Books

Books as marketing channels

A pet hate of mine is people who make notes in library books. I just cannot understand the arrogance of some people who are prepared to borrow a book and then mess it up. It’s not about cost it’s about a lack of interest in other peoples property and a lack of consideration for the next reader.

But now it’s not only the lenders doing it. The Guardian reports that public libraries in the UK will be using books as a direct marketing channel. The project will insert advertising into library books and provide libraries with much needed extra funding.

Up to 500,000 inserts a month are due to be handed out by libraries in Essex, Somerset, Bromley, Leeds and Southend.

The plan is being run by the direct marketing company Howse Jackson, whose business development director Mark Jackson said the company was “very proud” of what he described as “a brand new channel” for direct marketing.

Obviously Mark Jackson is more of a marketer than a reader. Guy Daines (director of policy at the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) was dismayed by the scheme.

(via Lex Ferenda)

Posted on by mklang

7 Ways To Ruin A Technological Revolution

Here is an online talk by one of the most interesting of tech-lawyers, the intellectual James Boyle talk is on YouTube and the subject is 7 Ways To Ruin A Technological Revolution. From the abstract:

If you wanted to undermine the technological revolution of the last 30 years, using the law, how would you do it? How would you undercut the virtuous cycle that results from access to an open network, force technological innovation into stagnation, diminish competition, create monopolies over the basic building blocks of knowledge? How many of those things are we doing now?

Boyle has been an impressive figure since his book Shamans, Software and Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information Society came out in 1997 since then his writings include Papers on the Public Domain (James Boyle ed. 2003) and Bound by Law – A ‘Graphic Novel’ (a.k.a. comic book) on Fair Use.

He has also been central in the launching of Creative Commons and Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain.

(via DigitalKoans)

Posted on by mklang

For as little as £25…

Aab_homeApparently the British Library cannot afford to take care of all its old books and has come up with scheme to protect their books: Adopt a book.

“The beneficiary of your gift can enjoy benefits such as a personalised bookplate added to your chosen book and the chance to view it on a behind the scenes tour. Adopt a Book supports our conservation team, helping us preserve the world’s knowledge for future generations.”

How to adopt a book:

(i) decide what level of donation you wish to make,
(ii) add a title from the list to your shopping basket, and then
(iii) go the checkout to give your details and make your gift.
You can choose for the certificate and, where applicable, tour vouchers to be sent to yourself or directly to the beneficiary. We use first class post and aim to reply within three working days.

This is really a good cause but the whole tone “For as little as £25…” makes the whole thing a bit of a car boot sale. Hardly the way to engender a deepened respect for old valuable books… or is it just me?

(via Biblioteksrelaterat)

More news from the British Library is their increased digitalisation project. The British Library has begun a new digitalisation project. This entails the digitalization of over 100 00 books. The focus is on 19th century literature which has not been issued in new editions. It is hoped that the Internet will breathe new life into the old books.

(via Humaniorabloggen)

Posted on by mklang

Made my day

Professor Conor Gearty writes in “Can Human Rights Survive?” (2006):

These kinds of issues are difficult but they are what set the ethical framework for the future. Books like that edited by Mathias Klang and Andrew Murray on Human Rights in the Digital Age, should be required reading for all those interested in the future good health of our subject. It is the future battlegrounds that Human Rights supporters should be identifying and occupying, not wasting valuable time and energy re-fighting old wars. (p 146)

That just about made my day. I really should just leave my work and drink coffee, feeling good about myself for the rest of the day. Why not the whole weekend…

Posted on by mklang

Birds Return

In May last year I wrote about the pictures of birds which began appearing around central Göteborg. An example of this was this Jackdaw

birds.jpg

The birds gave me an idea and I went out on bird-spotting expeditions and posted my pictures on flickr. Since I only have a free account the birds on flickr cannot be seen anymore – but the good news is that the whole thing further developed my interest in street art.

In a few comments left on this blog today the birdmen of Göteborg, John Skoog and Eric Berglin, (check out their own pictures) tip me off that they will soon be releasing a new publication of some sort (?) – check out their website.

Posted on by mklang

Smell the Book

Arguments against ebooks is that they are not as practical as traditional books. They need power, they don’t fold well, they are not comfortable to read in the bath… But have you ever thought about the smell of real books?

“…ebook content provider CafeScribe is going pretty low-tech to give your laptop screen the same scent as a textbook: the company is shipping “musty-smelling” scratch-and-sniff stickers with every ebook order. The promotion comes in response to a survey showing that 43 percent of students identified smell as the thing they most liked about their favorite books….” [Engadget]

(via The Shifted Librarian)

Posted on by mklang

Open Library

Boing Boing reports about a cool Open Library project:

The Internet Archive has launched a demo of the Open Library, a project that seeks to gather all the information about all the world’s books and make it publicly available as a giant books wiki.

While many books are making their way online for free access, most still are restricted or cost money to touch. The Open Library combines links to open resources with information on in-copyright works and enables you and me to review, annotate, correct and convene.

I think this project (which right now seems to point to almost half a million books) is very cool — it’s going to be a major addition to the world’s open cultural infrastructure. I have a hunch that it’s going to be the primary way many if not most people access books, and I see it becoming an always-open window on the desk of every librarian.

Aaron Swartz led this project, which was conceived by Brewster Kahle — please send them support, critiques and book databases!

Lets hope the project grows!

Posted on by mklang

Librarians Rock

The general image of the librarian is definitely uncool but this image has been changing for a long time. When the New York Times published its article A Hipper Crowd of Shushers last week (8 July) this was a sign of the times.

Librarians? Arenâ??t they supposed to be bespectacled women with a love of classic books and a perpetual annoyance with talkative patrons â?? the ultimate humorless shushers?

Not any more. With so much of the job involving technology and with a focus now on finding and sharing information beyond just what is available in books, a new type of librarian is emerging…

How did such a nerdy profession become cool â?? aside from the fact that a certain amount of nerdiness is now cool? Many young librarians and library professors said that the work is no longer just about books but also about organizing and connecting people with information, including music and movies.

The upcoming documentary The Hollywood Librarian (release 29 September) will also become part of the way in which the perception of librarians is changing.

Instead of being only the strict formal organizer the librarian is actually on the forefront of several important debates in the information society. The questions of access to knowledge, privacy, free speech, open access and parts of the DRM debate are being lively discussed among librarians.

Posted on by mklang

What the world eats

Every now and then you come across a book which is just inspired. This idea fits the bill exactly. What a brilliant idea.

Photographer Peter Menzel and author-journalist Faith D’Alusio have put together the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. The book is a comparative photo-chronicle of their visits to 30 families in 24 countries.

The family snapshot shows the family with a typical week’s worth of food purchases, weekly food-intake lists with costs noted, typical family recipes and essays, such as “Diabesity,” on the growing threat of obesity and diabetes.

It is difficult not to get political when you see the amounts spent on family food for a week from $500 (for a family of 4) to $1.23 (for a family of six) weekly.

Time Magazine has done a photo essay based on the book so for a sneak preview go there.

(via Boing Boing)

Posted on by mklang

Devil's Bible on Tour

Devil_medium_small_1News from Humaniorabloggen (the humanist blog) about the Codex Gigas, more often referred to as the Devils Bible.

From the Royal Library website (The Swedish National Library): The Devil’s Bible contains the Old and New Testaments in pre-Vulgate Latin translations, Isidore of Seville’s Etymologiae, Josephus’ History of the Jews in a Latin translation, the Chronicle of Bohemia, written by Cosmas of Prague, etc. The manuscript was written in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlazice in Bohemia. It is called the Devil’s Bible after the impressive picture of that potentate. According to legend the scribe was a monk who had been confined to his cell for some breach of monastic discipline and who, by way of penance, finished the manuscript in one single night with the aid of the Devil whom he had summoned to help him. In 1594 the manuscript was acquired by the Imperial Treasury in Prague. When the Swedish army conquered the city in 1648, it was brought to Sweden and presented to the KB the following year.

The Codex (89,5 x 49 cm, weighs 75 kg and is 624 pages long) and was written on, the calf skin vellum (previously believed to be ass skin vellum). During the last year it has been analyzed and digitalized and is now going to be sent to Prague for a few months for an exhibition at the Prague’s Klementinum palace, the National Library seat, from this September till January 2008.

digitalization process at The Royal Library

The name “The Devils Bible” comes from the fact that the Codex Gigas contains images of the devil (pictures above). The Czech Republic will receive copies of the high quality digitalization and will borrow the Codex. The results of the digitalization and analysis are available online at the Royal Library’s website later this year. There has naturally (?) been discussions concerning the return of the work but apparently The Czech Republic does not contest Swedish ownership.

Cultural artifacts are always a sensitive issue in particular if they were taken in times of war or imperialist occupation. Some items in museums are more connected to specific cultures (the Egyptian collections in Berlin and London for example) but works such as the Codex Gigas are much more complicated to associate with one specific nation state.

Posted on by mklang