Cultural Research

Clyde Smith Launches College Textbook News

Following news for CR:LIB has put me in regular touch with changes in the college textbook industry. Since I've been looking for an underserved industry niche on which to focus, I've decided to launch College Textbook News as a straightforward industry blog. It's a project that will draw on my experience in industry-oriented blogging and web publishing, in the retail booktrade and in academia.

Here are the topics I've covered to date:

Espresso Book Machine Version 2.0: Demo Videos & Deals With Google & Xerox

NACS Media Solutions to Market the Espresso Book Machine to the Collegiate Marketplace
and Permission Academic Content

McGraw-Hill Education Introduces ALEKS 360, An E-Textbook System

Cengage Learning & RR Donnelley Enter $375 Million Multiyear Agreement

BookRenter Announces BookRenter Platform & White Label Online Textbook Rental Stores

Twitter Search for "textbook" is Qualitative Goldmine of User Response

If you're interested in such things or have relevant promo material,
please be in touch at:
culres(at)gmail(dot)com

LSSI & Riverside County Library System Announce Print On Demand Book Fulfillment Program

Library Systems & Services (LSSI), a library management company currently operating the Riverside County Library System (RCLS) in California, announced in a press release that an "innovative new on-demand book printing program begins today at the Grace Mellman Library in Temecula":

"Under a $100,000 grant from the California State Library, the RCLS is studying the usefulness of on-demand printing to enhance library collections. The July 2009 grant has been used to purchase a Book Espresso 'print-on-demand' machine which prints, covers and binds trade paperback quality books from computer files."

"Library patrons will now have the option to request titles, have the book printed for free, read it and return it to the library collection, or they may choose to keep the book and pay a printing fee. If the requesting patron is at the Book Espresso location and wants to pay for the book, it can be printed immediately while they wait..."

"Available book titles will be obtained from Lightning Source, with over 500,000 titles available, and Google Books, who has partnered with over 20,000 publishers to make their content available for on-demand printing."

This innovative approach is actually very logical and timely, given the development of on-demand publishing services, though I'd love to compare how things price out between owning an Espresso Book Machine and ordering individual Lightning Source copies via Ingram.

Nevertheless, given the high cost of interlibrary loan, this is an innovation whose time has come.

iPad iBooks: Redefining Books or Realizing eBooks?

paidContent:UK: Penguin's Upcoming iPad books

Penguin recently demoed a few "forthcoming books from iPad's iBook Store" in the video above and they give a much better sense of what the ebook can be beyond the shovelware dictated by devices such as Amazon's Kindle. Though the PC offers the potential for ebook development, history to date suggests that devices like the iPad will be required for new ideas to flourish.

One can see how such developments could affect textbooks and reference works. In fact, with both textbook rental and open textbooks on the rise, there may be an interesting opportunity for folks willing to connect the dots.

Though paid:Content:UK did not identify the event at which the above video was made, I'm assuming it was at the "Financial Times' Digital Media & Broadcasting Conference in London on Tuesday" where Penguin Group Chairman and C.E.O. John Makinson stated:

"The definition of the book itself, as far as we can see, is up for grabs."

At this point it's actually rather difficult to redefine the book which has such a solid place in human consciousness. But the ebook is certainly up for grabs as something that somehow bundles together networked multimedia in a form that is still uniquely identifiable despite having expanded, porous boundaries. It's the uniquely identifiable part that helps maintain the ebook's status as a digital object as opposed to a site or service and that's key to commercial concerns.

I think such developments put libraries in an odd situation since digital formats strike me as lending themselves more to subscription services than to outright ownership of ebooks. I also see a lot of the educational needs implied in the above video being served by websites as multimedia platforms. But I also see the above format having potential with consumers and therefore shaping expectations of library users. It feels like an odd "wait-and-see while continuing to move at digital speed" moment.

Related Cultural Research Coverage:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier

I originally checked out The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier due to news about an attempt at censorship but quickly came to appreciate the book itself. The combination of a graphic novel in which a "Black Dossier" is a key element of the plot and is included in the book itself in the form of various documents mixed into the pages of the illustrated tale is thought provoking.

In fact, this work got me thinking quite a bit about the relationship of such hybrid works to various electronic offerings. For example, ereaders and such devices are always more complicated than they at first appear, acquiring extra little bits and pieces of equipment. Oddly enough, The Black Dossier includes a 3D section requiring an extra bit of equipment in the form of 3D glasses!

The mix of texts mean that readers drawn in by a graphic novel may not want to read every last page just as a documentary on DVD may acquire more viewers than related documents on an accompanying DVD-ROM.

One clear difference is the fully integrated nature of The Black Dossier, a book that includes all its elements in one package. A reader might become attached to such a book in a different manner than one might become attached to an ebook one accesses on an ereader. Perhaps the ereader will get all the future love once reserved for physical books themselves.

But thinking about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier also inspired a new blog category, Books I've Read, in order to separate the discussions on particular books and the changing nature and concept of the book, until now jammed together in Books.

Hip Hop Research: Towards an Annotated Bibliography

Greg Dimitriadis: Performing Identity/Performing Culture [Revised Edition]

In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm kind of an idea guy with way too many ideas. But I am getting better at maintaining core projects while keeping a small array of secondary projects in the long term mix.

CR: Library Innovation Blog is intended to be a core project but I haven't dug as deeply as I had hoped to by now. Still, I'm enjoying what I'm doing and it's off to a good start. A related project that's been moved to the secondary back burner for the moment is Hip Hop Research: Towards an Annotated Bibliography, a blog with a special focus on academic monographs featuring hip hop as a central theme.

Marc Lamont Hill - Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life

I launched Hip Hop Research as the first step towards an annotated bibliography to be developed as a reference work for academic libraries. I recently made contact with a library publisher via a woman who requested that folks send initial ideas prior to a book proposal. We'll see where that goes but, no matter the validity of the topic, hip hop content often seems to throw a wrench in people's perceptions, especially if their knowledge is limited to what they see in mass media.

To be honest, now that I'm reviving my search for a library position (at the worst possible time, of course!), I launched the project as much to validate my own work in hip hop media as to help validate the work of hip hop researchers in academic settings. I really do worry about what people think when they find out I've been a web publisher focused on hip hop for the last ten years, full time for the last five.

Given the response I've gotten from folks I've known who are from similar demographics as those doing the hiring in most of the situations for which I apply, I really have to wonder what potential employers think when they see the words, "hip hop."

Yvonne Bynoe - Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip-Hop Culture

It's funny, I've learned so much doing hip hop related projects that I would never take any of that back, but I do wonder how it looks to people I don't know, inundated with too many applications and looking for easy ways to pare down the list.

But, hey, as a 50 year old white man with a long history of activism and interest in African American culture, I feel like I'm so much more connected to the living reality of black people now than I ever was when I was trying to connect as a left/lib activist and artist. I have real friends now who are black and who I know through shared interests rather than African American connections who I've cultivated as part of a larger agenda, though I say that meaning no disrespect to folks finding other ways to connect.

To be perfectly frank, if getting a job meant giving up the one thing that has helped me more than any other to understand black culture in contemporary America, then I'll keep forging an independent path. But I'd love to bring what I know into an academic setting as a reference librarian since that may well be the best venue for my wide ranging interests and love of knowledge. Wish me luck!

Statement from Reading Is Fundamental's Carol H. Rasco Regarding Federal Budget Cuts Defunding RIF

I love Obama but right now he's breaking my heart.

Press Release:

President Obama Eliminates Funding for Reading Is Fundamental's Book Distribution Program Serving 4.4 Million Children Nationwide

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO, of Reading Is Fundamental:

"On February 1, President Obama released his proposed FY2011 budget which eliminates the funding for Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) and its nationwide services. Without this federal funding, over 4.4 million children and families will not receive free books or reading encouragement from RIF programs at nearly 17,000 locations throughout the U.S.

"Unless Congress reinstates $25 million in funding for this program, RIF will not be able to distribute 15 million books annually to the nation's children at greatest risk for academic failure. RIF programs in schools, community centers, hospitals, military bases, and other locations serving children from low-income families, children with disabilities, homeless children, and children without adequate access to libraries. The Inexpensive Book Distribution program is authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (SEC.5451 Inexpensive Book Distribution Program for Reading Motivation) and is not funded through earmarks. It has been funded by Congress and six Administrations without interruption since 1975.

"Since its founding in 1966, RIF has played a critical role in improving literacy in this country by providing new, free books for children to keep and build home libraries. Access to books and the power of choice ignite children's hunger for knowledge and a passion for learning. In addition, research has shown that children who have more access to books not only perform better academically, but also become productive individuals whose contributions help create strong communities. On behalf of RIF and its network of over 400,000 volunteers nationwide, I urge all Americans to contact their congressional representatives and ask them to reinstate funding for this vital program."

Act Now: RIF.org/saverif

Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF), founded in 1966, motivates children to read by working with them, their parents, and community members to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life. RIF's highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provided 4.4 million children with 15 million new, free books and literacy resources last year. For more information and to access reading resources, visit RIF's website at www.rif.org.

Discover the Joy!

Source: Reading Is Fundamental

CONTACT: Mitchell Schmale, Mitchell@MaroonPR.com, +1-410-336-8571, for
Reading Is Fundamental; or Alishia Frey of Reading Is Fundamental,
AFrey@RIF.org

Web Site: http://www.rif.org/

Cambridge Library Collection: Library & Press Partner for Online & POD Access to Special Collections

The Cambridge Library Collection - Books of Enduring Scholarly Value

I used to think of digitization as an incredibly boring topic but the continuing drive to move special collections online, giving potentially universal access to rare materials previously limited to fixed locations, along with Google's massive scanning operation have certainly changed that landscape.

The above video, an excellent marketing tool, discusses the Cambridge Library Collection, a project that grew out of a partnership between the Cambridge University Library and the Cambridge University Press.

What I especially appreciate here is the addition of publish-on-demand (POD) services to the process of scanning out-of-print titles for online access. As I understand it, the Library is responsible for the digitization of the books and maintenance of those archives while the Press handles the publish-on-demand aspect providing individual copies as needed.

This is an awesome example of a partnership that builds on individual strengths to create a complete system providing access to otherwise difficult to obtain materials.

Via TeleRead.

Seth Godin on Using New Media to Create 10 Bestselling Books

Seth Godin on 10 Bestsellers: Using New Media, New Marketing,
and New Thinking to Create 10 Bestselling Books

Over the last 9 years I've learned a lot about how technology has impacted many industries with strong ties to libraries and education settings including the book business and journalism.

The above video featuring Seth Godin shares some insights into book marketing with new media that offer examples of disruptive innovation in action.  He also drops some quick but interesting observations on libraries along the way.

Seth Godin's presentation from O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference, New York City, NY, February 11, 2008.

Via Seth's Blog.