Re: I'm guessing you must live in a larger city than my suburban (exurb?) town of 15K
Stephen Send a noteboard - 23/11/2013 09:55:34 PM

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View original postThe local library is not typically a place in recent years where I've found a lot of the books that interest me
View original postThey appear to be another endangered species anyway (according to a recent US-Canadian study, the picture is bleak). Unless there's a major reversal of trends, small libraries are doomed to become extinct. Those that have been recently renovated or won't need to be for a few decades might endure longer, but there's already more and more opposition to awarding funds to libraries. Even now, the stats show that in many university libraries from 35 to up to 70% of purchases made since 1990 have never been borrowed, and it's higher still if you calculate only the 2005-2010 stats. Even Community libraries are more and more shifting toward making a majority of their acquisitions as digital books (and some are shifting to a "just in time" policy, buying a digital copy only if someone requests a book), which in time will make the brick and mortar library obsolete or at least make convincing communities and public organs to fund them or the preservation of their physical collections (often barely valuable, for small libraries, unlike Universities ones and such) harder and harder, when with far less money and resources you could offer a much wider range of digital services.
View original postAnyway, it's what the stats show in Canada and the US at the moment. The richest universities are building themselves high tech facilities to preserve their collections while at the same time reaching 50, 60, 70, 80% of new purchases made in the digital format, but everywhere else libraries in schools, universities and communities are in very sharp decline and for some most of their business is already done through websites.
My university built a new library last year. The local public library was also refurbished about five years back.
"I mean, if everyone had a soul, there would be no contrast by which we could appreciate it. For giving us this perspective, we thank you." - Nate
To whom do you turn when you want to learn more about new books?
10/11/2013 06:17:07 AM
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This is the only place.
10/11/2013 04:26:22 PM
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Maybe, but I'm a bit skeptical
11/11/2013 12:14:36 AM
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If you want to attract NEW readers, the site needs to be reworked from scratch
13/11/2013 01:06:41 PM
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Re: If you want to attract NEW readers, the site needs to be reworked from scratch
21/11/2013 09:24:22 PM
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io9
10/11/2013 07:32:41 PM
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Locus Online also has good lists of upcoming/new SF/F releases
11/11/2013 12:16:18 AM
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The Economist, NYT, and WSJ
11/11/2013 01:05:36 PM
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I'm skeptical of the Economist.
16/11/2013 05:02:47 PM
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Which books were those?
19/11/2013 03:19:59 PM
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There were at least four or five bad reviews.
30/11/2013 05:41:45 PM
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I remember reading that book. I don't recall being impressed by it. *NM*
05/12/2013 03:37:59 PM
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I've essentially stopped reading
11/11/2013 12:36:51 AM
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I don't think very highly of the discussions on r/fantasy
11/11/2013 08:25:54 AM
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I've never even been to r/fantasy
11/11/2013 08:31:11 AM
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It's akin to a stagnant pool where the malaria-infested mosquitos breed
11/11/2013 08:48:04 AM
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I'd say this place is still the most influential for me.
11/11/2013 10:29:19 AM
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For some odd reason, I distrust Goodreads
14/11/2013 07:58:29 AM
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"Distrust"? Interesting word choice.
14/11/2013 09:32:35 PM
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Perhaps, but I think "rating-based" reviews distort views to fit into a template
22/11/2013 08:47:18 AM
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Call me old fashioned...
11/11/2013 02:47:37 PM
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Old fashioned!
14/11/2013 07:59:43 AM
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Here mostly, Goodreads, io9
11/11/2013 09:40:41 PM
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Interesting
14/11/2013 08:01:05 AM
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Here mostly too. And bookshops over here.
12/11/2013 06:54:05 PM
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Bookstores here generally don't do recs very well (outside of independents, that is)
14/11/2013 08:02:16 AM
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I have list of things to read longer than I have time to read
13/11/2013 05:39:59 PM
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I believe that in the past 5 years I have bought more books than I can read if I live to 100.
16/11/2013 05:10:21 PM
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here, mostly, but i also have less time to read (sort of) and a lot to read...
19/11/2013 03:49:15 PM
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I don't really care to learn about new books.
21/11/2013 08:58:44 PM
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I'm guessing you must live in a larger city than my suburban (exurb?) town of 15K
22/11/2013 08:54:58 AM
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Re: I'm guessing you must live in a larger city than my suburban (exurb?) town of 15K
23/11/2013 06:17:03 PM
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Re: I'm guessing you must live in a larger city than my suburban (exurb?) town of 15K
23/11/2013 09:55:34 PM
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Forgive me my sins but most of my reading for the last year has been comics.
23/11/2013 02:54:44 AM
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