How long do you keep reading?

One of my favorite authors, Dan Simmons, has a new book - Drood. It is not science fiction, is 800 pages long, and has received mixed reviews. And the Kindle version sells for $14.99 instead of the normal $9.99. All those extra bits and bytes for such a long book, I suppose. Simmon's last book, The Terror, was a grueling read. I think I may wait and check this one out from the public library.

The thought of starting such a long book started me thinking... How many pages do you give a book before you put it down and write it off as just "not for me"? The librarian's librarian, Nancy (Book Lust) Pearl, once gave this advice on NPR: Read 50 pages and if it hasn't grabbed you by then, give up. Unless you are over 50 years old. Then subtract your age from 100 and give up at that page number. (I can stop reading at page 44 now.) She opined that time becomes more valuable the less we have of it, so no use using those last few breaths reading something that doesn't grab you. Good point.

Is there a classic book you know you should like and have started a number of times but just can't get into? Catch 22 is that book for me. I want to like it, but I always give up.

Seth Godin in Revinventing the Kindle (part II) writes that e-books should change the reading experience:

8. Allow all-you-can-eat subscriptions if the author or publisher wants to provide it. Let me buy every book Seth has written, or all the business books I can handle, or "up to ten books a week." Remember, the marginal cost of a book is now the cost of the bandwidth to deliver it, so buffets make economic sense.

Just think of a Netflix for books. Just one of several interesting ideas about making reading more social as it becomes more digital Godin writes about.

I still can't get my head around how libraries will handle circulating digital books - or if they ever will. The whole economic raison d'etre for libraries - that it is cheaper to buy one book and share it than buy a book for every individual - isn't vaild when books, like songs, get down to a few cents a piece. And they will. The cost of cataloging, staffing, housing and delivering a print book - even if shared - would probably be more than just giving all citizens a voucher for all the books they could read. OK, I know it's not that simple.

Or is it?

First year goals for a library program

From an LM_Net post this morning:

Dear Great Brain, [this was addressed to the collective brain that is LM_Net, not me. But you guessed that.]

I need to write up my goals for the year and give them to my principal. I have a few general ideas such as collaborating with teachers as much as possible, becoming a good resource for them, teaching students to use the databases, starting a lunch time book club, and decorating the library with student art. If you could send me any other ideas that seem reasonable for a first year in high school it would be much appreciated...I love creative ideas.

Diane

Hmmm, I personally get asked this question at least a couple times a year. Below is my standard response to which I can now refer when the question comes up again. Ain't blogs wonderful...

Dear Diane and other LMSs new to the profession or a school:

My advice is based on Johnson's Three Commandments of a Successful Library Program:

1. Thou shall develop shared ownership of the library and all it contains.
2. Thou shall have written annual objectives tied directly to school and curriculum goals and bend all thy efforts toward achieving them.
3. Thou shall take thy light out from under thy damn bushel and share with others all the wonders thou doest perform.
   

Pretty good, huh? What do you think the job of biblical prophet pays nowadays?

These would be my goals for my first year at a school:

1. Establish a formal library advisory committee comprised of teachers, parents, and students. And the building administrator if his/her leadership style is collaborative, not dictatorial. (See Advisory Advice.) Oh, get on your building's improvement committee/leadership team ASAP.)
   
2. Work with this committee to establish collaboratively-created goals and a good budget. You may wish to conduct a library survey and do a collection evaluation to give direction to these goals. (See tools here for examples.)
3. Quickly establish a formal communication plan with four main audiences: your students, your staff, your principal and your parents. (See Using Planning and Reporting to Build Program Support)

While I applaud you for wishing to do individual collaborative projects with teachers immediately, do not neglect a long-term, systematic approach to developing a program that has buy-in by the entire staff.  You need a school culture that values and uses the library's program and resources, not just a few enthusiastic teachers. Be strategic!

Good luck and let me know how things go!

Doug

PS. This probably not all that bad of advice for technology integration specialists starting out either.

Blue Skunk readers - Your advice for first year goals???

If you missed WOW2.0 last night

Joyce (NeverEndingSearch) Valenza and I were guests on last night's Women of the Web 2.0 show talking about libraries of the future, e-books, intellectual property and a range of other topics. I don't think I've ever experienced an hour fly by so quickly!

If you missed the show, you can stream it here. Links to the resources related to the program's topic and mentioned on the show can be found here. Oh, great summary here by Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis who moderated the discussion.

Thanks, WOW2.0, for this chance to talk about libraries (and get in touch with my feminine side. I think it is the left one.) You are all amazing educators!

And Dr. Joyce, I always learn so much from you. Thanks.