Talking About – and Maybe Even Selling – Books in a Pandemic
With their audiences in COVID-19 lockdown, publishers are testing out new marketing strategies while some authors are taking matters into their own hands.
The Joy of Search: A Review
Users need training in the complexities of online search. A new book by Daniel Russell from MIT Press offers solid instruction in how to think about the search process.
Stanford University Press and the Wrong Lesson of the Humanities
What if, instead of enacting a caricature of Silicon Valley, Stanford recognized the future and threw its arms around Stanford University Press? That would be the smart move.
Open Access Monographs: Building Better Infrastructure
Experimentation is key in supporting open access monographs. We’ve done the research and now it’s time to build a better user experience.
Content Platform Migrations Cause Headaches. Can We Avoid Some of the Pain?
Libraries and individual subscribers to journals have seen the problems that can occur when a publication moved or was sold from one publisher to another. Perhaps there would be an editorial change, leading to delayed issues. Perhaps all the subscription […]
The Oligarchy of Amazon
Robert Harington describes how the recent, under the radar launch of the Amazon Global Store is putting local businesses at risk.
Chefs’ Selections: The Best Books Read During 2017 Part 1
The beginning of the holiday season means it’s time for our annual list of our favorite books read during the year. Part 1 today, Part 2 tomorrow.
Less Than Meets the Eye: Print Book Use Is Falling Faster in Research Libraries
Use of printed books in large North American research libraries is falling even faster than we think.
The Ebook R/Evolution – Not as Easy as It Seems
The “ebook revolution” in scholarly publishing has behaved more like an evolution. Are we reaching a key inflection point where users are central to our innovations?
University Press Books We Loved in 2016
As a follow-up to the chef’s best books read during 2016, I’m happy to present a selection of our favorite university press reads of 2016 (and thanks to one of our commenters for the suggestion!). We tend to think of […]
Intellectual Craftsmanship and Scholarly Engagement — JSTOR’s Ideas for Redesigning the Digital Monograph
There’s not a need to re-design the scholarly monograph itself. There’s a need for tools that can better facilitate a connection between author and reader.
Chefs’ Selections: The Best Books Read During 2016 Part 2
The beginning of the holiday season means it’s time for our annual list of our favorite books read during the year. Today brings Part 2 of the list.
How Wrong Is Greta Van Susteren about Libraries?
Is Greta Van Susteren right in taking universities to task for building “huge libraries” and in characterizing them as “vanity projects” that have been obviated by the growing online availability of books and other scholarly resources? Obviously not — that’s the position of an ignorant philistine. Except…
Revisiting: The Editorial Fallacy
Revisiting Joe Esposito’s 2010 post on the disruptive publishing environment, in which publishers cannot rely on a purely editorial strategy, as many of the issues now facing them are not editorial in nature.
All Hallow’s Read
A new tradition to share a favorite scary book on Halloween offers a sweet treat for readers.