http://blog.alaeditions.org Publishing our profession's best Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:30:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've really been enjoying the READ poster references on Shelf Check, a comic strip set in a public library written by Poesy Galore (aka Emily Lloyd, associate librarian at Hennepin County), as have the folks over in ALA Graphics who are involved with the creation of the posters. Thanks, Emily, ... http://blog.alaeditions.org/2008/01/08/read-posters-in-shelf-check/ Dan Kraus up at American Libraries has done a really great job of filming and editing a short video interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who will be the keynote speaker at the 2008 Midwinter Meeting. The shots of his hands are particularly amazing. Says Dan, "I was sort of obsessed with ... http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/11/29/kareem-abdul-jabbar-video/ Today I'm reading Liz Doucett's manuscript for Creating Your Library Brand, and for me it shed some real light on the ongoing debate about whether libraries should become more like community centers. The answer lies in your library's story: Branding is one component of marketing strategy. Branding is the process of ... http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/11/28/whats-your-librarys-story/ I met our author Susan Gibbons for the first time at the Charleston Conference last week. We were both leaving a plenary session. Susan was headed down the street to the College of Charleston's Addlestone Library, where she was a co-presenter on a "Lively Lunch" discussion of e-books. To go ... http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/11/15/new-the-academic-library-and-the-net-gen-student/ Recently one of our authors asked me for a list of of ALA Presidential Themes, 1990 to the present. I knew that our in-house library staff would have the answer, and I could have walked or called upstairs to the library, but I'm all about the multi-tasking, don't you know. ... http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/11/15/ask-the-librarian-at-ilovelibrariesorg/ It's a frustrating fact of the print publishing business that we sometimes have to decline a good book topic because the market for it is just too small. To cover the costs of editing and production for a low-sales book, we would have to charge much more per book than ... http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/11/14/small-market-pricing/ This week I've been immersed in reviewing the chapters of a forthcoming contributed volume from ALA's Government Documents Round Table. Ably edited by Andrea Morrison, Managing Electronic Government Information in Libraries: Issues and Practices fully covers the territory, from collection development to cataloging to reference to preservation and many topics ... http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/10/25/a-new-age-of-government-information/ *But Were Afraid to Ask In this guest post, Editions Marketing Manager Catherine English reflects on the joy of stress as she sends the latest version of the ALA Editions catalog off to press. (Congratulations, Catherine!) --JLF. I have what well-meaning friends would term a toxic relationship with the ALA Editions catalog. ... http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/10/22/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-catalog-stress/ Betsy Bird, the blogger of A Fuse #8 Production has signed with ALA to write a book with the working title "KidLit: Finding Old and New Classics in Your Collection." Before talking with Betsy about a concept for the book, I was captivated by her distinctive, engaging voice in ... http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/10/10/elizabeth-bird-signs-with-ala/ ALA Editions' Irish import, marketing manager Catherine English, celebrates her new status as a US citizen. When asked about the process, she took a wistful tone: "The deepest cut: I had to renounce Guinness for Budweiser. Cruel, but apparently necessary." . . . . . . . . . http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/09/28/friday-photo-citizen-english/