Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

From Ohio Library Council's Access Weekly:   "House Committee Unanimously Passes OLC eBook Resolutions Last Thursday , the Ohio House of Representatives State and Local Government Committee unanimously reported Senate Concurrent Resolution 22 and House Concurrent Resolution 50 out of committee. Both resolutions urge members of Congress to seek a solution that would ensure public libraries have access to eBook materials. Kim Fender, Director, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, and Chair, OLC Government Relations Committee, testified as a proponent of the measures on behalf of the OLC prior to the vote. Click here for a copy of her testimony. Both resolutions now move to the House floor for consideration by the full chamber." Why is this even an issue, you ask? In the simplest of terms (from the Connecticut General Assembly page on, " H.B. No. 5614, Session Year 2013 ,") these resolutions help, "require publishers of electroni...

For those of you following the e-book news the past few years, you may remember that certain publishers aren't always available or available to all e-book vendors. Well, we just received word through our consortium this morning that over 10,000 Penguin Books are now available for purchase through our consortium's e-book carrier, OverDrive ! This means we now have access to even more authors, including: Lee Child Tom Clancy Harlan Coben Patricia Cornwell Clive Cussler Junot Diaz Ken Follett Elizabeth Gilbert Charlaine Harris Khaled Hosseini Iris Johansen Nora Robert just to name a few! WOO HOO!

We receive a monthly update from SEO (our FANTASTIC consortium); reading over the statistics, I was impressed by the 12 Most Popular Juvenile Fiction e-books in July within our consortium: Mockingjay , Collins Catching Fire , Collins Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children , Riggs Divergent , Roth The Lightning Thief , Riordan HP and the Sorcerer's Stone , Rowling The Hunger Games , Collins The Sea of Monsters , Riordan The Maze Runner , Dashner HP and the Chamber of Secrets , Rowling The Book Thief , Zusak HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Rowling Why is this pertinent?--you ask. Welp, it helps when, like us, you have an insanely small budget and want to make sure that when you do your e-book ordering you have a smattering of some of the more popular titles available, particularly the ones which have the most holds on them! And for the record, I hate doing the e-book ordering...I wish we had a librarian just for that job!

Just received this bit of news this morning: Apparently Simon and Schuster announced the launch of a one year ebook pilot program with three of NY Library's systems.  The statement . "We are pleased Simon & Schuster has recognized the vital roles of libraries in supporting reading in all its formats by announcing a library e-lending pilot in New York City. As we celebrate the 55th annual National Library Week, it is a particularly fortuitous time for the publisher to join its Big Six colleagues by providing access to e-books through our nation's libraries. We hope that Simon & Schuster will extend its pilot to libraries beyond New York City in the near future. Books and knowledge-in all their forms-are essential. The ALA and our members welcome new and expanded digital access for all."  --Maureen Sullivan, ALA President

For those of you following the E-book and Library relations. Check this out. Somehow all this talk of Penguin got me thinking of this ...

 The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by Vatsyayana (25732) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (18298) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (15090) The Best American Humorous Short Stories (13854) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (12106) Ulysses by James Joyce (11361) How to Analyze People on Sight by Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict (11248) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (11063) The Art of War by Sunzi (10303) Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (9228) War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy (8694) The Bible, Old and New Testaments, King James Version (8626) The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (8367) The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete by Leonardo da Vinci (8313) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (8249) The 2010 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency (8130) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (8105) Grimm’s Fairy T...