The PersonaNonData blog has another interesting post about the Thomson Learning sale. Click here.
The new issue of Against the Grain has a fascinating op-ed by Matthew J. Bruccoli, the scholar and legendary founder of the reference firm Bruccoli Clark Layman, which originated and has produced 375 volumes of the Dictionary of Literary Biography (published by Gale) over the past 30 years. The piece is titled “The End of Books and the Death of Libraries,” and the title pretty much says it all. Bruccoli writes that “books for study, books for research, [and] books for reference” are “imperiled.” He decries the rise of the so-called virtual library and bashes librarians’ role in bringing it about:
“I do not know why librarians are eager to collaborate in the destruction of their profession by means of their estactic participation in the destruction of that irreplaceable research instrument, the card catalogue, and their orgiastic discarding of books and newspaper runs.”
He later notes:
“I am particularly concerned about the impending death of reference books. Books for entertainment will last, but the reference book is terminal. The death-bed is surrounded by librarians, teachers, and even putative publishers who are yanking out the life-support tubes.”
Strong words, indeed. I happen to agree with much of what he says about the differences between printed books and “virtual” ones, about the need for libraries to act as repositories for books, about the usefulness of books in their own right. And I agree that libraries are entering dangerous territory with their rush to digitize their collections to make them availble for online searching, and their abandonment of books in general and print reference in particular. On the other hand, I think that Bruccoli fails to understand the very real and beneficial aspects of being able to conduct electronic research across reference collections. Anyone who has conducted research using a big online reference suite such as Gale’s InfoTrac or Virtual Reference Library knows how supremely useful these online sources can be.
It seems to me that in an ideal world, libraries would protect and cherish books of all types, recognizing that these books have very real functional, and educational, value. At the same time, they would take advantage of electronic reference sources that also have a real, functional value. Of course, we don’t live anywhere near “an ideal world.” Libraries lack the funding to invest heavily in print as well as electronic sources and to add new buildings to hold larger print collections. We simply don’t pay enough taxes for libraries to have their cake and eat it too. Still, I think Bruccoli’s contrarian view is an important one, and librarians, educators, and publishers would do well to keep it mind.
And for a final obvious and somewhat ironic point: The article is not available online, as far as I know, but I’ll be circulating it among our staff, at least.
From the Rocky Mountain News comes word today that Elizabeth Geiser is retiring as director of the Publishing Institute at the University of Denver. I attended the institute in 1989, and like everyone who has come across Elizabeth, I was immediately struck by her warmth and graciousness. She was famous for greeting every student on the first day of registration with a firm handshake and a recitation of the person’s name, college attended, and other personal details, all of which she had memorized. She seemed to know everyone who was anyone in the publishing industry, and those everyones all seeemed to adore her. It was her institute that launched me on my career in reference publishing; interestingly enough, I ran into Elizabeth on my very first day in my very first job–at what was then known as Gale Research. (Elizabeth had been an employee of Gale for several years, and before that at such companies as Bowker.) Elizabeth has singlehandedly groomed an entire generation of publishing executives, and I count myself lucky to be among them. Taking over for Elizabeth is Joyce Meskis, owner of Denver’s legendary and stupendous independent bookstore, The Tattered Cover. Good luck to both Elizabeth and Joyce.
The Financial Times has provided an update on Thomson’s plans to sell its Thomson Learning division. The PersonaNonData blog has a good summary of the article.
“Anything you can do I can do better.” So goes the famous line from Irving Berlin in Annie Get Your Gun. I was reminded of it while flipping through this month’s School Library Journal. In this issue, three of the major library reference publishers have decided to trumpet their current issues electronic databases. ABC-CLIO’s is called Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society. Gale’s is called Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. And Ebsco’s is called Points of View Reference Center. I’m sure they are all excellent resources, and I wouldn’t want to be competing directly with any of them. Still, I find it somewhat amusing.
On another topic, this month’s issue of American Libraries has a cover story about the Chicago Public Library’s branch-building boom over the past decade. As a former resident of Chicago and patron of the CPL, I can attest to what an excellent system it is. More than anything, its vitality is a testament to having a strong mayor who considers a great library system a major civic priority and who was smart enough to appoint a highly competent commissioner (Mary Dempsey) and give her substantial authority.
Gale has launched another direct-to-consumer Web project to showcase their content, in case their social issues content. The site has the somewhat unwieldy name of WiseTo Social Issues, and it features a small amount of free content, which is mainly designed to get researchers to buy monthly premium passes on an individual topic; the premium passes cost $7.99 for a 30-day access pass. The site also makes use of Google ads.