Daily Thoughts 3/26/2009

Soviet propaganda poster by Elizaveta Kruglikova advocating female literacy. The top section reads: "Woman! Learn to read and write!" The bottom (meant to be said by the daughter): "Oh, mommy! If you were literate, you could help me!" c1923

Daily Thoughts 3/26/2009

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102330373

This story brings out a central problem with books. When I buy a hardcover book, I can give the physical object to whoever I want to give it to. With ebooks, I am the only one who is supposed to be able to use it. There are supposed to be no used ebooks. Digital Rights Management limits use of books. It should also limit price of the material. This is a major reason I prefere hardcopy books because I can use them over and over.

Although this article does not say it, many bestselling books are readily available as pirated copies on bittorrent. This is a wonderful article by Paulo Coelho, a brazilian author who collected all the books he wrote that were pirated and put them on a single site to promote his writing. http://torrentfreak.com/alchemist-author-pirates-own-books-080124/ This is a very clear example of how giving away the free copy online drives the sales of the hardcopy in print.

Today, I am thinking about another new librarian who came in to shadow me at the reference desk. I have two shadows now. It is an unusual feeling. Most people only have one. I think I may have to work on my people, delegating, and planning skills. It is a learning experience.

I also took a walk up the hill to my local library. I looked around for a bit and picked up a book, The Everything Managing People Book by Gary McClain, Ph.D. and Deborah S. Romaine. This is a series title much like the Complete Idiots series, the For Dummies series, or the Missing Manual series. The place was very busy. They had a petition at the checkout desk to support your local library and keep our funding. I signed it. I also looked at a few books for a meeting ordering adult fiction for the collection tomorrow.

Today is the day I do my taxes. I think I have everything I need. I will be taking them to the same person I take them to every year. I hope I get some money back this year.