What is it about shelf reading?

For over a year, the most popular post I have written has been this one.  It is a bit of my waxing poetic about shelf reading, of all things.  This is one of the few posts that draws in random readers from all over the place.  (Not very many readers, but readers nonetheless!)  But why do people look at that post?  It's not like there is a dearth of information about "shelf reading".

So, since I needed to think about this, I got up from my desk and went out to get my thinking in order...shelf reading.  The more I think about this, the more I wonder if people really are just wondering from what sort of insanity I must be suffering.

Looking at some of the Google results for "shelf reading" like this guide to stack management, there is a lot of information out there pertaining to shelf reading.  While most of the info I found is far more informative than my info, none of it makes it sound like more than a necessary evil.  I suppose for that reason, I'm proud of my two cents on the subject, regardless of why others might look at it.  I still believe shelf reading is interesting and fun besides being one of the most useful tasks to undertake in a library.

By the way - I know that people have bad days.  I know too that times are hard, nerves frayed and confidence sapped.  But why the spate of people being rude to our public service staff?  We try hard to please.  We don't ask much of you.  Simple things really:  Be respectful of others using the library.  That includes being patient with the staff and our contracting partners.  We are thinly spread and as a group, not the most highly-compensated.  For the most part we all do what we do because we like the idea of the library, not because we're getting rich.  So by all means, let us know where we need to improve but please be civil.

E-book changes...sort of

[EDIT: 10/27]
I read this weekend that Amazon is allowing the lending of Kindle e-books.  My first thought was, "Really?  Because they have been really tight-fisted about content control to date."  So, as I read a bit further into the CNET article I had stumbled across and found the "gotcha".  Mainly what they are allowing, for some but not all e-books, is the opportunity to share a book once, as in "only once...ever".

Honestly, I find this whole new wave of the e-book to be quite frustrating.  It isn't that I'm secretly shedding tears at the impending death of paper books (if that even happens).  It is mostly that I can't stand the fact that just like software, if we aren't careful, we will no longer "own" the books we buy.  We will license a copy.  That's really what Amazon et.al. are doing - they are selling licenses to "intellectual property" produced by writers.  Regardless of the fate of libraries or even used book shops, the idea that a book MUST be purchased each time in order to be shared is not healthy for for authors, readers, or I think even publishers, (though it might help a small percentage of bottom lines).

My personal experience with reading (especially fiction), new authors, and book-buying has been one that, with very few exceptions, has gone like this:  Someone directs me to a title or an author they have read.  I borrow that persons copy or go to the library and check it out.  If I like the author, I look for more and often buy and also recommend to others.  Very rarely will I go out and buy a book on recommendation.  Perhaps I'm cheap.  Perhaps I've read too much so-so writing.  Perhaps I "just don't get it".  I am not sure.  I am sure that I still don't think the ebook concept is fully fleshed out.

UPDATE:  I read this interesting article in Consumerist this morning, posted on a library email list.  Basically, another problem with using your e-reader for anything other than viewing "licensed" material.  Again, it sounds like I am anti-ebook when I am not.  But there are some major issues to be aware of along with some fundamental questions that need to be answered before I feel comfortable with e-books becoming a major medium.

Book Review - Peter Watts' Blindsight

A friend of mine, Jake, who has read more than just about anyone I know, recommended this book.  It is a fascinating tale of first alien contact where a little way in, one gets a foreboding sense that the main characters have already lost the game before their journey to the meet-up even began.  Watts is definitely in the Stephen Hawking camp when it comes to alien contact.

The main characters are interesting folks - humans carved up, reshaped, and reworked as sort-of super humans plus one vampire.  Despite my being thoroughly tired of the much-abused vampire as a character, I thought Blindsight was a great book with a great vampire.  Peter Watts (not, as Wikipedia takes pains to point out, the Peter Watts of Mott the Hoople fame) writes hard science fiction that includes a great yarn and many good turns of phrase allowing someone like me the luxury of not worrying too much about failing to understand all the deep science-y stuff.  After all, I am just a humble librarian.  Even the appendix on the "origin" of vampires was so heavily cited with actual studies that it seems like a reasonable idea that we'd send one on a space voyage to meet aliens.

Blindsight came out in 2006, so I feel a little behind the curve.  Now I'm going to go back and try out Starfish, Watts' first novel from 2000.  Anyway, I would recommend Blindsight if you like a good hard science sci-fi tale.  Plus there's this to look forward too.