I don’t know if anyone has ever studied this. How many libraries collect local self-published authors? How many libraries have publishing programs for local authors (like Douglas County in Colorado)? My gut worries that some libraries might be prejudiced against or dismissive of local self-published works. Maybe not.
Anyway, I was thinking about this as I watched Amazon come out with these initiatives last week:
Amazon Expands Lending Library to Self-Published Authors
via The Digital Shift by Michael Kelley on 12/8/11
Amazon Sets Up $6 Million Royalty Fund for Lending Library Authors
via Mashable! by Lauren Indvik on 8/12/11
Interesting development.
Stephen
3 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
Hi,
We started a LOCAL Collection about a year ago at the Scottsdale Public Library to embrace our local authors as well as local musicians and filmmakers:
http://library.scottsdaleaz.gov/main/local_collection
This collection showcases the emerging literary, musical, and filmmaking efforts of our community and introduces library users to unique homegrown talent that is not yet nationally known. It also gives local content producers a tangible way to connect with their audiences. Arizona residents of all ages are encouraged to submit their books, CDs and DVDs for consideration.
We’re also developing an online Author Toolkit to help our authors further develop their skills.
So far the response has been great!
Dana Braccia
Content & Digital Communities Manager
Scottsdale Public Library System
[email protected]
If there’s a system in place which limits where you can buy things from, or concentrates on only “popular” authors, then most local/self-published books aren’t going to be selected for the collection, unfortunately.
Batarang: Exactly. Replace the word buy with borrow in your comment and think about how few libraries permission self-published works into the collection. Note that now a few bestsellers are self-published.
Stephen