I was just reading through yesterday's edition of Five Star Friday, and happened across this blog post from Centre of the Universe - The Dreaming. It breaks down the cost of publishing a book (in Canada). Just in case any of you (and by "any of you" I mean "me") forgot what it takes to make it in this industry, here's some interesting reading that should jog your memory. I am definitely never going to complain about retail prices ever again...at least, not in Canada. I also learned that publishers are pushing more and more for their printers to use "greener" paper stock -- but of course, this insistence to do the world good is still coming at its explosively high price, since a lot of printers don't keep this stock on the floor. How Catch-22 of everything. Anyway. Enjoy.
http://www.cenobyte.ca/words/2009/12/math-lesson-about-books.html
Showing posts with label Going Green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Going Green. Show all posts
BookCrossing.com: Releasing Your Books into the Wild...or, The Blogger Who Loved Parentheses
I stumbled upon this online "book club" today at Should Be Reading. The idea of the site, BookCrossing.com, intrigued me, although I'm not quite sure how comfortable I am with the idea of following through. But then I said screw it, and I signed up. Can't hurt, right? (Right. I was made even more uncomfortable by the fact that I was forced to enter my home address to fully register. Now these potential book-loving Internet stalkers know where I live. No. I must get over my paranoia. For the love of books.)
The basis of the club is "releasing your books into the wild." It's organic, and promotes such a wonderful, communal sentiment. You register a book you own (aka, do not use library books) into your "shelf," at which point the site generates for it its own unique BCID (BookCrossing ID) number. You write the BCID number in ink on the inside cover of your book, and make a corresponding journal entry on BookCrossing.com. If you'd prefer to make labeling more official, the BookCrossing online store offers a selection of merchandise, including labels with the BookCrossing logo. Then, you quite literally set the book free. It's for good karma or something.
The site advocates leaving the book almost anywhere to be discovered, never to be seen by you again...but, thanks to the BCID number, the book can now be used as a roadmap back to the BookCrossing web site. Finders with your BCID can post their own journal entries about the books that are traveling the world. The cornerstone of this site is the "journey."
Being myself, I am full of both apprehension and delightful anticipation. Fueling my anticipation: How cool would it be to actually find a book like this on the side of the road one day? And then it's yours. For keeps. And how cool would it be to see a book you released be discovered by another book lover? Who loved your book? Warm, gushy feelings.
But fueling my apprehension: here's what I don't get. The site advertises itself as earth friendly, what with all the recycling and sharing of books that goes on. Supposedly. MizB from Should Be Reading admitted her books were not being found --or found and written about -- as often as she'd hoped would happen.
As I think more about this, if I did see a random book lying somewhere, like a coffee house or in a restaurant booth (hey, these are good ideas -- chalk 2 more up to delightful anticipation, I guess)...anyway, would I really be morally able to pick them up and claim them as my own? I was raised not to touch things that aren't mine, and definitely thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt turn in lost items at the Lost & Found. Thou shalt leave that alone, that's not yours. Shrug. Maybe I've got the world all wrong. Maybe everyone is just a thieving, greedy bibliophile.
But back to earth friendly. Granted, books are made out of paper, and paper is biodegradable...but ew, what if it rains? No one is going to pick up an abandoned, wet book. Except -- in this scenario only -- maybe me. Abandoned, rained-on books would probably evoke much sympathy on my part, and I would lovingly pick it up, dust it off, and tell it how lucky we both were for me to have found it.
BookCrossing does defend its convictions on its FAQ page:
I am not sure how to handle that response. I have bad feelings associated with the "lighten up" jab...of course, I've never before heard it used when referring to a worldwide book sharing program. Also, I wouldn't be so quick to agree with the argument that the probability of people throwing books away is "nearly impossible." Just ask Half Price Books about that. Then you've got books waiting in a landfill. Biodegrading. Wishing they were home. ::Sob!::
All skepticism aside, I've decided to give this a whirl. The biggest problem will be finding a book to give up. It's like Sophie's Choice up in here. I really do get some sick sort of joy out of seeing all my paperbacks lined up neatly on their shelves.
I'll let you know how it goes...and if you're feeling adventurous yourself, be sure to let me know how it goes for you, too.
Leaving books behind on purpose. So deliciously(?) taboo!
The basis of the club is "releasing your books into the wild." It's organic, and promotes such a wonderful, communal sentiment. You register a book you own (aka, do not use library books) into your "shelf," at which point the site generates for it its own unique BCID (BookCrossing ID) number. You write the BCID number in ink on the inside cover of your book, and make a corresponding journal entry on BookCrossing.com. If you'd prefer to make labeling more official, the BookCrossing online store offers a selection of merchandise, including labels with the BookCrossing logo. Then, you quite literally set the book free. It's for good karma or something.
The site advocates leaving the book almost anywhere to be discovered, never to be seen by you again...but, thanks to the BCID number, the book can now be used as a roadmap back to the BookCrossing web site. Finders with your BCID can post their own journal entries about the books that are traveling the world. The cornerstone of this site is the "journey."
Being myself, I am full of both apprehension and delightful anticipation. Fueling my anticipation: How cool would it be to actually find a book like this on the side of the road one day? And then it's yours. For keeps. And how cool would it be to see a book you released be discovered by another book lover? Who loved your book? Warm, gushy feelings.
But fueling my apprehension: here's what I don't get. The site advertises itself as earth friendly, what with all the recycling and sharing of books that goes on. Supposedly. MizB from Should Be Reading admitted her books were not being found --or found and written about -- as often as she'd hoped would happen.
As I think more about this, if I did see a random book lying somewhere, like a coffee house or in a restaurant booth (hey, these are good ideas -- chalk 2 more up to delightful anticipation, I guess)...anyway, would I really be morally able to pick them up and claim them as my own? I was raised not to touch things that aren't mine, and definitely thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt turn in lost items at the Lost & Found. Thou shalt leave that alone, that's not yours. Shrug. Maybe I've got the world all wrong. Maybe everyone is just a thieving, greedy bibliophile.
But back to earth friendly. Granted, books are made out of paper, and paper is biodegradable...but ew, what if it rains? No one is going to pick up an abandoned, wet book. Except -- in this scenario only -- maybe me. Abandoned, rained-on books would probably evoke much sympathy on my part, and I would lovingly pick it up, dust it off, and tell it how lucky we both were for me to have found it.
BookCrossing does defend its convictions on its FAQ page:
Q(11): Hey, wait just a minute... aren't you promoting littering here, by suggesting that everyone just leave books lying around all over the place? You should be ashamed!
A: Aw, come on. Books promote literacy, enable the transfer of knowledge and can bring inspiration, hope and joy. Is that bad?
Hopefully, nobody considers books "litter". And BookCrossing provides all that by just giving away books to someone who is lucky enough to find one in the wild. Consider it a gift that can change your life for the better.
Also, it's nearly impossible to throw a book away; it's just one of those objects with some special kind of intrinsic value that tells you it's to be saved, to be treasured.
So lighten up! What's the worst that could happen... you might see a few books on park benches, or bus seats, or diner tables? Make the world one big library! Or take the safer, more conventional route, and give your books to friends, or to charities, or trade them in at a used book store, or whatever... just pass them on so they can touch more lives.
I am not sure how to handle that response. I have bad feelings associated with the "lighten up" jab...of course, I've never before heard it used when referring to a worldwide book sharing program. Also, I wouldn't be so quick to agree with the argument that the probability of people throwing books away is "nearly impossible." Just ask Half Price Books about that. Then you've got books waiting in a landfill. Biodegrading. Wishing they were home. ::Sob!::
All skepticism aside, I've decided to give this a whirl. The biggest problem will be finding a book to give up. It's like Sophie's Choice up in here. I really do get some sick sort of joy out of seeing all my paperbacks lined up neatly on their shelves.
I'll let you know how it goes...and if you're feeling adventurous yourself, be sure to let me know how it goes for you, too.
Leaving books behind on purpose. So deliciously(?) taboo!
Blogs are Reading, Too!
...and they give you cool stuff sometimes!
My last post mentioned a good old-fashioned Schmutzie contest, and you're in luck, because another giveaway is here! This time we're vying for an 18x24" rolled poster print from DigitalRoom.com. I totally encourage your entering, because not only does Digital Room make their prints using vegetable-based inks, they also recycle all their paper scraps...which we in the book world absolutely love. (Since I do not yet own a Kindle, I'm constantly purchasing its dear paper product counterparts for my own amusement; I try to balance that out by recycling whatever else I can...and definitely by supporting others, like Digital Room, who do the same.)
So sign up! Win! Hurry! She's drawing the champion on September 26!
My last post mentioned a good old-fashioned Schmutzie contest, and you're in luck, because another giveaway is here! This time we're vying for an 18x24" rolled poster print from DigitalRoom.com. I totally encourage your entering, because not only does Digital Room make their prints using vegetable-based inks, they also recycle all their paper scraps...which we in the book world absolutely love. (Since I do not yet own a Kindle, I'm constantly purchasing its dear paper product counterparts for my own amusement; I try to balance that out by recycling whatever else I can...and definitely by supporting others, like Digital Room, who do the same.)
So sign up! Win! Hurry! She's drawing the champion on September 26!
I'd Like to Check Out These Articles I Saw on My eReader, Please
Ok, 2 pints of Hefeweizen is not the way to start off this blog; but no one ever said I'm not dedicated.
Have any of you seen this? Cushing Academy is indeed ushering in a brave new world. I never thought there could ever, ever be a library without books. A library without books? Isn't that an oxymoron?
Granted, when I was in college, I never really did the whole Dewey Decimal thing. I didn't much care for browsing through the shelves; deciphering the numbered codes posted in the aisles; scanning for an author; hoping the book I'd written down based on its title alone had at least a little something to do with my research prompt...and also hoping I was lucky enough to find a book that hadn't already been checked out, or completely removed due to its lack of relevance. I second-guessed myself quite often. Someone already has my topic. Someone will be using the quotes I was going to use. I'm so unoriginal! So uninspired! I've got to pick a new theme!
I was a huge fan of JSTOR. The biggest. If anyone ever asked me where I'd gotten my research -- yeah, it was JSTOR. All online. All the time. Easy. Convenient. Printable. (Get this -- because even though I preferred researching online, I absolutely hated reading anything via computer. The screen makes my eyes uncomfortable. Sort of ironic for a blogger, right?)
So how do I feel about a library -- I mean a learning center -- without books? It's hard to say. On the one hand, it's pretty cool that the library will be able to provide their students with millions of books and materials, instead of the 20,000 or so they'd originally had physically stocked for use.
On the other hand...
Where's the smell? Where's the palpability? Where's the clear indication that you did read those pages, you did mark them up (because you're a rebel), and you did take the time to actually dedicate yourself and check something out, rather than just download and skim? (Oh, don't think you won't be skimming with that new Sony eReader, or that fancy new PC. I see those instant messaging sessions. I see you check your email while you halfheartedly scrawl a note about a sentence you only halfway understand.) Will a laptop-friendly studdy carrel really keep you isolated enough to write a research paper? I don't think so. I thought that was the point of the Internet: connectivity to everything, everyone, everywhere. There is no solitude, and no room for independent research. You may be sitting alone, but sitting alone with a book, one author, is much, much different than sitting alone with the Internet, with millions of people's opinions at your fingertips. Beneficiary or disadvantageous? I suppose it's all dependent on the student. Personally, I don't think I'd know where to go in a library without books. I'd get lost. What, do I just sit down? Then what? Just start?
The thing that twisted me the most on this issue is the fact that Cushing Academy is replacing their reference desk with a $50,000 coffee shop, which includes a $12,000 cappuccino machine.
...Really?
You're replacing (I assume) good, hard-working, helpful librarians with coffee? Coffee?? Oh, I get it. I get it. Because coffee is helpful, too. Right. Where was coffee when I needed to find Martin Buber's I and Thou? Who do I ask when I'm having trouble figuring out how to run the technology that's supposedly changing my research for the better? Man, that pumpkin latte sure had some great insight into Romantic poetry. I got an 'A' in that class, thanks to coffee.
Growing up around books, it's all sort of hard to stomach (the transition, not the caffeine...or can it be both?). I suppose the generations born after me will find it easier to utilize this sort of drastic change; they'll feel more comfortable in this surrounding. But it is drastic, right? I can't be alone in feeling this way. Are we in desperate times, needing desperate measures? And are we so enamored with the future, we're forgetting the best of the past?
Have any of you seen this? Cushing Academy is indeed ushering in a brave new world. I never thought there could ever, ever be a library without books. A library without books? Isn't that an oxymoron?
Granted, when I was in college, I never really did the whole Dewey Decimal thing. I didn't much care for browsing through the shelves; deciphering the numbered codes posted in the aisles; scanning for an author; hoping the book I'd written down based on its title alone had at least a little something to do with my research prompt...and also hoping I was lucky enough to find a book that hadn't already been checked out, or completely removed due to its lack of relevance. I second-guessed myself quite often. Someone already has my topic. Someone will be using the quotes I was going to use. I'm so unoriginal! So uninspired! I've got to pick a new theme!
I was a huge fan of JSTOR. The biggest. If anyone ever asked me where I'd gotten my research -- yeah, it was JSTOR. All online. All the time. Easy. Convenient. Printable. (Get this -- because even though I preferred researching online, I absolutely hated reading anything via computer. The screen makes my eyes uncomfortable. Sort of ironic for a blogger, right?)
So how do I feel about a library -- I mean a learning center -- without books? It's hard to say. On the one hand, it's pretty cool that the library will be able to provide their students with millions of books and materials, instead of the 20,000 or so they'd originally had physically stocked for use.
On the other hand...
Where's the smell? Where's the palpability? Where's the clear indication that you did read those pages, you did mark them up (because you're a rebel), and you did take the time to actually dedicate yourself and check something out, rather than just download and skim? (Oh, don't think you won't be skimming with that new Sony eReader, or that fancy new PC. I see those instant messaging sessions. I see you check your email while you halfheartedly scrawl a note about a sentence you only halfway understand.) Will a laptop-friendly studdy carrel really keep you isolated enough to write a research paper? I don't think so. I thought that was the point of the Internet: connectivity to everything, everyone, everywhere. There is no solitude, and no room for independent research. You may be sitting alone, but sitting alone with a book, one author, is much, much different than sitting alone with the Internet, with millions of people's opinions at your fingertips. Beneficiary or disadvantageous? I suppose it's all dependent on the student. Personally, I don't think I'd know where to go in a library without books. I'd get lost. What, do I just sit down? Then what? Just start?
The thing that twisted me the most on this issue is the fact that Cushing Academy is replacing their reference desk with a $50,000 coffee shop, which includes a $12,000 cappuccino machine.
...Really?
You're replacing (I assume) good, hard-working, helpful librarians with coffee? Coffee?? Oh, I get it. I get it. Because coffee is helpful, too. Right. Where was coffee when I needed to find Martin Buber's I and Thou? Who do I ask when I'm having trouble figuring out how to run the technology that's supposedly changing my research for the better? Man, that pumpkin latte sure had some great insight into Romantic poetry. I got an 'A' in that class, thanks to coffee.
Growing up around books, it's all sort of hard to stomach (the transition, not the caffeine...or can it be both?). I suppose the generations born after me will find it easier to utilize this sort of drastic change; they'll feel more comfortable in this surrounding. But it is drastic, right? I can't be alone in feeling this way. Are we in desperate times, needing desperate measures? And are we so enamored with the future, we're forgetting the best of the past?
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