Collection Developments @ Sno-Isle

Hey, wanna listen to Scott McClellan’s tell all about the Bush White House now?

And I mean right now.

Like, right this instant.

Well you can by going to the Sno-Isle Digital Library and checking it out.  Sno-Isle has this book available in Maximum Access which means there will never be any holds on it ever!  There will always be a copy available for you and thousands of your closest friends.

How do we do this? Blackstone Audio, the publisher of McClellan’s book sells their titles to libraries in two ways.  One is the traditional one copy one listener model we’re all used to with books.  Maximum Access is the other way they sell their audio books.  Sno-Isle pays more per title for this option but we can swap out titles in the Blackstone catalog that have past their prime for other ones like What Happened, that everyone wants.  Blackstone is the only audio book publisher that has this program with OverDrive, so most other titles have to be purchased using the one copy one listener business model.

To find What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception, go to the Sno-Isle Digital Media Library and search on Scott McClellan.  Do not search the CARLweb, or CARL solution because the record hasn’t been loaded into the catalog yet.

Well, why is that?  One of the beautiful things about digital media is instant gratification.  Literally moments after I place an order for a digital audio book it becomes available to Sno-Isle customers.  Our Catalog Services, Acquisitions, and Materials Processing department are wonderful and can move mountains but they’ll never be able to match the speed of digital media.  Because the book is available instantly through the Sno-Isle page, it takes a while for the MARC record  to be received from OverDrive.  This is because OverDrive has to get it from OCLC, and OCLC sends it to OverDrive and then OverDrive sends it to us.  All this sending back and forth means that there will always be a delay between the time that the book is available for download, and the time that it reaches CARLweb and CARL Solution.

So download an audio book today.

FYI An order for the CD version of this book has been placed and  will be in the catalog soon.  More copies of the print edition are on order as well.  Currently there are 152 people waiting on the hardcover.

Currently this book is not compatible with the iPod, as has been mentioned here before OverDrive will be releasing more information about iPod compatible titles at ALA at the end of the month.

Borders and Eisner Offer Book Tie-In Series on Borders.com

By Lynn Andriani — Publishers Weekly, 6/17/2008 8:06:00 AM

Borders announced today it is teaming with former Disney honcho Michael Eisner’s independent media studio, Vuguru, to distribute a Web series. Robin Cook’s Foreign Body: The Prequel will run as 50 two-minute episodes on the newly launched Borders.com.

The clips will serve as a prequel to bestselling author Robin Cook’s latest medical thriller, Foreign Body, which Putnam will publish August 5. The first two episodes of the prequel are available for viewing today at www.BordersMedia.com/foreignbody. New episodes will be posted daily thereafter, culminating with the last installment on August 4.

Borders Group CEO George Jones said the Web episodes are “a great way for readers to catch the excitement of a new release.” Customers can pre-order the title on the site.

Vuguru is a new media studio for Eisner’s The Tornante Company. The studio produces and distributes story-driven content for current new media and emerging platforms.

from today’s Shelf Awareness:

Library News: Early Word Gives ‘Em What They Need

Congratulations to Nora Rawlinson, former editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly, former editor of Library Journal, former librarian extraordinaire and a great onetime boss and dear friend, who has founded EarlyWord.com with another ex-PW person, Fred Ciporen. (More about him in another issue!)

Rawlinson said that Early Word aims to be to libraries what a great sales rep is to bookstores: offering insight on forthcoming titles that appeal to their customers and tips on titles that are suddenly taking off.

The centerpiece of Early Word is Rawlinson’s blog, “Give ‘Em What They Want,” where she writes every day in conversational and informative style about books libraries might otherwise miss or underbuy. “In libraries, there is so much else going on besides new books,” Rawlinson said. “Librarians don’t the time to look around and seeing what’s taking off. I’m trying to give them quick and easy access to what’s getting attention and rising in demand.”

For the blog, Rawlinson said she watches movement on Amazon as well as checks librarians’ catalogues and see what ordering patterns are. She also tracks reserve-to-copy ratios–in the case of Scott McClellan’s What Happened the ratios showed extraordinary interest, rising to 10 to 1 and 20 to 1, in some places, she said. Librarians also tend to read more pre-publication reviews than consumer reviews and can miss trends in that area, which Rawlinson addresses in the blog and with links to consumer review media.

Besides commentary, Early Word features a variety of resources for librarians, including links to national and specialty bestseller lists and to publishers’ e-catalogues. The site also offers information about book-related movies and TV and about one book/one community picks, a directory of publishers’ library marketing staff and their special services for libraries. (”The librarians’ sections on many publisher sites are hard to find,” Rawlinson said.)

The next main project for Early Word is to create a group of readers advisory and collection development librarians who will be paired with various imprints. “The imprint would pitch to the librarian, who would then write about their picks and takes on the books on Early Word,” Rawlinson said, explaining that “publishers don’t have reps who call on libraries because even though they are 10% of sales, there are too many of them.”

Rawlinson started posting in November, “just to get in rhythm and figure out what I wanted Early Word to be.” By the ALA midwinter meeting in January, she talked with groups of librarians to get more information about what they wanted from such a site. By the PLA meeting in March, Early Word had a soft launch. For the moment, the focus is on adult titles but eventually the site will grow to include children’s and YA books as well.

The arrival of Early Word is fortuitous: the importance of libraries continues to expand in the Internet Age, Rawlinson said. Library websites have long posted their holdings and allowed readers to reserve books. But now they offer downloadable audio and e-books, send out e-mail newsletters and are putting up staff recommendations. “These changes are bringing in a new group of users who don’t have time to go to the library,” she said. “Some of them come into the library once, to get a library card, and then do everything with the library online.”–John Mutter

the latest Lee Child novel, Nothing to Lose: A Jack Reacher Novel is garnering good reviews including a starred review from Booklist. Lee Child is interviewed by the New York Times explaining the origins, nuances, and appeal of Jack Reacher.

here’s a brief clip from the Today Show highlighting hot books to read this summer from the book editor of Cosmopolitan.  in other parts of the country, it’s actually sunny for more than 2 days in a row, thus it feels like the end of the school year, May, and closer to summer

The Guardian is having a James Bond love fest - test your knowledge.

Sometimes I feel like I am buying too many pet books but they are popular. I receive many rincs on books for pets and other domestic animals (think horses). Here is an article on bestselling pet books:

From: Library Journal

Best-Selling Dogs
April 30, 2008

Pets & Pet Care best sellers appear in the May 1 issue, a subject we haven’t done a list for since 2003. When I came up with only dog books, I checked the old list to make sure there wasn’t an error. Nope; people just love dogs and have for a much longer time than the past five years. However, the list from 2003 shows the popular breeds for guidebooks were rottweilers, Chihuahuas, pit bulls, and bichons frises. The dachshund and Labrador retriever stood the test of time, showing up on both lists, and the Siberian husky seems to be this year’s choice breed, as far as the books are representative of the best-selling pups.

Surprisingly, there are no books on designer dog breeds on the list this year. I distinctly remember being taken by Dogs by Design and passing it around in the office last year. There are dog cookbooks (PupSnacks and Better Food for Dogs), however, to represent the times and, of course, Cesar Millan’s books.

Posted by Anna Katterjohn on April 30, 2008

If you are interested in the most popular dogs, here is link to:

American Kennel Club Registration

This lists also shows trends in registration of AKC dogs. Although sporting dogs like Labrador Retrievers are still the tops, small dogs are becoming more popular. Mine is a chihuahua. As we walk the neighborhood, we are meeting more and more dogs his size.

Time magazine begins with a headline asking if Stephenie Meyer is the new JK Rowling, but goes on to point out the differences in their writing.  “The Host” did get a favorable review from PW, so i will bite my tongue.

Starbuck’s latest pick is “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” a novel by a Seattle author told from the p.o.v. of Enzo, the dog.  of course, i should probably buy some more copies….

the Washington Post interviewed 3 of the writers in the King family about their various writing ventures in “The Kings of Fiction.”  the best part?  King disses Patterson