Non-Fiction and Self-Publishing

While reading Publisher's Weekly, I came across an article analyzing the spending habits of people who purchase self-pub books. It mentioned that NF is primarily purchased by men as they prefer more academic and professional topics. Interesting but no great surprise. What I did spark my interest was trying to figure out how to know if these NF titles can be relied upon to present good information. Do these authors have their respective associations read them and provide feedback? Do they have editors to help them correct grammar and focus on the topic at hand? How do we know the authors aren't just making it all up? How do we, as librarians, figure what is reliable and what is not? I mean I attempted to read 50 Shades of Grey and could not get pass the halting, awkward writing. There is someone who desperately needed editor...

Government denying mermaids!

No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found!
I still believe...

For those who still believe in the ridiculous,
Check out the CDC's Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse plan

I love that the U.S. Government has been getting a sense of humour lately! It is great PR and reminds people that the government does have information online. Even if they have to use ridiculous ploys to reach people.
I just love it!

J.K. Rowling's New Book

First, I would like to state that I had NO idea that she was writing an adult novel. Second, I like the cover despite the NYT's less than enthusiastic review of it...

To download, or not to download, that is the question

There has been an interesting development in the past 10+  years regarding music ownership. Most people are downloading music illegally to the detriment of the artist. The download for free mentality is best represented by Emily White here. While her post provided great insight into this era, I found the response by David Lowery incredibly enlightening.

Personally, I love the fact that my husband will buy a CD when he truly believes it to be great. He believes that it is important to support the artists. However, most of the time we download from iTunes which provides about $.10 to the artist.

Any thoughts?

Such Sad News!

Maurice Sendak passed today! He was such a great children's author that had wide spread appeal for children as his characters were not always well-behaved making, at least me, feel better!

The Librarian Pub Crawl

It has been a LONG time since I have posted anything. I would like to apologize for that but I have been BUSY at work with the impending move and at home with the renovations. However, this post must be done and provides insight into my state of mind:) http://librarianpubcrawl.com/ Of course, I will be in Edmonton, Alberta for my grandpa's 90th so I'm hoping that some of you could attend and let me know if you found a few good bars in the process.

Information Literacy

I wish I could be as articulate as so many of my fellow librarians. Instead I simply forward on the best articles I read like this one on Information Literacy by Andy Burkhardt. In particular, I agreed with the idea that we are not trying to create super researchers but simply trying to help people become 'sophisticated consumers and creators of information'.