Tim Spalding has a great post over at Thingology about self publishing sites (specifically LuLu):
Getting Real is an important book. It came along at exactly the right time, said something important. To the extent the greap web-app “explosion” of 2004-2007 had a book, this was it.
And it was successful. According to 37Signals the (paid) version has sold has 30,000 copies. It’s the number six seller on Lulu.com. Passionate, unpaid fans have produced translations into thirteen languages. Google records 166,000 mentions. Even on LibraryThing, where the book had to be manually entered and there is a bias toward the printed version, 37 members have listed it.
Did libraries notice? Not at all.
OCLC’s WorldCat records exactly three copies—MIT, California Polytechnic and the University of Nebraska. That’s three copies of one of the top tech books of the 00′s in most of the US libraries that matter. The Library of Congress? New York Public? Harvard? None of them. For comparison, WorldCat contains 619 copies of Solitary sex : a cultural history of masturbation.
Shocking!
Not only are there some great books published on sites like LuLu, but they’re usually more affordable – so libraries looking for great content for a lower cost should be paying attention.
I’d even add that libraries need to start pulling in digital resources as well. There are a ton of resources out there for free that libraries aren’t adding to their collections. Why? Either because they don’t know that they’re out there, or they just don’t have the resources or time to focus on them and their print collections.
It’s a shame 
but I do understand – I just wish there was a way to change things to get even more information to our patrons.
I think it’s sad how behind libraries are with regards to tech books. So much so that most technical people (programmers especially) have given up on the library. Why go look when there are books from the 90′s there? So, no one goes to look, no one requests books which are the trend setting items, and libraries then knows nothing about them.
I know that the argument is that these publications move too fast for them to purchase. It’s partly true.
Most of the publishing houses have gathered and put together all there collections into a elibrary for subscribers. Why are libraries not subscribers? (perhaps the costs are prohibitive, I don’t know) but I know that there are plenty of programmers with access via internet and these elibraries too all the titles they need. They will never need to go back to a library again.
So have we gotten to the state where both sides have given up on each other?
May, I know that the O’Reilly online library is a great resource for a personal user – but for libraries the cost was insane! I’d love to see some of these tools offered to non-profits at a significant discount.
I think part of the issue here is attention. The library could monitor lulu and purchase the top books (technical or otherwise), but the promotion aspect works just as badly. A library could purchase these books and build a collection. However, if nobody uses them, and nobody requested them, then they will just gather dust. The public doesn’t know about it enough to let the library know to purchase OR the people who do buy these books don’t know a library could buy it for them. Books are purchased more from marketing and more so if the quality matches the hype.
A couple thoughts:
1. I didn’t mean to go after all libraries. I can very much understand why public libraries don’t have the time to wade through the dregs of publishing. But some good stuff has and will emerge from places like Lulu, and at least their jobbers should be aware of them.
2. Tech books are a problem. Quite frankly, they’re starting to matter less and less. I still swear by my O’Reilly’s but I’m a book guy. The young programmers I’ve hired don’t use books. I hope this is an edge issue, not a case of the future being unevenly distributed, as the saying goes.
Thanks for clarifying – I too love my O’Reilly books – I don’t want to have to open a new window/tab while programming to read an online guide when I can just open a book instead
Well, mostly the problem is this book is NOT FOR SALE – at least to the vendors and the publishing houses that it is EASY for libraries to buy from. That does not completely excuse them, but to be honest, libraries of all sizes and kinds rely on EASY ways to obtain materials. Just saying that it is out there somewhere does not make it easy to get a purchasable copy into the library itself. Amazon is not selling this book. Where can our library get a copy?? We use Baker and Taylor as our vendor, but can they get this? Probably not. Just knowing it is out there is one thing, actually getting a copy is another.
Thanks for reading….
Cy
Cy,
You can buy them through LuLu – it does mean going to one more vendor, but it’s an option.
Nicole
Cybrarian: Many of our books are available through Baker & Taylor and Ingram. “Getting Real” isn’t one of those, but books participating in our distribution programs are listed with a variety vendors. Of course, not all of those vendors handle POD books very well
Tim: Thanks for getting this discussion started!
Jackson Fox, UX Designer at Lulu.com