Dear Teri
Thanks for your brief summary. I would expect that there will be some
disappointed people out there who were perhaps expecting something more!
>From a personal perspective, I hope that I finish my bookselling days before
the need to standardise descriptions and take a picture of every book and
halfpenny pamphlet. On the other hand, it's interesting to see that
librarians, while utilising the bookselling sites, are tending to continue
dealing with reliable, known dealers.
Best wishes
Brian Lake
P.S. I am going to an ABA meeting today on the internet. If anything
useful comes out of discussions, I'll let you know.
_____________________________
Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers
46 Great Russell Street,
Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3PA.
020 7631 4220 (tel)
020 7631 1882 (fax)
www.jarndyce.co.uk
_____________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: "Terence SJ Osborn" <tjosborn@indiana.edu>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <exlibris@library.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 11:27 PM
Subject: [EXLIBRIS:30312] Research Summary.
> Several people inquired as to the results of my research into how the
Internet
> is/has affected institutional acquisitions. Below are some of the key
points of
> the paper. Also, I will be looking further into this matter, so if anyone
still
> has acquisition experiences they would like to share, please email me off
the
> list.
>
> ------------
>
> Many people are now purchasing their books via online dealers. However,
they
> tend to be known dealers, making the utilization of the internet rather
similar
> to catalogue purchases. Using the internet is easy, it's fast, and one can
now
> locate items one would have searched for for years in mere minutes.
>
> One important issue is the standardization of item descriptions online --
it
> needs to happen. The description is the buyer's only link to the book,
since
> s/he is not in a shop handling the item. It is therefore important that
the
> descriptions become standardized, and if possible, include images.
>
> One respondent replied that the internet as a tool would be generational,
and I
> agree completely. As our society moves forward technologically, it becomes
more
> and more key that dealers have their wares available online. I make no
comment
> on the decline or prosperity of shops -- I myself love to browse bookshops
and
> smell the books. However, there are few such places near me, and I do much
of
> my purchasing online. The same can be said of dealers located in the
middle of
> Nebraska -- all of a sudden, they can reach the market more easily. But,
as our
> society does become more technologically motivated and dependent, I feel
that
> the internet will become a highly utilized, and hopefully more
specialized,
> tool for the next generation of booksellers.
>
> ----------
>
> Thanks again to everyone who contributed. Again, if persons have more
> information and experience to offer up, I'd be highly interested.
>
> Cheers,
> Ms. Teri Osborn
>
>
>
> ------------------------
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> http://www.matrixmag.com
>