The Chronicle
of Higher Education makes the argument that
"used bookshops are as essential to scholarship as the availability of
open
stacks in campus libraries. "
At the same time, the Columbia
Spectator notes that the Last
Word, a 12-year-old used bookstore near the Columbia
campus in New York City, is closing
its storefront, although owners Dondi and Karen Clark will continue to
sell on
the Internet from their Long Island City
warehouse. In recent years, Internet sales came to represent 60% of
Last Word's
sales.
Morningside Books, another used bookstore
in the area, said that students have replaced many of
the long-time residents in the neighborhood. Perhaps reflecting
their online buying approach
and time constraints, they tend not to browse and come into the store
looking for a particular book.
---
The winner of the top prize at the Venice
Film Festival was
Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain.
About the love between two gay cowboys in the West in the 1960s, the
film is based on a short
story by E. Annie Proulx, which will be released in a tie-edition in
November
(Scribner, $9.95, 0743271327). Larry
McMurtry was one of the two screenwriters; Brokeback
Mountain will be released late this year.
---
A federal judge in Bridgeport, Conn., has lifted a gag order that kept a local library from
revealing that the FBI is trying to obtain the records of one of its customers.
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression said that the judge
ruled on Friday that the gag order violated the librarian's First Amendment
right to participate in the current debate over the re-authorization of the USA
Patriot Act and did not pose a danger of exposing the FBI's counter-terrorism
investigation. Still, another judge has temporarily stayed the order, allowing
the government to appeal.
The case came to light in August
when the ACLU challenged a national security letter that had been issued to the
librarian to obtain records of a patron's use of the Internet during a visit to
the library.
---
Yvonne
Russell, the business
travel editor of BellaOnline: The Voice of Women, offers a love letter to
Barefoot Books in Cambridge,
Mass., which
she calls "children's book heaven masquerading
as a bookstore." The store features titles and artwork by publisher
Barefoot Books.
---
Scan and register this. On Thursday, September 15, at 2
p.m.
EDT, the Book Industry Study Group is holding another Webinar
on
the transition to the 13-digit ISBN. The
combined conference call/Web presentation costs $35 and will cover all
the basics.
Previous such Webinars have drawn hundreds of participants. For more
information, go to BISG's Web
site.
---
Chris
Dismukes has been appointed
director of sales for Ingram Periodicals, the direct magazine
distributor to
booksellers and specialty retailers. He was formerly national accounts
manager
for Comag Marketing Group (the old Hearst Distribution Group), where he
started
nine years ago as territory sales manager.
---
The Plymouth
Observer noted the
opening last month of the Book Cellar & Café in downtown
Plymouth,
Mich.
Continuing a trend that seems to be growing, the store is
owned by people from outside the book business, in this case, a
chiropractor
and GM engineer.
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