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Given that paper accounts for a quarter of all landfill volume, it should probably come as no surprise that a recent study touted e-books as more environmentally friendly than traditional publishing. A report released this month by the San Francisco-based Cleantech Group found that Amazon’s Kindle device could generate a net savings in carbon emissions—a savings that increases as print consumption is displaced.
Both opponents and supporters of the Google Book settlement are closing ranks as the September 4 deadline for court filings approaches. This week saw attacks on the deal from the Open Book Alliance—a group comprising Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo, among others—as well as sharp criticism from the Urban Libraries Council. Meanwhile, Sony filed documents on Wednesday praising Google’s massive book-scanning venture as a boon for consumers.
Preparations are underway for the seventeenth National Arts and Humanities Month, a country-wide smorgasbord of public events, open houses, and media coverage coordinated each October by the nonprofit advocacy group Americans for the Arts.
The 2010 Dodge Poetry Festival will be held after all. Seven months after Dodge Foundation CEO David Grant announced the suspension of the popular biennial event, citing shrinking assets and increasing venue costs, the New York Times reports that the organization is on track to secure a new hosting partner by September.
Plans are underway in Lowell, Massachusetts for the seventh annual Jack Kerouac 5K Road Race, a 3.1-mile run through the city where the eponymous Beat writer was born and eventually buried. Proceeds from the event, scheduled for Sunday, September 27, will fund the Jack Kerouac Scholarship, awarded each year to a graduate of Lowell High School, the author’s alma mater.
A coalition of organizations representing artists and cultural workers has entered the national debate on healthcare reform. Americans for the Arts, in conjunction with twenty other national nonprofit groups, has called on Congress to enact a public health insurance option for individual artists, along with measures making it easier for cash-strapped cultural organizations to provide adequate coverage for employees.
Margaret Atwood plans to keep it green as she tours in support of her latest novel, an environmental calamity tale titled The Year of the Flood, forthcoming from Nan A. Talese next month. The Booker Prize-winning author will travel by train where possible, carry minimal luggage, eschew bottled water, and require that venues serve only fair trade, bird-friendly coffee.
Barnes & Noble expanded its publishing program yesterday with the launch of a new imprint dedicated to republishing out-of-print books. The Barnes & Noble Rediscovers project will reissue noteworthy works of history, literature, philosophy, and science as redesigned, specially priced hardcovers.
Despite a circulation boom, public libraries in Ohio are scrambling to close branches, reduce hours, and lay off staff—all in an attempt to cope with an unprecedented drop in state funding. According to the Ohio Library Council, reductions approved last month to the Public Library Fund, along with declining tax revenues, are expected to shrink library budgets by as much as 30 percent.
Literature-craving commuters in New York City can now enjoy their own version of a program first launched in the London Underground six months ago—a free book exchange. Choose What You Read NY, a volunteer-run nonprofit, has begun setting up camp near major subway stations on the first Tuesday of each month to collect and redistribute donated books.
