April 23, 2006
I am sentimental
Okay, I've been reading a number of biographies lately. But I tend to stop before the last chapter, because they all have (when you get down to it) tragic endings. Is it me? Am I weird?
Posted by Mac Thomason at 04:48 PM | Comments (7)
March 30, 2006
De-Scrushification continues
Board votes Scrushy off name, sign
At long last, the Vestavia Hills Library Board is going to remove the Richard Scrushy name from the library. They say it's not meant as an insult to Scrushy, it's just that they're polishing their image for a fundraising drive, and well, his name doesn't help.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:22 AM | Comments (2)
March 13, 2006
They aren't historians either
CNN.com - 'Da Vinci' author 'astounded' at allegations - Mar 13, 2006
I make no judgment in this case, except that they're all full of shit and should burn in hell, but Leigh and Baigent aren't historians. Why is anyone allowed to just go around saying that they're an historian? You couldn't just go around saying that you're a doctor or a lawyer or a dentist.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:34 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 27, 2006
We mean America
Library of Congress Online Catalogs
This will be meaningless to most of you, but I just noticed that the Library of Congress call number for Hawaiian history is DU625. Again, meaningless, except that DU is reserved for "Oceania". States and regions of the USA and American nations other than the USA get F call numbers. So according to the Library of Congress, Hawaii isn't part of the US. Or they just haven't updated it since the 19th century, whatever.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:16 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
February 16, 2006
Czechout time
AP Wire | 02/16/2006 | Czech Republic helps hurricane-damaged library on Alabama coast
Sorry for the egregious pun... Katrina destroyed the collection of the Mose Hudson Tapia Public Library. The Czech ambassador personally delivered a contribution of $111,000 to help rebuild. He also delivered one of $100,000 to a Mississippi pharmacy that helps the poor and uninsured.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:06 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 27, 2006
I was not just looking for dirty pictures
The Bible and Its Influence, Student Text (Bible Literacy Project)
So I actually looked up the book that Roy and the Rest of the Republican Religious Rednecks are so worried about. I checked, and the horrible nudie picture of Bathsheba that they're so worried about is in fact by Rembrandt. One of the Adam and Eve dirty paintings is a famous one by Lucas Cranach the Elder; I do believe it appears in the credits to Desperate Housewives, for example, but none of those guys would ever watch that show. Another is a well-known one by Masaccio, though I think he was cheating because they were supposed to have clothes at that point.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:41 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 21, 2005
Present a bill
Unattended children put strain on library staffs
So what parents do, when schools are out, is drop off their kids at the local library branch and then go off doing whatever it is they do.
"Some parents will even drop their kids off to go to Wal-Mart," said Victoria Ashford, director of the Helena Library. "We are not a free baby-sitting service."
Actually, you kinda are. Helena has tightened its policies on the ages of unattended children, but they're still going to have to deal with some adolescents.
I used to be one of those adolescents. Now I'm a librarian. Both sides of the coin, though I don't normally have to deal with kids at a college library. My suggestion is that next time you see someone pick up their kids at 5:30 you present them with a babysitting bill. Maybe they'll get the message.
More likely they'll claim that their taxes pay your salary. Maybe they could drop their kids off at the police station for a change.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:42 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
December 16, 2005
Ouch!
CNN.com - Journal: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica - Dec 15, 2005
That's a real blow for the Britannica.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:42 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 14, 2005
One of these
Book at Holt High raising eyebrows
Some jackass talk radio host is trying to get Summer of My German Soldier removed from circulation for using the N-word. The local president of the SCLC disagrees: "I don’t think we ought to be in the business of the banning of literature. That goes back to limiting some other liberties."
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 28, 2005
Alabama 1, Georgia 0
Author's tribute to Tuscaloosa recalled
"Recalled" means "pulled back, pulped, and buried" in this instance. The book, The Bear Bryant Funeral Train, turns out to have, um, "textual similarities" to another book, published in 1934. A Tuscaloosa Public Library librarian noticed the similiarities. The University of Georgia didn't, and gave the author the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:05 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 19, 2005
Hey, kids!
County's libraries set rules on age of kids visiting alone
While they're glad to help young patrons choose just the right book, Shelby County librarians don't want to be baby sitters.
For one thing, we're not getting paid enough to baby-sit 50 kids. Though setting the age at 12 for unaccompanied children is a little high. 10, maybe.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 10, 2005
Please, take our junk
Gulf Coast libraries find friends in Alabama and elsewhere
Damaged libraries are getting help from other libraries. Sort of. They're getting our discards. It's not exactly a sacrifice. (You'd be surprised how many books a public library goes through.) The Birmingham Public Library is being a little more sensible and just holding onto theirs until librarians can make selections: "We might be sending things they have no use for," says the director.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:54 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 27, 2005
The road everybody travels
CNN.com - 'Road Less Traveled' author dead - Sep 27, 2005
Hm. Do I care?
No, I don't think so. Carry on.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:44 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 11, 2005
It's a racket
Textbook prices dig into student wallets
I hate textbook publishers. Meanwhile, I can't even pay $70 for my textbook because nobody has it. And some people have no shame.
And some publishers and professors argue that the buying and selling of used textbooks actually drives up the cost of all textbooks, leading publishers to try to make all their profit up front.That's the position of David Jenkins, a 32-year biology professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Jenkins teaches Biology 101. He requires students to buy a textbook that Jenkins himself wrote.
How dare you not pay me my royalties! I hope the little punk starves.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:08 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 20, 2005
Sad, really
Library plans move to Montevallo Road
A library... in a strip mall? I think they should have chosen the former Chili's.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 23, 2005
Now all I need is a contest
I keep meaning to hold a contest to give out worthless prizes -- books nobody will ever read or even consider reading but are funny just to contemplate. But I needed a grand prize. And I think I've found it.
A Guide For Studying and Evaluation Internal Accounting Controls
Prepared by Arthur Andersen & Co.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:23 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 11, 2005
The English are barbarians
Librarian rant:
I have noticed that British publishers, including even the OUP, have taken to publishing "hardcover" books that are not, in fact, what a knowledgeable American reader would call hardbound. Instead of the stitched binding of American hardcovers -- even of mass-market hardcovers of the pulpiest variety -- they have glued bindings familiar from book club editions. University press books! (I haven't seen a new Cambridge UP book recently, maybe they've retained their sanity.)
These do not work. Any regular use will cause the spine to give, turning the book into two pieces held together by the cover. Even a mass-market paperback is more sturdy, because at least the cover is glued to the spine. I'm a little overly sensitive because in the South it's worse. The heat and humidity make glue a worse binding material than usual. I guess that's not a problem in Britain, but surely people read the damned things!
What really bugs me is that the Brits are big on acid-free paper. Great, so you have a loose collection of pages that won't decay. Maybe they have an ownership stake in the rebinding industry.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 05:16 PM | Comments (1)
That's bad
al.com: NewsFlash - Former librarian given jail term in $70,000 theft
The former director of the library in Phenix City pleaded guilty to stealing $70K in library funds. Apparently, she routinely wrote herself two paychecks. I guess that's one way to get a raise.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2005
Commies!
The Socialist Workers Party has a booth here! And an ad in the program! And a lonely guy sitting looking dejected! I am glad to see that they're still saying that capitalism is doomed. It's been a rough couple of decades for those guys.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:37 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 18, 2005
Actual books I have cataloged today
The "That Sounds Dirty" Award: Self-Entertainment by Jack Barrett.
From the Ministry of Fun: Social Games for Recreation by Evelyne Borst and Elmer D. Mitchell, and Games to Make and Play at Home by Joseph Leeming.
The Excitement Never Ends: Winning Badminton by Kenneth R. Davidson and Lealand R. Gustavson.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 30, 2005
Easy joke of the day
CNN.com - Mary Cheney to write memoir - Mar 30, 2005
Maybe her mom can help her on the dirty parts.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:21 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
March 08, 2005
We can't have that
al.com: NewsFlash - Limestone County board bans book "Whale Talk" for curse words
1. This is a high school library.
2. The only complaint is about language, not "situations" or such.
Now, it seems to me that most people in high school already know lots of curse words. I know I did, though admittedly I read a lot.
Did an Amazon "Search Inside". F-word count: 8. And I get this great quote:
Interesting how you can say almost anything you want as long as you don't say shit or fuck or any word derivative thereof. I'm getting a handle on the communication thing.
Is that wonderful or what?
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Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:38 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 12, 2005
Ooh, big mistake
Library to allow residents to weigh in on services
Once they start thinking they have a say, they'll ask for everything, but they won't want to pay for it. Trust me.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 04:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 07, 2005
BBB
The Crimson White Online - Students: Book buying burdensome
Time for my biannual rant on textbooks. The publishers are running a racket, and schools haven't been willing to attack it. Simply put, textbooks cost far more than they cost to produce, and far more than regular nonfiction books. This is exacerbated by a recent tendency of publishers to put out "new" editions every couple of years, cutting down on the ability to buy books more cheaply used or to sell back the books to recoup losses. Schools could put a stop to this, but they don't really care that much about students.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:33 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
January 04, 2005
Aw, hell
Comic book pioneer Will Eisner dead at 87: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Eisner was the best.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 03:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 22, 2004
Stupid state cuts
The Jefferson County Library Cooperative's circulation numbers were up this year, even though they had less money because of the stingy state government. The growth was mostly in outlying areas like Trussville and (of course) Hoover.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 09, 2004
Bush goes bananas
Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | 'We have to protect people'
George Bush has invited Gerald Allen -- of ban-the-gay-books fame -- to the White House. Read more of Allen's ill-formed opinions in the interview.
(Via Censoround.)
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 06, 2004
Come to think of it...
Wouldn't Gerald Allen's law banning books with homosexual characters take out the Bible? For instance:
4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom-both young and old-surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
That's pretty plainly a violation of the bill, and more explicit than most books with gay themes. I'm pretty sure Gerry doesn't want to ban the Bible, but I don't see any way around it.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:03 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 19, 2004
Yeah!
CNN.com - Library offenders could go to jail - Nov 19, 2004
"I returned that book on time! You just lost it!"
"I'm sorry, sir, but the police are searching your home right now and they found it and four other library books you said you returned on the shelves in your den."
"Wait... You can't do this! You're librarians!"
"Guards, take him away. Maybe 90 days in jail will teach him to return his books on time."
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 01, 2004
Stupid floods
UH salvages what's left after Halloween Eve flood - The Honolulu Advertiser - Hawaii's Newspaper
Flooding at the University of Hawaii struck hardest at the Hamilton Library. Students in the basement actually had to smash out a window to escape floodwaters, which reached six feet. Government documents were stored there, but wound up floating out into the street. Staffers and students were working to save photographs and maps stored there.
(Suggested by Linkmeister.)
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 07, 2004
What, Kitty Kelley dishonest?
Free-lance writer sues biographer Kelley
Glynn Wilson is suing Kelley for uncredited use of material from an article he published in February. (Full disclosure: I've corresponded with Glynn and he links here.) Kelley has a long history of ethically shady work. I haven't heard plagiarism before, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:11 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 05, 2004
Great moments in First Lady feminization
Did you know that in 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote -- or had ghostwritten for her, at any event -- a home economics book titled, It's Up to the Women? And that it was credited to "Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt"? It has recipes in it! Eleanor Roosevelt! I just cataloged the book, which has been sitting upstairs for goodness knows how long.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:21 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 22, 2004
She mocks, but...
Brookings Institution: Perhaps Fallen on Hard Times
If I were in Washington, I would so go to the Brookings book sale. I don't know about Brookings, but university presses generally hold these sorts of things once or twice a year.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 30, 2004
Duh.
Books at the heart of reading clubs
I suppose you could start a reading club around magazines or newspapers or the Internet, but it's really not the same.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 25, 2004
That's irony for you
CNN.com - 'On Death' author Kubler-Ross dies - Aug 25, 2004
No, it can't be true!
Damn!
Please, God, don't let it be so!
Man, this sucks.
Oh, well, we all have to go sometime.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 07:05 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
August 16, 2004
Yes, that's what we do
Libraries find answers for public
For instance, people here seem to think that the library doubles as the college's directory assistance and switchboard.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 03, 2004
Yeah, I've catalogued that
CNN.com - Obama's sudden fame sparks book fervor - Aug 3, 2004
Actually, we've both got a hardcover and a paperback edition of Dreams From My Father. Good book. I put it out on display last week, but school's not in session.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 16, 2004
There is no way I am going to see this movie
Isaac Asimov - How I, Robot gets the science-fiction grandmaster wrong. By Chris Suellentrop
From everything I can tell, it's both awful and essentially anti-Asimovian. I figure if I watched it I would probably have to track down and kill the screenwriter and director.
PS: One of the screenwriters is Akiva Goldsman, whom I have been meaning to track down and kill for years anyway. So it's all good.
PPS: I'm not really planning to kill Akiva Goldsman.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 03:41 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 14, 2004
To nobody's surprise
CNN.com - Study: High school exit tests flimsy - Jun 10, 2004
Of course high school exit exams are easy. If they were difficult, lots of people would fail. Parents would get upset. People would lose their jobs. Inevitably, the exit exams are very lame and cover material anybody should have known years before, because that way even football players can pass most of the time.
Heck, even with the lame tests you have parents complaining that their precious little dumplings failed the tests that were so hard. Of course, the problem is that they haven't even been educated to the eighth-grade level of the tests but keep getting promoted anyway. Because if they weren't promoted, the parents would complain. Basically, the parents are going to complain no matter what, but it's easiest to slack off and wait until the kiddies are gone. And they we college people have to deal with teaching them all the stuff they should have learned in high school.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 12, 2004
Trendy Tolstoy
TV Barn Ticker: Thanks to Oprah, 'Anna Karenina' is #1
Yes, Anna Karenina will "debut" at the top of the NYT and Publisher's Weekly bestseller lists. I'm waiting for the Oprahites to start wondering why this Tolstoy guy doesn't do an appearance on the show. What is he too good for Oprah?
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:53 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
June 04, 2004
I cry foul
CNN.com - Spelling bee champ survives 'autochthonous' - Jun 3, 2004
The National Spelling Bee winning word should not be any word I know how to spell. Of course, I know it because I have odd reading habits, and it's better than the year it was "enchilada", but still.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:18 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 03, 2004
This is really going too far
Hoover library won't be so quiet at battle of bands
Call me a traditionalist, but public libraries are not the proper location for high school rock bands to perform. If, in fact, there is anywhere where high school rock bands should perform.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 15, 2004
Somebody was born on a commune!
I went to my brother's law school graduation ceremony yesterday (yes, now everyone in my family is a lawyer). At graduation ceremonies generally -- does everyone know this? -- the best way to amuse yourself is to find comical names. Unfortunately, there weren't many, but one kid was named Thorin Oakenshield Jones. (Last name changed because the kid is going to have enough problems practicing law with a name like "Thorin Oakenshield".)
Posted by Mac Thomason at 04:02 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
May 12, 2004
Signs of the Apocalypse (Ironic Division)
Family Channel Pax Trying Out Edgier Lineup
Yes, it's finally happened... Left Behind: The Series. This fall, on Pax.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 06:22 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Speaking as a librarian...
Library's book store to test honor system
We already have enough problems getting people to return books we loan them for free. Why should they pay for books they don't have to?
Posted by Mac Thomason at 01:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 27, 2004
We just had a cat
CNN.com - NYU student sleeps for months in library basement - Apr 27, 2004
I'm sure it was a pleasant experience for everyone having the homeless guy living in the library. Hey, he did get friends to let him take "occasional showers".
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 22, 2004
Prose rules
CNN.com - Poets die younger than writers, study finds - Apr 22, 2004
It does seem to me that it's a sampling effect. You can become a famous poet while still very young. Few write famous novels or nonfiction until they're in their thirties. Writing an actual book takes stamina. There are thousands of kids in high schools across the country who right now are writing (bad) poetry. Very few are successfully writing bad novels. Young prose writers tend to start out with short stories, but nobody becomes famous writing short stories.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 07, 2004
Brownosing the bluenoses
Book flap leads to revised policy
Meanwhile, in Mobile, a parent has complained that her precious little 16-year-old angel had to read Song of Solomon, which she says contains "sexually explicit imagery". Wow, and I've avoided it all these years. This was in a college prep class, and of course nobody ever reads anything remotely sexual in college. The school is now saying that all books will now be reviewed by a department head or administrator before being added to the curriculum, because God knows we don't want high school students to ever hear about sex. Frankly, I don't think this goes far enough. Really, it's time for homeschooling. That way, the little tyke won't ever have to read any book but the Bible and Slander.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:47 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 22, 2004
Well, this is neat
2003 National Recording Registry - National Recording Preservation Board (Library of Congress)
The second year of the National Recording Registry has 50 new recordings. Of course, some of these aren't really in any danger. For instance, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Some others you've probably heard of: Chuck Berry, "Roll Over Beethoven", Patsy Cline, "Crazy", Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison, Marvin Gaye, What's Goin' On, Carole King, Tapestry, Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run.
I actually just cataloged one of the selections, Glenn Gould's original recording of The Goldberg Variations. I have come to hate Glenn Gould, by the way, just by looking at his album covers. He has, or had (if he's dead), that kind of face. I am done with Bach for now and have moved on to Beethoven. (Next, I assume, Brahms.) You know what's fun? Cataloging Beethoven to the music of Jimi Hendrix.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 10, 2004
I like this idea
The editor of Fantasy & Science Fiction is pushing a campaign to get the USPS to put Isaac Asimov on a stamp as part of their Literary Arts series. I think it's a great idea. (Oddly, though he's got another magazine named after him, Asimov was intimately tied to F&SF, having written a regular column for them for about thirty years, even after Asimov's started.)
Of course, then the Republicans will want Heinlein on a stamp, too, but Ayn Rand's already in the series and that's quite enough from that side.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 07:50 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
March 03, 2004
Great Moments in Sequels
So this came across my desk recently. Oops!
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 01, 2004
Funny how that works
The Miami Herald | 03/01/2004 | FCAT scores up at schools with good libraries, study shows
Gosh, if you have a lot of good books in a school library, the kids do better on the tests. So the Jebite government in Tallahassee has kept spending levels for school library materials the same since 2000 and wants to keep them the same on the current budget, too. Heck, the Bushes never needed to read any books to get ahead. Kids are just spoiled.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 23, 2004
Well, gosh
According to a Michigan TV station, Asimov’s Science Fiction is full of "stories about sex, drugs, and molestation." Man, I let my subscription lapse years ago, but while a few of the stories were a little out there it was hardly a hard-core magazine.
Anyway, the claim seems to be that the magazine was being marketed to children through a subscription service. The magazine says it was listed under the science titles where it belongs.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:19 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 20, 2004
No, don't put it there!
Adult book placement still in dispute
Books-a-Million got rid of the Valentine's display, but that's apparently not enough for the sex police. State law says that "material harmful to minors" has to be hidden where the kiddies can't see or access it. I think what we have here are busybodies.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 17, 2004
So much for my job
Amish Tech Support: Then the librarians got smart... decided our fate in a microsecond...
I always figured it would get outsourced to some librarian in Calcutta, except that even in Calcutta these wages aren't all that great. But you don't have to pay robots. Yet. I think when they replace me I'll become a robot union organizer.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 12:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 12, 2004
And somehow, the Republic survived
Explicit valentine display moved from heart of store
Apparently, the store manager managed to find the time to make the local phone call to the corporate office ten miles up the road and got permission to move the display.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 11, 2004
Janet Jackson not involved
Shopper objects to bookstore's sexy Valentine display
The Hoover Books-A-Million (I know it well) has a Valentine's display up that a woman complained about. To the police. My initial reaction was that she was a busybody, but the descriptions of the books make it sound like they probably shouldn't be prominently displayed in store with children about. " At least a dozen contain pictures of nude people in the act of sex, some on the cover." Personally, I don't care, but it is against the law.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 09:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 09, 2004
About time
Area public libraries make efforts to attract Hispanics
Nobody's sure, of course, but there are probably about 50,000 Hispanics in the Birmingham area; the mayor's office says it's the sixth-fastest-growing Hispanic community in the country. When I was up there (about four years ago) there was almost nothing in the main Birmingham library intended for Spanish readers.
Oddly, there doesn't seem to be a comment from the Hoover Public Library, which is within walking distance of the largest concentration of Hispanics in the state. They're really good there, so I assume they have it covered.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 30, 2004
Pat Schroeder is the devil
A fight over the price of textbooks
You see what Alex feels about Howard Dean? That's how I feel about congresswoman-turned-publisher shill Pat Schroeder.
If you aren't in college and don't have college-aged kids, (or private-school-attending kids) you may not have noticed, but textbook prices have soared in recent years. There's no reason for it, really, except that the publishers can make a lot of money selling $100 textbooks to college students. I asked a couple of students here, and the cheapest textbook they have is about $60. It's a paperback.
This is exacerbated by something that again you may not have noticed. In the last five or ten years, it's become commonplace for publishers to issue new editions every year or two, rather than wait four or five years as they once did. That way, students can't buy used textbooks and/or can't sell theirs back to the bookstore.
Crying Pat thinks this is just great:
But Pat Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers, said it was important to bear in mind that authors and publishers profit only from sales of new books, whereas bookstores profit each time they resell a book.“It sounds like we’re the ones that buy them all back," Schroeder said. “We don’t.
“There are many major publishers, and they’re all competing," she said. “What they’re doing is what the professor ordered, and they say these [extras] are needed. They are the customer."
It's all the miracle of competition! That's why the book that costs $10 to make costs $100! That's why the CD that costs fifty cents to make can't be sold separately! That's why they change the text every year so they can guarantee ever bigger profits! It's competition!
Sounds like Pat needs to read some economics textbooks. Maybe she can take out a loan.
(Registration possibly required. Use email address mac@warliberal.com, password warliberal.)
Posted by Mac Thomason at 08:44 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 26, 2004
Obscure Library of Congress Subject Heading of the Day
"Trade regulations -- United States -- Juvenile literature."
You can imagine how popular it is. The kids love the trade regulations.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 04:11 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 24, 2004
Stupid CIPA
Library to install Internet filters
Tuscaloosa Public is giving in to the Federal government's censorship law. Once again: 1) It's an infringement on individual rights, and 2) The stupid censorware doesn't work.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 15, 2004
Always the public libraries
Gates Foundation giving $248,400 to Alabama libraries
What about college libraries? Especially poor, downtrodden college libraries? We need money and computers too! You know what they're buying these days? IBooks! I can't work under these conditions!
Posted by Mac Thomason at 11:14 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 09, 2004
SUV causes death
Library worker crushed after her SUV drives off fifth floor of a parking garage
The 67-year-old apparently backed through a concrete barrier wall. I'd bet that if she were driving a car, it never would have made it through and she'd be more or less okay.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 02:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 19, 2003
This time I agree
Read the Lord Darcy stories.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:20 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
December 16, 2003
Peace, love, and understanding
My cataloguing adventures have taken me into run of books about pacifism. What does it say about me that these books make me want to hit somebody? I really don't like pacifists.
Posted by Mac Thomason at 10:15 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack