Waiting for the Books
Posted by: Admin
It's October 1, and I'm sitting in my office waiting for the books. Every year, after a slow summer, the fall season brings college football, colorful foliage, and a cornucopia of new reference books. At least, that's the way it's been. Maybe this will be the year that more single volumes and big multi-volume sets than we can find shelf space for don't come up from the mail room.
Don't get me wrong. Databases? Love 'em. E-books? Can't get enough. But I'm still enough of an unreconstructed print person to enjoy poring over a six-volume encyclopedia of Victorian culture, or food around the world, or whatever. Sitting in front of a computer screen and doing keyword searches just doesn't afford me the same pleasure. So I'm waiting for the books. Judging by the Fall Reference Preview we published in Booklist's August issue, there won't be many. But I'm still hoping.
October 7th, 2010 at 4:16 am
I am still receiving catalogs from reference book publishers offering interesting titles that I wish I could buy. Prices are so high for many. Maybe it is the result of economy of scale - so few being actually bought has driven the prices up. Many seem to be bundled with online versions. Many of the catalogs seem to start with offers for databases. It is sort of what I wished for twenty and thirty years ago except the economics did not work. I guess I should have been careful about what I wished for.