Author: rdlankes

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eBook Sale

It’s a back to school sale on Expect More: Demanding Better Libraries For Today’s Complex World ebooks. All formats now $9.99.

Why now? Doesn’t school start in the fall? Not at Syracuse University. All our distance grad students start in July.

As a reminder, here are your options for getting Expect More in ebook form:

SmashWords (preferred vendor) for DRM free ebooks for online reading, Kindle, Apple devices, Sony, and Nook can be found at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/171252

Or buy it right on your favorite device:

Apple Store:
iPad: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/expect-more/id537795321?mt=11
IPhone and other devices: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/expect-more-demanding-better/id541812851?mt=11

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Expect-More-Demanding-Libraries-ebook/dp/B008EKZHYM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341941919&sr=8-2&keywords=expect+more%3A+demanding

Barnes & Nobel Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/expect-more-r-lankes/1111759955?ean=2940014646581

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Sale by Channel and Format

In Expect More I talk about eBooks and the dilemma not over the new format for libraries, but the new business model. Libraries have moved from owning collections, to renting them in digital resources (databases, ebooks, etc.). With ebooks in particular, there is huge demand amount community members, but libraries are struggling to meet the demand with tight budgets. More importantly, eBook models that license materials from publishers, rather than outright selling them, endangers the libraries mission to build shared collections for the good of the community. This is why I chose Smashwords as my preferred retailer of the book. You can buy the book in multiple formats, and libraries own it outright when they buy it.

In case you are wondering, here is the breakdown in formats and channels after a week and a half.

First the majority of books sold are print:

201206300845
And here are the venues where folks bought the book:
201206300846
Now the nook version just went on sale, so these proportions may change.

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Expecting More at the FFL

I am fortunate to spend a fair amount of time at the Fayetteville Free Library in Fayetteville, NY. The library is home to the Fab Lab where folks can use a 3D printer. You can read about it in Chapter 4 of Expect More – Facilitating Knowledge Creation: Expect to Create

This past winter I did a staff development talk. I was in the midst of working on Expect More and used that as my theme. Sue Considine, the director, liked the theme and asked if the library could use it. “Sure” I said “all ideas are free!” And they ran with it.

Below are a series of videos the library has produced on Expecting More from the Library. Note how they put the community members at the center:

[excuse the personal interjection, but these videos were put together by Amy Melton, a former student and fantastic librarian]

The last one is just fun:

So what is your library doing to raise expectations and tell their story?

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Expect More and Amazon Updates

Just a quick note to let folks know what is happening with Expect More on Amazon. The first change is that you can now use “Look Inside” to preview the print book:

Screen Shot 2012-06-26 At 6.29.24 Am

The second piece of news is that the Kindle version of the new book is available directly from the Kindle store on your device. However, it apparently takes a little time for the Amazon folks to link the print and Kindle edition. So you have to search for the Kindle version separately for now.
Screen Shot 2012-06-26 At 6.33.51 Am
Now, that said, my preference would be that you buy the book via Smashwords. It is DRM free, supports some competition in the ebook market, and frankly is more author friendly for royalties. Still, my overriding preference is that you read the book and share it throughout the community, so it is all good.

Hopefully more eBook stores will be coming online soon.

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Making a New Promise With Our Communities

“Making a New Promise With Our Communities” ALSC Leadership Meeting, Anaheim, CA.

There are two versions of this presentation. The first is condensed to just my remarks. The second listing is the audio and screencast of the session including instructions for the session and a plenary discussion.

Abstract: Advocacy for libraries and children’s services must move from a focus on community deficiencies to community aspirations.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2012/ALSC.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2012/ALSC-Dave.mp3

Screencast:

Here is the full version of the workshop session (minus the 10 minutes of silence during the workgroups) including instructions and plenary discussion.
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/2012/ALSC.mp3

Screencast:

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First Expect More Review

The first review of Expect More is in by Heather Braum on GoodReads:

This was a concise version of the ideas I found in Lankes’ Atlas of New Librarianship. It a book that all librarians who are too busy to read the entire Atlas need to read. Library boards need to read it. Superintendents, principals, other administrators, teachers, parents, need to read it. Provosts, deans, faculty, and students need to read it. Community members, mayors, city councils, county decisionmakers need to read it. Library school faculty need to read it. Library consultants and continuing ed and support staff need to read it. And anyone involved in strategic planning in libraries need to read it.

This book will provide a new way to look at how the library fits into the community more than ever before and speaks to many ways to expect more out of your library and why you should.

It’s short, simple, and to the point, yet has many practical examples. Coming from the innovative Kansas library community, myself, I see many of our libraries implementing the ideas found in this book, but they can do even more!

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Travel and News for the Upcoming Year

This year I will need to stay off the road again this spring to take care of my wife as she has surgery on her other foot (the good news here is that she only has two feet so this should do it). That said if you are looking for a speaker via the Internet (Skype, Adobe Connect, FaceTime, iChat) I’m your man (and at greatly reduced honoraria). I appreciate your patience.

Here is my confirmed speaking for the Summer and Fall.

June:

  • ALSC Division Leadership Session

July:

  • The 4th Annual Connecticut Library Leadership Institute (http://ctlibraryassociation.org/meetinginfo.php?id=49&ts=1339707904)

August:

  • Ticer International Summer School 2012 (http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/ticer/2012/)
  • Master Class for de Library School in Amsterdam (http://www.libraryschool.nl/LibrarySchool/Home.html)

October:

  • AASL 2012 Fall Forum (http://www.ala.org/aasl/conferencesandevents/fallforum/fallforum)
  • Internet Librarian International Keynote (http://www.internet-librarian.com/2012/)

November:

  • LYRASIS eGathering 2012 (https://mylyrasis.lyrasis.org/AnnualMeeting/AnnualMeeting.aspx)
  • Ohio Library Council
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Behind the Scenes of Expect More

Some people have commented on how “prolific” I am with a new book coming out just a year after the Atlas of New Librarianship. What they don’t realize is that I actually finished writing the Atlas at the beginning of 2010. That also included doing all the illustrations and maps. It then went into a 13-month production cycle. Along the way there was printing out 1,300 pages of paper, stripping of all of Word’s automated indexing, and burning CD’s. It got me to thinking there must be another way.

So here is a behind the scenes in FAQ form of what lead up to the publishing of Expect More:

Who is the publisher of this book?

Short answer: I am. The paper book was created and is distributed by CreateSpace, a self-publishing platform. For that reason they assign the ISBN and show up as the publisher in places like Amazon. Same with the eBook and Smashwords.

What is Riland Publishers then?

It was useful to create a legal entity to process payments and do tax stuff, so Riland is a sole proprietorship that my wife and I run. That’s why the URL is riland.org.

Riland?

A combination of my sons’ names Riley and Andrew.

Why not use MIT Press and ACRL like you did with the Atlas?

Let me be VERY clear. I love ACRL and MIT Press as publishers. They do their work very well. The Atlas is a beautiful published piece, and I am still blown away they could make what is basically a coffee table book for $55 when every other library-oriented publisher I’ve worked with can’t seem to get the cost for a paperback under $75. Margy Avery and Katherine Deiss are brilliant, and absolutely committed to scholarly communication and forward thinking. They have also been very supporting of this effort and I could not be doing this without their ideas. I am also convinced that publishing with MIT Press and ACRL was instrumental in my promotion to full professor last year.

So why self-publish?

I was looking for more control over the process, a better return on investment, faster production, and to get an inside look at new possibilities in publishing (including the reality of selling ebooks). I also do a lot of talking about everyone being a producer and consumer, and I wanted to experiment more with the production side of publishing.

Why Smashwords for the eBook?

It is DRM free, and supports most eBook formats. I’m also hoping they will distribute it to other eBook stores like Barnes & Noble’s online store. Thanks Buffy Hamilton for the pointer.

Why CreateSpace for the Print Book?

I was intending to use Lulu.com for my on-demand printer, but CreateSpace has better tools and frankly better Royalty arrangements. They also have direct posting of my book into Amazon’s stores that I felt was important to reach the general audience.

Should we expect more books from Riland Publishing?

Anything is possible, but right now my intention is not to build yet another publisher. I look at this as a place for my self-publishing efforts. However, it would be great to use it to publish the work of promising students and librarians as well. We’ll see.

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Why should librarians read Expect More?

My last book, The Atlas of New Librarianship was written exclusively for librarians. It has received a lot of good attention. However, one stream of feedback I have received was “it is great for librarians, but what about my board/faculty/provost/principal?” I have been often asked to help communicate the concepts of new librarianship to non-librarians (and frankly some resistant librarians who don’t go in for 400 page books with a map).

Since the Atlas has been published I have visited with friends groups, higher education administrators, public library boards, and school administrators talking about the possibilities of libraries and librarians. Over that time I have both honed the message to non-librarians, and extended my thinking. For example, the Atlas talked a lot about librarians, but not much about the institutions of libraries. That was deliberate. I wanted to see if we could define the profession outside of the building. In Expect More, I explore the value of the institution (as well as librarians).

Expect More adds three new ideas to the new librarianship discussion: Library as Platform, The Grand Challenges of Librarianship, and Defining Librarians Beyond the MLIS. It does so in a “read and pass” approach. What I really hope happens is that librarians read the book, then pass it on to their members to have a conversation.

So is there stuff in there you already know as a librarian? Yup. If you’ve read the Atlas will this just be a repeat? No. Certainly some of the Atlas concepts are there, and in some ways Expect More is a sort of gateway to the Atlas: A gateway for librarians to get a sense of new librarianship before they tackle the Atlas; and a gateway for the ideas of the Atlas to the wider community. But there is also new ideas, and new directions. What I intended was to give progressive librarians a tool for community engagement. Elevate the discussion of libraries in communities from books, ebooks, and nostalgia to action, community aspirations, and improving society.

Loved the Atlas and want to energize your board or talk to your administration about moving beyond books? That’s where Expect More comes in. I wrote it to be a fast one-sitting read for the busy decision maker. I wrote it for paper-back and ebook. I tried to make it affordable. It has a cute fish on the cover – everyone loves a cute fish!

One last note. I am fortunate to have an international readership. The Atlas came from a primarily North American perspective. Expect More is written with U.S. communities in mind. I use U.S. stats for example, and a lot of the roles of libraries in democracy have a distinctive U.S. flavor. However, as with the Atlas, the larger concepts I hope translate. If it doesn’t, I’d love to come over an ocean for a year and spend some time making the international edition.