Chinese Children’s Book Market and the German Experiences in Cooperation with Chinese Publishers

A summary overview of the children’s and young adult publishing industry in China with a focus on the size of the market, ten major publishing houses, copyright and trends. Special emphasis has been placed on specific transaction for the sale of translation rights from German language publishers to China and minimal activities of German rights sold to Chinese publishers.

Evaluating Scholarly Book Publishers—A Case Study in the Field of Journalism

By adapting multiple metrics used for journal article evaluation and replicating recent publisher metrics, the authors tested methods for evaluating scholarly book publishers. Using monographs published in journalism between 2007 and 2011 as a test case, results indicate that these methods may be useful to other scholarly disciplines.     

Make or Buy? A Qualitative Analysis of the Organisational Handling of Digital Innovations in the German Book Publishing Sector

Traditional media have been changing in response to digitisation processes and the spread of the internet. This article looks at the consequences of technological change for the organisational structures of publishing houses in Germany, most of which are small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Following any decision to produce digital content, new tasks emerge which need to be fulfilled and publishing houses have to re-allocate appropriate responsibilities. The context of the preference for in-house or for external production is explored as is the precise identification of the managerial and technical skills demanded by a switch to digital publishing. The findings suggest the important role of strategic partnerships with service providers as well as with other publishing houses, especially for larger projects beyond the capabilities of SMEs.     

Maintaining Open Adoption Relationships: Practitioner Insights on Adoptive Parents’ Regulation of Adoption Kinship Networks

The present study explores practitioner perceptions of and observations about the adoptive parent, birth parent, and adoptee interactions that regulate open adoption relationships. Grounded in family systems theory, practitioner interviews (N = 19) were analyzed to understand the degree to which open adoption shapes the family system as well as the opportunities, challenges, and considerations experienced by individuals in open adoption. Findings reveal that open adoption relationships consist of numerous complex relationships. This complexity generates significant opportunities for connection. At the same time, the complexity of the system generates challenges. Social networking provides costs and rewards that require consideration on an individual basis. Findings offer implications for the utility of family systems theory in illuminating diverse family construction as well as open adoption communication research.     

The Case for Weeding: The Buskerud Bandits’ Contribution to a Knowledge-Based Discarding Practice in Norwegian Public Libraries

ABSTRACT

This article explores discarding and collection development in Norwegian public libraries, based on a local discarding initiative in Buskerud County. It demonstrates how a systematic development project can change the library employees’ practices and have an impact locally, regionally and nationally. Using different cases, the article examines how discarding became part of the professional discourse. The change-work had an action-based, innovative and practical approach based on both theory and empirical evidence. The article also indicates that change-work has best effect with a solid grounding in library management and when numerous initiatives are involved.     

From Book Culture to Amazon Consumerism: Does the Digitization of the Book Industry Lead to Commercialization?

The book market is one of the last media markets affected by digitization, so the question is whether this market follows the same patterns as other media industries before. Our study analyses if these digitization processes lead to a stronger market orientation thus commercialization of a market that traditionally has been understood as a market of cultural goods. We conduct a market analysis and a survey among authors, publishers and booksellers in Germany and Switzerland to answer this question. Our findings support the notion of an increased market orientation among publishers and booksellers. However, the tendencies towards commercialization cannot be attributed to digitization alone but might happen even without it.     

Staying True to Disney: College Students’ Resistance to Criticism of The Little Mermaid

This article discusses the implementation of a media literacy program in a college classroom in the form of an extended critique and analysis of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Students’ decoding of Disney’s messages and their resistance to critique of the film are analyzed using four areas of research: audience research, media literacy, critical pedagogy, and psychology’s cognitive dissonance theory.     

The Dynamic Landscape of Marketing Children’s Books: Publishers Find Consistent Success Through a Combination of Online and Traditional Marketing to Adults and Children

There are a number of challenges unique to the children’s book sector faced by publishers in today’s digitally-dominant business market, making it more crucial than ever for children’s book marketers to create multifaceted marketing plans that include differing but complementary approaches. Among the common marketing challenges specific to children’s books are overabundance of content, competition, access to the library market, the digital versus print dichotomy, difficulty of marketing directly to young readers on the Internet, and the dual (child and adult) target audience. While some marketing tactics must effectively attract the attention of the child reader, it is of fundamental importance (with some exceptions) for publishers, authors, and marketers of children’s books to also ensure their marketing techniques target the adult gatekeepers who are likely to purchase those books. Depending upon various factors, including age range of the reader and subject matter, marketers of children’s books are most successful when applying a mix of traditional and digital marketing techniques.     

Case Study: Pepperdine University Libraries’ Migration to OCLC's WorldShare

In this case study the authors describe Pepperdine University Libraries’ migration to OCLC's WorldShare Management Services. They elaborate on the rationale for the decision, review some of the challenges and lessons encountered along the way, and briefly discuss some effects of the new system on our libraries. The focus is on technical services and systems, and examples of issues encountered during migration are accompanied by screenshot illustrations. The article concludes with a wish list of desired features.     

China’s Book Publishing Industry: A Review of 2011

This report provides a brief summary for trends in 2011 China publishing industry in general and the book publishing sector specifically. A general industry review and analysis includes the number of titles, list prices and units as a 5?year overview. The report for 2011 concludes with a summary for two main trends that have emerged over the recent years.     

Rapid Growth: A Review of China’s Online Book Selling

This paper analyzes the current situation of China’s book market, especially online book selling. Dangdang, Jingdong Mall, Amazon China and Tmall are the four major suppliers of China’s online book selling. This paper analyzes the market share, business models and development path of these four operators.     

Listen to the Music: Lessons for Publishers from Record Labels’ Digital Debut Decade

Multimedia EBooks present a tremendous growth opportunity for publishers. Yet, industry executives might be cautious after witnessing the astounding collapse of the record business during its digital transition over the last 10 years. This article looks at what went wrong for Big Music, what lessons book publishers can learn from the recording industry’s mistakes and also some visions of the future. And why digitally, for books—at least—it can’t get here fast enough.     

“Click Here to Order This Book”: A Case Study of Print and Electronic Patron-Driven Acquisition in University College Dublin

University College Dublin became the first library in the Republic of Ireland to trial patron-driven acquisition (PDA) as a collection development tool in 2013. A total of 42% of UCD Library's book budget was allocated to the project, which included both electronic and print books. This article describes the twelve month project from the tender stage, through evaluation and selection of supplier, to the final money being spent. We analyze which disciplines spent the most money, and how usage of PDA titles compared to non-PDA orders placed in the same time period. Finally, we assess the impact of PDA on the library's workflow.     

The Influence of E-book Format and Reading Device on Users’ Reading Experience: A Case Study of Graduate Students

To explore the influence of e-book format and reading device on users’ reading experience, this paper studied a group of graduate students’ reading speed and comprehension. The participants were asked to read same length content from the same monograph chapter in both fixed layout format file (PDF) and fluid format file (EPUB) on four different reading devices: laptop, tablet, dedicated e-reader and smart phone. Their reading process, speed and comprehension were recorded and compared. Through the experiment and depth interviews, this study found that e-book format and reading devices have influence on reading speed and reading comprehension level. Generally speaking, people read EPUB files faster than PDF files. For smart phone, dedicated e-reader and tablet, participants’ average reading comprehension is higher when reading EPUB file, while most participants read PDF file faster when they use laptops.