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Not The Apocalypse?

I have to admit that the announcement and grand opening of Amazon’s new Kindle Lending Library made me a little cranky at first. This monopolistic corporation that refused until recently to release any Kindle ebooks to libraries suddenly decides to take over the function of a library, but with a gigantic inventory of titles, and announce it like they invented the model on their own? Grr.

First impressions are just that, though- and a closer look at what Amazon is offering shows that really, it’s not that great. There’s a great analysis of it  by Andy Woodworth at Agnostic, Maybe, where he assures us that the Kindle Lending Library is NOT the apocalypse. Whew. You’ll have to forgive me if I seem to be repeating some of what he said, but it seems like we noticed some of the same things.

Here’s the thing. Not everyone has a Kindle or can afford one, or even wants to read ebooks. The big six publishers aren’t happy about it- some of them don’t even sell ebooks to libraries. And the Kindle Lending Library is not available to just anyone. You have to be a Prime customer- meaning you shell out $79 a year to borrow one book a month. That’s more than I pay for my PLAC card(that’s a public access library card), which allows me to check many, many books (including ebooks) out of any library in the state. They might not be Kindle books, but at the rate I read, they’re in and out of the house pretty quickly (well, unless I lose them).

At a time when people are claiming it’s too costly to fund libraries with their tax dollars (and many libraries in this state are in danger of closing their doors) how many of them are going to happily shell out the money for an ereader and a Prime membership for the privilege of “checking out” one relatively obscure book a month? If you already have those two things, and the program expands a little, I guess it could be a nice perk, but I don’t see Amazon driving libraries out of business with this. As alarming as it seems at first, the Kindle Lending Library is not the end of the world as we know it. Yet.

Stay tuned.

Posted on November 12, 2011 by , Reply

Publishers Weekly 2011 Top Ten Picks in SF, fantasy, and horror

Rose Fox at Genreville has posted Publishers Weekly’s 2011 list of their top ten picks in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. We haven’t reviewed any of them here (although from the descriptions I wish we had) but here’s a link to her post. In addition to bringing our attention to these books, Rose gave a shout out to a number of small press publishers. Many librarians are unfamiliar with small presses, as most can’t afford to list their titles with wholesalers, so it’s great to bring attention to them. Go check it out- you’re sure to find some intriguing choices. I’m totally going to be seeking out Unpossible.

Posted on November 11, 2011 by , Reply

Giant Princesses and Stephen King

Well, my daughter decided to be a giant princess again this year for Halloween, and insisted I join in when she saw me in the orange bridesmaid dress I wore in my best friend’s wedding. Who says bridesmaid dresses only get worn once?

Anyone who thinks princesses are helpless has never seen a four year old in a sparkly blue dress with a hoop skirt brandishing a glowing sword at her “evil mummy” brother. In our house, princesses rock.

In other news, here’s an interview of Stephen King talking about his new book. Enjoy!

 

Posted on November 2, 2011 by , Reply
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