Recent ebook Webinar: More Thoughts on Libraries and ebooks

Ever since Ken Auletta’s New Yorker article on ebooks last spring, it seems like discussions on the topic among librarians have stepped up a notch or two.  In fact, things are moving so quickly that an online summit (or “webinar”) called Libraries:  The Tipping Point was held late last month in an attempt to hash out just how the ebooks [...]

One City, One Book Events

In case you don’t know, Steve Lopez’s The Soloist, the story of a homeless, African American man of prodigious musical talent but beset by schizophrenia, is Greensboro Public Library’s One City, One Book choice this year. The library kicked off its One City, One Book events on Wednesday, and there are plenty more to come:  You’ve Read the [...]

More on E-books and the Future of Books

In a follow-up to our recent post on the future of electronic books and libraries, check out this neat article from the LA Times about all the innovative ways books are being transformed by technology.   Apple’s new iPads, for example, have multi-media potential to create “living books” with links to pictures, videos and audio files; and a new electronic publisher [...]

The Future of eBooks in Libraries: The Coming Revolution for the Book

“Das Buch ist nicht tot!”  The book is not dead.  So reads a sign in old German typeface which hangs in my cube, given to me awhile back by one of my librarian colleagues. And while that sentiment may well be accurate, we’re nonetheless at the beginnings of a sea-change for the book, probably the most dramatic change since [...]

Don’t Forget! Friends of Greensboro Public Library Book Sale Coming Up Saturday, May 1st!

If you’re a booklover and want to spend your May Day having a blast, why not come to our semi-annual Friends of Greensboro Public Library book sale?  The sale is held at Central Library, located in Greensboro at 219 N. Church St., starts at 9 AM Saturday, just as the library opens, and runs until 2 [...]

“Really, Most Sincerely,” Wizard of Oz Munchkin is Dead

Back when I was a kid in the 1960s, in the days before DVDs, video cassette recordings, and the multitude of cable television stations we enjoy today, the annual showing of the classic movie The Wizard of Oz (1939) was an anxiously awaited TV event.   So much of the film has been impressed upon my memory:  the feet of [...]

Some Great Spring Book Sales Coming Up in Greensboro!

Hey, if you’re a book collector or just love books and like to read, we’ve got a couple of great book sales coming up here in Greensboro that you will not want to miss. First of all, one of Greensboro’s best annual sales is held each April by St. Francis Episcopal Church.  Back when I was a real [...]

Christie’s Sale of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamerlane Sets Record Price for American Literature

An extremely rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamerlane and Other Poems , the author’s first published work, broke a record for American literature at a Christie’s auction in New York on Friday when it realized $662,500.  You can view Christie’s online catalog here for a description of the lot, provenance, etc.  Only twelve copies of this very ordinary [...]

Rare Book Found in Toilet to be Auctioned

Here’s a neat AP story about a rare 1st edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species which will be auctioned at Christie’s in London on Tuesday.  The story seems to have originated with this report from the Oxford Daily Mail.  The irony is that the book was kept on someone’s toilet bookshelf in Oxford, England, for many years – and now [...]

Greensboro Public Library Book Sale Coming Up Nov. 7th

If you’re a book hound like me, you will not want to miss Greensboro Public Library’s Fall Used Book Sale, to be held at Central Library, Saturday, November 7th, 9AM-2PM. At the sale, you’ll find all kinds of great deals on fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature, and much, much more. Prices for most hardbacks and trade paperbacks will [...]