Tuesday, February 12, 2008

How did I miss this?

So I'm trying to catch up on my blog reading and come across the Boston Globe's article about this year's National Book Awards winners. Except...it is last year's winners! How did I miss this? Sherman Alexie won the award for Best Young for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian -- good Lord!

Friday, February 08, 2008

Free version of a readers' advisory tool

Public librarians use and rely on What Do I Read Next?, a genre tool that aids librarians and patrons in making reading selections. It is organized by fiction genres (science fiction, romance, westerns, etc.) and is enormously popular at reference where the librarian may or may not have extensive knowledge of authors and genres. Use it to find similar authors to those you love and books that meet a certain criteria (vampire romances, anyone?).
This usually comes with a cost, of course. Libraries either purchase a print copy of What Do I Read Next? or purchase an online electronic subscription to the database, so interested patrons had to go to their local library (if they had a copy) or to their library's website and login (if they purchased the electronic version).
Not anymore -- Cengage Learning (owner and manager of the content) has recently introduced a "curtailed" version of the What Do I Read Next? database called Books & Authors. It will give patrons a chance to search for much of the same information on their own, with the ability to locate a local library which subscribes to the full, value-added content.
Leave them wanting more...

Writers Rejoice!

Red Room

Want to join a writing community but don't know where to find one? Red Room is just what you have been looking for! This website is too cool -- a resource for writers, aspiring writers and anyone interested in books and authors. Videos, podcasts, author interviews, blogs -- you name it, they got it.