Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Daily Thoughts 5/25/2011 Book Expo America

2007-02-27 11:47 Jeffrey O Gustaffson 2816×2112×8 (1924867 bytes) The [[Jacob K. Javits Convention Center]] in [[2007]]. Copyright 2007 [[User talk:Jeffrey O. Gustafson|Jeffrey O. Gustafson]] - released under the [[GFDL]].

Daily Thoughts 5/25/2011

I took a break in the morning to rest my feet before going back to Book Expo America.  The Jacob Javits Center is bigger than a football field.  It is a lot of walking.  I usually lose a few pounds after the show.

From 2-3 p.m. at Book Expo America,I listened to Nancy Pearl being interviewed by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes of the Unshelved library comic strip.  It was the first time I had heard Nancy Pearl speak.  She is known for her readers advisory.  She reads constantly about everything.  It reminded me about how driven people can be about books.  Nancy Pearl brought all her points in her conversations back to readers.  I liked her idea that the best libraries and bookstores always have the best interests of the reader in mind.  She also reminded us that many people still cannot afford ereaders and this creates a society with haves and have nots.

From 3:30-4:30 p.m. I went to the Librarians Shout and Share Session which is the 3rd Annual one at Book Expo America.  Barbara Genco was the moderator.  There were so many wonderful books to hear about.  The ones that stood out for me were That Used to be Us by Thomas Friedman,  Mrs. Nixon A Novelist Imagines A Life by Ann Beattie, The Pirate King by Laurie King which is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, and Russell Banks The Lost Memory of Skin.  Most of the picks for the Librarians Shout and Share will be listed in Library Journal.  I will definitely make sure that I post links to the Library Journal articles.

Afterwards I went to the Landmark Tavern where they were having a Meetup for the Ebooks, Ereaders, and Digital Publishing Linked In group from 5:15-7:15 p.m...  It was quite interesting.  A lot of the people were international representing companies from France, Germany, and Australia. It was a bit different.  Ebooks do not have borders.  I learned that in France, ebooks represnt 1% of the market, and are just starting to grow.

I also had a very interesting conversation about enhanced ebooks.  There was a gentleman who was creating a music book with annotations.  Part of the discussion was the idea that the public domain was escaping from the University and becoming much more public property.  I mentioned how Project Gutenberg had teamed up with Overdrive to create a library of free ebooks available through Overdrive.

A gentleman also was giving out copies of his children's book, Yogurt the Ogre A Magical Tale in Mudd Hollow.  It has a nice feel to it.  There was more than one new company at the Meetup.  I like going to these things partially because I have no idea what I might learn.  They tend to expand ones horizon a little bit.



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