eBook changes

The publishing mood is changing in the ebook market. In the past few months I have seen signs of a gradual thawing in attitude toward us evil public libraries. An excellent example of this is Hatchette Book Group's announcement that they are reinstating front-list ebook sales to libraries.

Hatchette will "sell" licenses of new titles to public libraries immediately upon publication. The cost to libraries will be three times the RETAIL hardcover price. One year after publication, that cost will drop to one-and-a-half times the retail cover price. There will be no checkout limits (the titles will not "wear out"). This is an improvement, at least, in that public libraries will have access to new titles from Hatchette and Random House (who already had this sort of sales model).

I still maintain that public libraries are a powerful ally, not an enemy to be squeezed out. Hopefully we can show this to be the case and publisher attitudes will continue to thaw.

Comics in Smallville

An article in the Hutchinson News today about a "free comic" offer from our local Hasting's store has me thinking even more about the possibilities for the Library's planned Smallville conference. We are working on a combination of discussion / seminar presentations and hands-on workshops for September 21st, 2013.

What I've been thinking however, is that I wonder if there isn't enough interest in the genre, the collecting, etc. to warrant an actual comic convention in our little corner of the wheat fields. What do you think? Would Hutchinson/Smallville be a place where people might come to buy and sell, trade knowledge, attend programs and generally have fun doing it?

The Stars My Destination - SF Book Discussion

The HPL Science Fiction Book Discussion group met April 4th to discuss Alfred Bester's classic The Stars My Destination. This mid-1950's novel is frequently cited as an influence on the SF cyberpunk movement. The work is also known by its UK title, Tiger, Tiger! after the first line of William Blake's poem The Tiger.

Bester is perhaps better known for his novel, The Demolished Man, which received the first Hugo Award in 1953. The Stars My Destination is, in a nutshell, a story that starts out all about revenge and ends up with personal growth. Now our group is composed of individuals with strong opinions about SF and as I have learned, a fairly high bar to be impressed.

To our last two books, despite high acclaim for the titles, our group responded with a resounding "meh". Concerning Bester's book, the general consensus seemed to be summed up by one member's comment, "I at least wanted to see how it turned out". Damning with faint praise? I don't think so. I think we dare to want more from an author. This story explores fascinating themes; following the ramifications to society of a human evolutionary step, "jaunting", to its possible conclusions. It is worth a read. Despite its age, it is easy to see why this book is often considered a precursor or major influence on the cyberpunk movement of the late 20th century.

Our group will meet again on May 2nd to discuss another SF classic, A.E. van Vogt's SLAN. If you would like to join us, contact Gregg Wamsley at (620)663-5441 or gwamsley@hutchpl.org

Summer Reading 2013

Spring has sprung here in Hutchinson and though it seems far away at the moment, the end of school is just around the corner. One of the most important things parents can do for their children during the long summer break is to get them involved in reading. When it's too hot to play out side or some downtime is needed, reading will keep their vocabulary skills honed and their minds sharp heading into the next school year.

Here at the Hutchinson Public Library, we will be digging into reading all summer long! With story time programs for pre-k and elementary-aged children and reading programs for children, young adults AND adults, it shouldn't be hard to keep everyone reading. The articles I've linked above point out the problems and offer many solutions. The main idea though, is that as long as your child remains engaged with books and learning during the summer, losses to grade-level skills will be minimized or eliminated.

Our programs are free to the public, our library cards are free with proof of address, and our services, including a huge array of children's and young adult programming, are too many to list here.

SF Book Discussion

This past month's book was The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Considered by many to be the best war-themed science fiction novel ever written, our group tackled it with what seems to be our trademark skepticism. To summarize the discussion, I don't think any of us did NOT like the book, I just don't think any of us were convinced that it is THE penultimate SF war novel.

The novel, written in 1974, is a criticism of war in general and is specifically a parable of the Vietnam War. It works as such and the reader gets a very definite impression of the futility of war. I really did like the book. It has a disconnected, dispassionate feel to it that really gave me the feeling that it didn't matter what happened to Private Mandella or any of the other characters. The higher-ups had decided to test out the Earth's war machine and the individual was simple a grunt or pawn to carry out the experiment and see if we were tougher than "them". If you want a lesson in the effects of war on individuals as well as a lesson on relativity, I would recommend you read this book! If you click the jacket art, it will take you to the library's catalog and you can check out The Forever War.

We will read the classic Alfred Bester novel, The Stars My Destination for next month's discussion. The discussion will take place Thursday, April 4th at 7pm in the library's conference room #2 on the second floor.

eBooks at HPL

If you have a Hutchinson (Kansas) Public Library card and are interested in reading e-style, then you might want to check out our website. Click on the E-Everything tab and you will find 2 sources for ebooks and 2 sources for eaudiobooks:

ebooks: 3M Cloud Library
ebooks: OverDrive

eaudiobooks: OneClickdigital by Recorded Books
eaudiobooks: OverDrive

Also, if you have a State of Kansas library card, you can access the resources provided state-wide at the Kansas EZ Library. They also have a selection of ebooks and downloadable eaudio.

All this to point out one of our oldest, yet handiest (I think) electronic tools:  Wowbrary.It's a simple, free weekly e-newsletter with a big punch.Once you are signed up, every Wednesday Wowbrary will send you a newsletter showcasing everything HPL has added to it's collection in the previous week - including ebooks!

SF Book Discussion

Our Science Fiction Book Discussion group met this Thursday for our first meeting of the year. Our new schedule is a monthly book discussion on the first Thursday evening of every month at 7pm. Meetings are held in the Conference Room #2 upstairs at the library.

This month we discussed J.R.R. Tolkien's classic, The Hobbit. The bulk of the discussion revolved (not surprisingly, I suppose) around the book's recent translation to film. We spent a good deal of the discussion talking about the relative merit that should be given to some of the criticism of Tolkien's most famous "children's book".

Next month (March 7th) we will discuss Joe Haldeman's war novel, The Forever War. Written by a well-known and celebrated science fiction author as well as Vietnam veteran, the book is probably his best known. It is an interstellar war story in the vein of Heinlein's "Starship Troopers", but there the similarities end. I am looking forward to reading this book.

On April 4th we will discuss Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. Written several years after Bester's Hugo Award-winning The Demolished Man, it is a sort of proto cyber punk novel mashed up with a tale of a man who is shipwrecked and abandoned.