Comments for Collection = Connection

Comment on Weeding, Part 1 by Tony Greiner

Tony Greiner — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:16:38 +0000

My thinking is that if there is an easyily available inexpensive copy to replace the worn one, pick it up. My concern is ugly books that are out-of-print or hard to replace in the used book market getting tossed simply because they are ugly.

It would be an interesting experiment for a library to make an inventory of 100 ‘ugly’ books, replace 50 of them with new copies, and then compare circulation one or two years later. Probably won’t happen, but it would be interesting.

Tony Greiner

Comment on Weeding, Part 1 by Bob

Bob — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:59:33 +0000

I’ve been hunting through the professional literature for anything on “ugly” books – exactly the phrase I’ve been using – in particular whether the appearance matters to the patron in choosing a book. So far I’ve found very little. It’s a librarian assumption that books in poor shape should be weeded, but should we replace them to give the content a better chance to be used?

Comment on Weeding, Part 1 by Keri

Keri — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:15:59 +0000

CREW works well for public libraries. I ran a mid-sized branch, and we just needed what was popular. Deep, dark research was happening at other, larger branches or local universities. “Elsewhere” was king in my book.

Any “ugly” book I found that was still in demand was replaced by a new copy whenever possible. Torn, dirty, what-the-heck-is-that-between-those-pages books had reached the end of their useful library lives and were discarded.

You’re right, though, you do have to choose the parameters that best fit your library.

Comment on Dysfunctional and Codependent by Martin

Martin — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:03:50 +0000

Somebody try to show me a book more technologically perfect that the printed book.
I tried e-readers: a pain, limited, no art design (love dust jackets), difficult to retrieved, expensive, fragile, blah blah blah.
I go to the library, check the catalog, go to the shelf, grab the book and voila!
Ebooks are already obsolete!

Comment on Dysfunctional and Codependent by ACRLog » The end of the book as we know it, and I feel (mostly) fine.

ACRLog » The end of the book as we know it, and I feel (mostly) fine. — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:57:34 +0000

[...] Are we better off with ebooks or without them? Librarian in Black thinks we should break up with ebooks, because they are a bad boyfriend: “Libraries and eBooks aren’t shacking up anytime soon, not for real…not as long as publishers continue to falsely view us as a threat instead of a partner.” In contrast, Steven Harris argues that our relationship with print books is just as dysfunctional and codependent. [...]

Comment on Dysfunctional and Codependent by Steven Harris

Steven Harris — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 03:31:32 +0000

There are about 50 other crazinesses I didn’t even talk about. Tell me about your experiences.

Comment on How to Better Your Relationship with Service & Product Providers: Become Engaged not Enraged by Steven Harris

Steven Harris — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 02:03:06 +0000

I’m having a hard time following these principles this week.

Comment on How to Better Your Relationship with Service & Product Providers: Become Engaged not Enraged by Jill Emery

Jill Emery — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:53:55 +0000

My experience with beta testing has been to negotiate free access for 1-2 years either during the beta test or immediately post beta test. In other cases, I know of librarians who have negotiated additional database access an/or content access for being beta-testers. In our industry it never hurts to ask these questions upfront and ask for them in writing.

Comment on How to Better Your Relationship with Service & Product Providers: Become Engaged not Enraged by Tony Greiner

Tony Greiner — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:51:46 +0000

This is good advice, and at times I have been guilty of all these things. However, I will take issue with the beta-testing suggestion. I have had the misfortune to be involved in several beta-tests, and they always end up with the library devoting a huge amount of staff-time to the product, which improves only marginally. The vendor makes up for our efforts by charging full price, and the library administration, judging that the library has made a big investment in the product subscribes to it, even though we all know it is a turkey.

If the vendor wants to roll-out a not ready for market product, they should pay us to test it.

Comment on Surplus by Keyth

Keyth — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:55:09 +0000

Books are truly wonderful creations. No matter what changes we make to HOW we read, the books in itself is a beautiful creative testament to human ingenuity. And it’s simple. Paper alone is unique, but to enclose it in various ways is beautiful. There is nothing else like a book, and its form will always exist.