Monthly Archives: April 2012

Ebooks and the publishing business

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Kindle at the beach

Amazon introduced the Kindle e-reader less than five years ago. It’s one of those devices that seemed like an enormous gamble, took off like wild fire, and now feels like it has always existed. And of course, not everyone is happy to allow Amazon to profit so much firm its revolutionary device. Amazon didn’t invent the ebook or the e-reader. Some large publishing houses, including Wiley, HarperCollins, and Random House already offered ebooks for sale. The public had pretty much ignored earlier devices for reading them, however. Ebooks seemed like an idea consumers didn’t much want. Successful ebook readers The … Continue reading →

What else can you do with the online library catalog?

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Online library catalog

I have written several posts about finding library materials in the catalog, for instance, Online library catalogs: using them despite their imperfections. In fact, the catalog is only one component of what’s called an Integrated Library System (ILS). The acquisitions and circulation databases are among its other components. By the way, I have avoided using library initialisms and acronyms in this blog, because it’s not aimed at the people most likely to understand them. Apparently at least one library shares them with its patrons. OPAC means Online Public Access Catalog. It’s part of the ILS. Now you know some libraryese. … Continue reading →

Pouring over a book and other misused pears

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homonyms

Some pears of words are so much alike that authors frequently choose the wrong one. Oh. That should be pairs, shouldn’t it? Pour/Pore A highly respected Bible teacher urged readers of a workbook to “pourover their Bibles” in order to find answers. Pouring over the Bible, or any other book, could make it impossible to read it until the mess is cleaned up. She doesn’t suggest just what students should pour over their Bibles, but almost any liquid would do irreparable damage. “Pour” means to make a fluid (liquid or granular solid) flow. Pour water into a glass or perhaps … Continue reading →

Damaged books and how libraries fix them

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Damaged book awaiting repair

What have you done when you have torn the page of a book you want to keep. My guess is you have repaired it with tape. If you have used cellophane tape, you have soon been disappointed. It dried out and pulls away from the book, exposing the tear. Only now it has kind of a burn mark where the tape used to be. Or have you tried to fix a book cover with tape. If it’s a hard cover book, the tape only leaves a residue of the glue when it eventually peels off. What’s it like for a … Continue reading →