takebacks. You may not want the kind of attention you can get.
  
• Respect copyright. Don't pass someone else's stuff off as your own. Not articles, not blog posts, nothing. Always give credit when you can.
  
• Respect your colleagues. And your friends. If your best buddy you went drinking with and got trashed with that one time and took pictures of can't friend his dear old Aunt Petunia when she asks, you need to take that stuff down. Or at least take it down if asked.
• Avoid online fights. Debates? Mostly okay. Fights, definitely not. No matter how angry or annoyed you get, don't get into personal things with your opponent. And don't pick fights with people you don't like; the internet is full of opportunities for deception that might seem tempting but have serious consequences.
  
• Post accurate information. Ever played the telephone game? One small bit of misinformation can turn pretty weird. See what happens when you don't get your facts straight. Bloggers get annoyed!
  
• Consult the employee manual. Handy anyway. Really, I can't photocopy my rear end? No kidding.
  
• Use good judgment. Well, yeah.
• Provide value. It's not necessary. There are people who are happy talking about what their cat did that day and there are people who are happy to read it. If someone doesn't think what you're saying is valuable, they can choose not to read it. I personally hate Twitter. I choose not to read Twitter posts because I find the majority of people post just to post.
  
• Accept responsibility. Seriously, this is an 'all the time' thing. If you mess up, admit to it. Apologize to offended parties. This one really annoys me.

I suppose policies are a good idea. Common sense just isn't common enough. Remember, lots of employers will put your name through a search engine before hiring you. So will people you date! Then again, maybe it's a good thing to know that nice guy you met is into wandering around in a fur suit before you get too attached to him. Or, you know, maybe that's attractive to you. I'm not judging you, as long as you're not hurting anybody.