From: T Scott Plutchak <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2014 00:04:16 +0000

Certainly an intriguing notion, although the underlying premise is a bit
faulty.  As this recent article in the Washington Post
(http://t.co/PVKmXRDTjy) makes clear, it is simply not true that "In 2013,
we continued to watch independent bookstores (as well as large corporate
bookstores) slip away from our communities."  The corporate bookstores
continue to be in trouble, but the indies, after the winnowing that
occurred in the mid-2000s as some indies couldn¹t regroup fast enough, are
experiencing growth both in numbers of stores and sales per stores.  The
data has been available from the ABA for several years but tends to be
ignored, since it doesn¹t fit the standard narrative.

There are obvious lessons for libraries and publishers.

Along similar lines, an excellent article from this past Sunday by the
NYT¹s David Carr points to the continuing relevance of print:

http://tinyurl.com/qgovqz7

Scott

T Scott Plutchak
Director
UAB Lister Hill Library




On 12/31/13, 10:03 PM, "LIBLICENSE" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2013 08:23:29 -0500
>
>A Web column on having public libraries sell ebooks:
>
>http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/a-new-years-vision-of-the-future-of-l
>ibraries-as-ebookstores/?et_mid=654523&rid=240985815
>
>The argument is that libraries can fill the void in a community
>created by the collapse of independent bookstores and that the revenue
>the libraries receive would help in the maintenance of the library
>itself.
>
>Joe Esposito