British Columbia

Here’s a good and positive story for these days of doomsaying and handwringing over the fortunes of bookstores. Munro’s Books in Victoria, British Columbia, founded in 1963 by Jim Munro and his then wife, Nobel laureate Alice Munro, is passing into the hands of its staff on the retirement of its founder. The thriving institution, […]

The post Alice Munro’s ex-husband gives away the store, hands Munro’s Books to staff appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

An article made available by Simon Fraser University in British Columbia provides a firsthand report by SFU alumnus Kyle Jackson about a trip he took to India as part of an Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) pilot project. Here’s a small portion of the article: I was in Mizoram as a part of a four-member pilot-project under the [...]

It is estimated that 42% of the global wood harvested for industrial uses goes to paper production. Is it possible that the book publishing industry, a sector that depends heavily on paper production, can implement policies that help preserve endangered forests and biodiversity? Over 120 North American publishers believe it is possible, and they're working with the non-profit Green Press Initiative (U.S.) and Markets Initiative (Canada) to implement innovative production practices that have tangible environmental benefits. Innova, the root of the word innovation, means 'into the new'. The 'new' in this case is a growing movement among businesses to include social and environmental considerations into their

With an emphasis on computerized design and workflow; increased use of digital, on-demand and cross-media output; and populist—indeed, personal editorial standards, modern book publishing bears little resemblance to the craft practiced a generation ago. Some in the industry worry that the joined-at-the-hip crafts of publishing and printing are epochs approaching an end. In the future, anyone with an Internet connection and digital cash will be able to publish a nice looking (and, hopefully, nice reading) hardbound, softbound, or e-book. One, some, or all three. Readers will buy them online, for an e-pittance, in numbers unthinkable today, along with the classics, pop titles, textbooks,

The U.S. book publishing industry consumed approximately 1.1 million tons of book paper in the year 2000. That required cutting down an estimated 25 million trees. Figures for 2001, published in 2002 by the American Forest and Paper Association, report 914,000 tons of paper were used for U.S. book publishing. Trees required to meet demand: 19 million. Yet the average recycled content level (by fiber weight) across printing and writing grades is only 5%. The disparity between the ecological impact of publishing versus the meager levels of recovered materials in paper is driving responsible publishers to be part of the solution, instead of the problem. To date,