Join us as we embark on Season 5 of Two Librarians And A Microphone! This season, inspired by the Urban Library Council's Annual Forum theme, Leading Forward, focuses on how libraries are positioning themselves as key influencers and essential partners in their communities and appointed leaders.  Read More  

By Taylor Hale, Customer Experience Manager
The pace of innovation these days is breathtaking. The lifespan of a company on the S&P 500 was about 60 years in 1960, now it’s just 12 years. The cost to launch a tech company in 2000 was $5,000,000, and now, thanks to cloud computing, it’s basically $0.(1) Read More  

By Victor R. Volkman
This month mark’s the one-year anniversary of the Lightning Source (LS) Book Long Term (BOLT) program - a tiered, continuous sales ladder that replaces the old notion of quantity discounts that are limited to only today’s order. Like a lot/some of you, I didn’t know what to expect or how to really take advantage of incrementally increasing discounts across the sales year. Luckily, I also began experimenting with a new marketing service through a popular online retailer at the same time I signed us up as a BOLT publisher.  Read More  

By Pete McCarthy, Director of Digital Services
In a digitally-connected world, book marketers will benefit by having a nuanced understanding of the many ways book buyers discover, discuss, compare, purchase, and otherwise engage with books and authors--everything that leads to a consumer finding and buying your book and what you can do to reach and influence them at each stage.  Read More  

We support Banned Books Week and encourage all indie bookstores to take part in this celebration of our freedom to read any type of books we choose. Participation in this week-long celebration offers the entire book community a chance to share their support of the freedom to express ideas and seek knowledge through books, even though some of those books may be considered unorthodox, or unfit by some. It is a great opportunity to speak out against censorship and show that we appreciate and cherish our right to decide for ourselves what we want to read.
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We took Season 4, What I Didn’t Learn In Library School, on the road. Straight from the trade show floor in NOLA, we asked librarians who stopped by our booth what they would share with the next generation of information experts. From building maintenance to library marketing that works, see if they add insight to your own ideas. Read More  

In the first part to this series we discussed what goes on behind the scenes of search, social media, and retail algorithms. We then touched on marketing tactics you can use to most effectively reach your audience on those platforms and ensure your content is providing value. Read More  

Debbie Davenport, MLS, Collection Development Librarian
Librarians, public servants that we are, see many things in our careers and are confronted with a multitude of questions, requests, and situations. I always viewed a patron’s request for information as slaking my own thirst for knowledge. The topics varied from World War II history to astrology; local genealogy to learning how to sew; green energy to the latest tax law. Most were exciting and effervescent unveilings of new information… but there were those library consumers who made requests in haunting ways I will never forget. Read More  

Joyce Skokut, Director Collection Development
If Stephen Hawking was afraid of it… When executives from Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and another 100 business leaders visit the White House to attend a meeting about the need for a strategy for it… you know you should pay attention. Whether you’re aware of it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) is already at work all around you. Read More  

Jenny McCluskey, MSIS, Collection Development Librarian
After almost two years of labor, the inaugural Excellence in Graphic Literature (EGL) awards were announced last month at Denver Comic Con. The idea behind the awards is to further recognize the format’s value and importance as literature. John Shableski, VP of Sales at Udon Entertainment, explains, “One of the goals of the awards is to create an annual event that all publishers, authors, librarians, and educators will celebrate, much as they do the ALA Midwinter awards.” Thomas Maluck (Richmond Public Library) reacted positively to the EGL awards. He points out, “The increasing prominence of comics narratives in libraries and syllabi means more opportunities than ever for great reading experiences. Strong reviews, professional recognition of quality, and diversity of content go a long way toward book selections.” The EGL awards are yet another way to recognize quality in graphic literature. Read More