James Bennett to offer collectionHQ to libraries

MEDIA RELEASE

Baker & Taylor acquires CollectionHQ Software from Bridgeall Libraries to Improve Library Collection Performance

BROOKVALE, New South Wales – Thursday, December 1, 2011 – James Bennett, the Australian subsidiary of U.S.-based book distributor Baker & Taylor, Inc., will soon offer customers in Australia, New Zealand and Asia the popular collectionHQ library collection performance improvement software, following today’s announcement of Baker & Taylor’s purchase of Scottish technology company Bridgeall Libraries.

The agreement unites two companies that provide critical services to libraries: Baker & Taylor, the leading supplier of products and services for libraries worldwide; and Bridgeall Libraries, developer of innovative software that helps libraries manage their collections more efficiently. Together, and in conjunction with James Bennett, the companies can help libraries provide the best and most appropriate content to the communities they serve.

“This partnership with Bridgeall Libraries is the perfect complement to the innovative and integrated products and services Baker & Taylor is known for.  It strengthens the breadth of products and services we offer libraries worldwide and ensures that we can provide the most innovative workflow solutions in the industry.  collectionHQ gives libraries the information and analytical tools they need to put the most relevant content in the hands of their patrons,” said George Coe, President, Baker & Taylor’s Library & Education division.

“As evidenced by the rapid growth of smartsm over the past four years, we are very proud to have delivered a tool that is hugely popular to libraries.  Baker & Taylor has the global reach, vision and expertise to deliver smartsm –as well as new developments – for even further benefit of libraries worldwide.  We are very pleased that Baker & Taylor has become the custodians of our very exciting technology,” said Stephen Beer, Managing Director of Bridgeall Libraries.

By adding Bridgeall Libraries’ collection-analysis technology to its portfolio, James Bennett can better serve the full range of its library customers’ needs, which include selecting, acquiring and managing printed and digital content.

Bridgeall Libraries’ popular software, known as smartsm in the U.K. and collectionHQ in the rest of the world, empowers libraries to more efficiently manage their holdings and allows them to assess and improve the performance of their collections. With smartsm libraries can better select, acquire and manage printed and digital content, and ultimately serve their patrons better.

In just four years since it was introduced, more than half of the U.K. libraries have subscribed to the service.  In the U.S. and Canada, many top library systems have subscribed since the software was introduced there in 2010.

Software development, sales and customer support will remain headquartered in Glasgow, and the office there is poised to grow as Baker & Taylor helps introduce the technology to library systems in North America and around the world. The Glasgow office will work closely with Baker & Taylor’s U.S. headquarters for customer support operations and future development. 

About Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor, Inc. (www.baker-taylor.com) is the world's largest distributor of books, digital content and entertainment products. The company leverages its unsurpassed worldwide distribution network to deliver rich content in multiple formats, anytime and anywhere. Baker & Taylor offers cutting-edge digital media services and innovative technology platforms to thousands of publishers, libraries and retailers worldwide.  Baker & Taylor also offers industry-leading customized library services and retail merchandising solutions.

About James Bennett (www.bennett.com.au)
James Bennett Pty Limited is a major Australian based library supplier and has been servicing libraries since 1964. Based in Brookvale, NSW., James Bennett offers a total package of products and services designed to complement all supply arrangements. As a part of the Baker and Taylor group, James Bennett offers competitive pricing and supply time, with unmatched global resources and cutting-edge technologies.


About Bridgeall Libraries Ltd.
Based in Glasgow, U.K., Bridgeall Libraries Ltd. has developed smartsm® and collectionHQ®, the world leading Evidence Based Stock Management (EBSM®) solutions. EBSM® is the complete library stock improvement methodology, which analyses historic and current information about stock use, to help librarians save time and eliminate waste, improve stock performance and align stock with local demand. smartsm and collectionHQ are the software applications that implement the EBSM® methodology to help libraries achieve stock performance excellence. It is implemented using the Software as a Service model of application deployment. For more information, see www.smartsm.com or www.collectionHQ.com.

Media Contacts:

Baker & Taylor
Kimberly Kuo
Kimberly.Kuo@baker-taylor.com
704-998-3118


James Bennett
Andrew Hocken
ahocken@bennett.com.au 
61-8-9364-1964


Bridgeall Libraries
Stephen Beer
stephen.beer@bridgeall.com


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Know it All Find it Fast for Academic Libraries

We were absolutely delighted to see this new book from Facet Publishing arrive on our desk today!  The Know it All, Find it Fast books for the enquiry desk are quite popular - and here we have one specifically designed for Academic Libraries.  Naturally, being published in the UK, the book's listings are skewed towards the UK, however they also list International resources to help guide librarians as to "where to look" for information.

Know it All, Find it Fast for Academic Libraries, is a comprehensive and easy-to-use guide developed specifically for information professionals working in academic libraries.

Tackle the questions most commonly asked by students, academics and researchers! 

A broad cross-disciplinary A-Z of themes including topics such as literature searching, plagiarism and using online resources are covered helping you to address any query confidently and quickly. Each topic is split into four sections to guide your response:

• typical questions listing the common enquiries you’ll encounter
• considerations exploring the issues and challenges that might arise
• where to look listing annotated resources in print and online
• tips and pitfalls outlining useful suggestions and common problems.

This will prove an indispensable day-to-day guide for anyone working with students, academics and researchers in an academic library.


About the author

Heather Dawson is an Academic Support Librarian in the Information Services Department of the LSE Library

 Now available from Inbooks / James Bennett 

387pp; paperback; ISBN 9781856047593; £49.95 (approx AUD $88.68 GST Inclusive) 

Competitive library discounts apply. 

Order your copy on JBO today!  

Not a James Bennett customer but would like to order a copy of this book?  Contact jbmarketing@bennett.com.au and reference this blog entry to receive free freight within Australia.  Offer applies only until 14/12/11.  Please note we take Mastercard, Visa, and cheque only.

You can contact Inbooks, the exclusive Australasian distributor for Facet Publishing, on (02) 8988 5082 or email orders@inbooks.com.au

Staff Focus-Customer Service Co-ordinator

This month we focus on......

This month's Bennett Blurb newsletter focuses on customer service. Whether you are a public, academic, specialist or government library, James Bennett is renowned for our superb customer service in the library supply chain. We have the service - and the experience - you need to provide your own patrons, colleagues and staff with a successful and popular library service.

This month we're introducing you to Claire McManaway. She answered some general questions in the Bennett Blurb but she also allowed us to do our own profile of her, here in The Bennett Blog. How did she get to where she is now? What makes her tick? Read on and discover for yourself.

Name: Claire McManaway
Position: Customer Co-ordinator (Academic)

When did you start at James Bennett? A few years ago...about 11-12 years!
What were your previous roles (here or elsewhere)? Inbooks Customer Service, Data entry (Order Services), Operations, Binner in the Warehouse. I was about 15kg lighter - all that walking helped!
Describe your job: Answering to the needs of all our wonderful customers. We are here to help!
What do you enjoy most about your job?Completing that email. Finishing things off and getting a result. It’s great when you get a reply back thanking you for your efforts. We are stars and angels with a couple of awesomes in between .
Describe James Bennett in five words? OMG, we are the best!
What would you like customers to know about the work you do? That we are reliable as individuals and as a team. Finding those hard titles that you know are out there somewhere - it’s just putting your finger on it and hopefully being able to purchase it on behalf of the customer. We do source far and wide and are always looking for the best possible price. Getting results is always great. And things do take time…
What are the challenges you are facing? Keeping up with Claims!
What gets you excited about your day? Coming to work at James Bennett is great, we have a great location, friendly staff. We do have lovely customers from all walks of life, most of them I have never meet, but when we speak to them on the phone or via email it like I have known them for years. Most of my customers are listed on my phone so I know when you ring…
What books do you like to read? Suspense and action.
Do you have a favourite author? Robert Ludlum.
Last book you read? The Help.
Currently reading? The Most Wanted Man.
On the wishlist? (Keeping in mind this was a book question.....) That the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup 2011

(Well, Claire, they did - by a point!)

We hope you enjoyed reading about Claire and what it's like to work behind the scenes in Customer Service. What staff member would you like to see a Focus On here on the Bennett Blog or in our newsletter service? Contact Marketing and we'll see what we can do!

JAMES BENNETT

Your Library Vendor of Choice in the Australasian marketplace 

BOOK REVIEW: ANZACS on the Western Front: The War Memorial Battlefield Guide

BOOK REVIEW


This month's guest reviewer is Chris Epple, our Customer Co-ordinator, Academic. Chris recently joined our Customer Service department and we are delighted he was so interested in this forthcoming Australian book from Wiley.  Here is his review of ANZACs on the Western Front: The War Memorial Battlefield Guide written by Peter Pedersen with Chris Roberts:


A quick search for Western Front battlefield guidebooks produces a very short list of mostly out of date titles. In a time when battlefields tourism is on an increase and more and more people are becoming interested in visiting the Australian and New Zealand battlefields of Gallipoli and France this book is a well timed introduction to the travel guide market. Even more so when you realise the 100th anniversary of the Great War is less than three years away!

Peter Pedersen has produced a thoroughly well researched guide to the battlefields of the Western Front from the ANZACS 1916 baptism of fire at Bois Grenier/ Fleurbaix to the final campaigns of 1918 and all the battles in between. The guide covers the battles of Fromelles, the Somme, Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Bullecourt, Ypres, Messines, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Passchendaele, Villers-Bretonneux, and many many more.

Pedersen describes each battlefield in intricate detail using pictures taken at the time of each battle, maps, present day photographs, and by pointing out current landmarks in the landscape. These are all used to good effect so that you can orientate yourself on the battlefield to get a glimpse of how each battle unfolded. You can really get a sense of how the battlefields must have looked like to the ANZACS.

He introduces each battlefield by chapter, outlines the conflicts with a narrative of the events of that particular confrontation to place the battle within the wider strategic theatre of operation in the war. Then goes on to describe the key moments of the battle, who won or lost ground, and the Australian and New Zealand units involved at each point as the battle ebbed and flowed. The reader is then instructed on how best to drive and walk each battlefield. The reader is taken through the battlefield and explains the layout of the battle on the present day landscape, pointing out where opposing lines and trenches were and the objectives of the attacks. You then follow the attacks and counterattacks as each battle progresses over the countryside.

The number of cemeteries located at each battlefield makes the brutality and horror of war clear. The guidebook includes every ANZAC cemetery and memorial on the Western Front, which should not be overlooked, as they are the lasting testament to so many lives lost.

As Pederson notes in the introduction “this guide cannot fully bring their words alive. You have to breathe life into them by putting your imagination to work. You will then gain some understanding of what it must have been like to be there and to appreciate the battlefields as places where ordinary men achieved great things.”

ANZACS on the Western Front is not just a guidebook, but a rare mix of a history book and travel guide that documents the battles of the ANZAC soldiers and given the reader a blow by blow account of how each encounter unfolded. For anyone wanting to visit the Western Front this is a must have. Touring the battlefields with Peter Pedersen’s assistance will allow you to gain a greater appreciation of the shocking events of WW1, as if you had your own personal guide travelling with you.

ISBN 9781742169811 | November 2011 | Paperback | 600 pages | AU$49.95
Competitive library discounts apply

Alex Miller and how he came to write Autumn Laing

My first encounter with the work of Sidney Nolan was when I was a boy working on an Exmoor farm. An Australian gave me a book on the outback. The book was illustrated with black and white photographs of a vast silent land that was mysterious to me and which compelled my imagination. Although I didn’t know it at the time the haunting photographs in the book were the work of the Australian artist Sidney Nolan. I came to Australia on my own at the age of 16 in search of Sidney Nolan’s outback. It was the most important decision I have ever made. I still revisit Central and North Queensland and have many friends there. That strange and beautiful country photographed with the imagination of Nolan has been a deep and lasting influence on my life as a writer.

My second (recorded) encounter with the work of Nolan was in 1961 when Thames and Hudson published in London the first major monograph on the Australian artist’s work. Though I had very little money at the time – I was earning a living in Melbourne cleaning cars while studying at night for my university entrance exams – I thought this expensive book so important that I bought a copy and sent it to my father as a Christmas present. Nolan’s art, it seemed to me, would reveal to my father more about Australia than my letters ever could. It was through my father’s encouragement that I had first developed what proved to be a lifelong interest in art. He wanted me to be an artist. I did the next best thing and became a writer.

When my first novel, The Tivington Nott (Robert Hale 1989) was distributed in Australia Sidney Nolan’s old friend the poet Barrett Reid wrote to tell me he thought highly of the book and that he wished to meet me. Barrie, as his friends knew him, lived at Heide, the home of the Reeds, where Nolan’s art had found its first and most important champion in Sunday Reed. When I told Barrie about the inspiration of the book given me by the Australian in Somerset all those years ago it was he who told me it was Nolan’s photos I’d been looking at. On more than one occasion during the years of our friendship Barrie suggested to me that I write a novel based on Nolan’s life. Barrie revealed Nolan’s art to me in a way I could not have done for myself and he educated me about its sources and the life of art Nolan had lived at Heide. Barrie remained a dedicated friend and champion of Sunday Reed to the end of his life.

In Autumn Laing, the resident poet laureate of the group of artists whose work is favoured at Old Farm is Barnaby. Like Barrie, Barnaby was born and raised on a cattle station in the Central Highlands of Queensland. Barnaby is my private homage to a dear friend who is no longer with us. The connection of Nolan and the Queensland cattle station that I made through my friendship with Barrett Reid was a compelling one that was rich in those emotions that make us feel as if we not only belong to a certain place but that we are in some sense fated to belong to it. Sooner or later I knew I would attempt to write about Nolan. What I wrote was not, however, what I expected to write. Novels are a kind of dream for the novelist. Although they are based on reality the writer is not in control and must follow the compelling prompts of imagination. For me it has never been possible to plot or plan a novel beyond a few very basic elements. The story reveals itself to me as I proceed with a book and is nearly always a surprise. This book, Autumn Laing, was no exception.

I first wrote what is now chapter two, Autumn’s portrait of the artist’s first wife, Edith. After writing this chapter I had to leave it while I spent a month on tour in the UK with my previous novel Lovesong. At the end of the tour (the end of September 2010) I was sitting on a bench in Holland Park watching squirrels and remembering my boyhood in London’s parks when the idea for the present form of the book suddenly occurred to me. I hadn’t given the book a thought for a month. As I was sitting there that lovely September afternoon watching the squirrels diving about the place I suddenly heard the voice of Autumn Laing, ‘They are all dead,’ she said, ‘and I am old and skeleton-gaunt . . .’ It was a realisation. The realisation that the character I had originally based on Sunday Reed, Nolan’s muse and lover and his greatest supporter during his early years, might have lived on until the age of 86, alone, deserted, betrayed. This woman was no longer the Sunday Reed of history but was my own fiction, a fiction of how such a person might have become had she lived another ten years and had she decided to tell her story, telling it at a time of her life when she had nothing left to lose.

When I got home to Castlemaine from London in early October I wrote for ten hours a day six days a week for five months in the voice that I had heard in Holland Park – the voice of Autumn Laing. It is the longest novel I’ve ever written and the quickest. I loved every minute of it and was sorry when she finally left me. I don’t think I will ever find anyone like her again. She is confident, well informed, passionate, cultivated and very down to earth. She is, in some ways, the personification of a cultivated Australian woman. She couldn’t possibly be English or French. Her commitment was always to Australia and to our art. She was never tempted to live in England or Europe. In her person my own early life as a stockman in North Queensland is connected to my life as a writer in Melbourne, just as these aspects of my own life were connected for me by my friendship with Barrie Reid, a faithful friend of Sunday Reed until the end, and a faithful admirer and interpreter of the art of his old friend Nolan. It is the experience of the artist and of Autumn in this book while they are visiting Barnaby’s parents’ cattle station in North Queensland that changes them both forever.

Autumn Laing
Alex Miller
Allen & Unwin
ISBN 9781742378510 | Hardcover | 456 pages | ARP $39.99

Order your copies from James Bennett today!

We launch a new partnership with ebrary

MEDIA RELEASE

September 7, 2011 – Palo Alto, CA, USA – ebrary ®, a leading provider of e-books and research technology, today announced it has partnered with James Bennett, a leading library acquisitions services supplier, to make e-books more readily and efficiently available to libraries throughout Australasia.  Libraries may now seamlessly integrate ebrary’s e-books into their acquisition workflow by ordering titles directly through James Bennett Online (JBO).

Additionally, ebrary has signed new publishing partner Australian Academic Press, a highly respected publisher in the Australian academic market.  ebrary also offers e-books from James Bennett’s top publisher list including Aboriginal Studies Press, University of New South Wales Press, University of Queensland Press, Wiley, Oxford University Press, Allen & Unwin, and many others. 

“As e-books are critical to scholarly research, we are pleased to offer our customers titles from ebrary, which include the vast majority of university presses and other esteemed academic publishers throughout the world,” said Nada Stanojlovic, James Bennett’s General Manager, Library Services & Business Development.”  We believe researchers will find great value in ebrary’s content as well as their technology that makes it easy to discover, use and share valuable information.”

“ebrary is a trusted and well-known brand in the academic and other library markets,” said Stephen May, Managing Director of Australian Academic Press.  “We are excited to make our e-books available on the ebrary platform through James Bennett and other global distribution channels, and we expect to see an increase in revenue as a result.”   

“The e-book market is growing rapidly in many regions throughout the world, so it is critical that we partner with leading distributors such as James Bennett as well as expand our publisher partnerships outside of North America to enhance our products and extend our reach,” said Matt Barnes, Vice President of Marketing at ebrary.  “We look forward to working with James Bennett to meet the specific needs of libraries in Australia.”


About Australian Academic Press (www.australianacademicpress.com.au)

Australian Academic Press is a niche academic publisher for the behavioral sciences, specialising in psychology. Established in 1987, the press publishes a range of books, evidence-based clinical treatment and prevention resources, scholarly monographs, and journals, for both the academic and trade markets.

About James Bennett (www.bennett.com.au)

James Bennett Pty Limited is a major Australian based library supplier and has been servicing libraries since 1964. Based in Brookvale, NSW., James Bennett offers a total package of products and services designed to complement all supply arrangements.  As a part of the Baker and Taylor group, James Bennett offers competitive pricing and supply time, with unmatched global resources and cutting-edge technologies.

About ebrary (www.ebrary.com)

ebrary is a leading provider of e-books and research technology to libraries worldwide. Founded in 1999, the company offers more than 273,000 e-books from over 500 trusted publishers under flexible models including subscription, perpetual archive (purchase), patron driven acquisition, and short-term loans. ebrary is the only e-book provider that enables customers to upload and integrate their own digital materials right from their computers with DASH!™ (Data Sharing, Fast) technology as well as apply cross-referencing with multiple online resources with InfoTools™ technology.  A member of the ProQuest® family of companies, ebrary is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, USA.

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For more information please contact:

Rachael McDiarmid
Publisher Relations & Marketing Communications Manager
Tel: (02) 8988 5000
Email: jbmarketing@bennett.com.au

A Better Guide to Subcontracting

Malcolm Varty, the Director of "A Better Guide to Subcontracting" is The Bennett Blog's special guest blogger this week.  He kindly gives us some of the background to his online product and how it came into existence.   Enjoy the read.....

MALCOLM VARTY THE DIRECTOR OF 

“A BETTER GUIDE TO SUBCONTRACTING PTY LTD” 

CRACKS A BIG ONE

 

The big one being the answer to subcontractor’s woes. Never before or at least not after Malcolm Varty and Chris White produced a video in 1999 called “A Guide to Better Subcontracting” - which sadly expired due to legislative changes almost two weeks after it was produced by the Bond University in Queensland - has anyone tried to put it all together for ordinary trades people.

Most tradesmen are expected to carry out a business appreciation course before they may apply for a trade licence. In my view these so called courses provided nothing to the applicant apart from basic business practices, which are not designed specifically for the Building and Construction Industry.

TAFE centres for learning provide imaginative and helpful information for their students but are limited in many areas, due to government cut-backs, to fully prepare their students for all possible outcomes when dealing with head contractors.

Registered Training Organisations have their curriculum set by the governing bodies who are mainly the Master Builders Association, the Housing Industry Association and the Unions.

Call me silly but aren’t the above organisation's members the ones that tradesmen have the problems with in the first place?

The only way to afford yourself of real education and help is to subscribe to “A Better Guide to Subcontracting”.  We come from a trade background and have spent the last 18 years fighting for legislative changes to protect subcontractors. We have achieved great outcomes legislatively and also provide a service which applies a professional touch to your specific needs. 

With your help www.abgts.com will be available free in all state and TAFE libraries soon. 

LIBRARIES WISHING TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT "A BETTER GUIDE TO SUBCONTRACTING" SHOULD CONTACT OUR DEDICATED E-TEAM AS PER THE DETAILS LISTED BELOW: 

Tel:      (02) 8988 5000

Fax:     (02) 8988 5031

Email: eresources@bennett.com.au

Request a trial today!

Why you should purchase your EBL titles through James Bennett

As the first — and most experienced — EBL provider in Australia, we deliver EBL titles in the shortest and most efficient timeframes for libraries and their patrons. Here are just some of the reasons for choosing to purchase EBL titles through James Bennett:

• One single, familiar acquisitions workflow for both print and electronic materials
• You receive James Bennett invoices in Australian dollars (or your preferred currency)
• We are currently integrating ebooks into our New Title Services
• We deal direct with EBL on your behalf if you have questions about technical matters or licensing
• You can use JBO to see acquisitions information on all your purchases, whether they are print format or ebooks 
• Separate accounts may be set-up to track ordering, invoicing, and selection method (short term loans, demand driven selection, and standard ordering or non-linear lending)

Contact our eResources team today for a brochure on EBL workflows through James Bennett.  We've been partnering with EBL a long time and are still the most experienced of the library vendors in the ANZ marketplace. Go with a vendor you trust.  Contact James Bennett today:

Tel: +61 2 8988 5000
Fax: +61 2 8988 5031
Email: eresources@bennett.com.au

Want to know more about using James Bennett as your print, digital and multimedia library vendor?  Click here for 10 reasons why.  If you want to add to the list, feel free to do so.  We've worked in library supplies since the 1960s and work with public, academic, specialist, government and reference libraries.  There's a reason why we are the leading supplier in the ANZ marketplace.  Use us to find out why!

Read it! Love it? Add Peter James to your Profile

As many of our blog readers know, we have a service called Read it Love it Add it to Your Profile.  Designed for public libraries comfortable with an outsourced model for profiling & selection, it's a way to bring authors to the attention of the libraries and adding them to their existing profile with us.  That way, the next book published by that author will be automatically sent to them and everybody wins - the reader, the library, the author, the publisher, and us as their library vendor of choice.

This month's selection for Read it Love it Add it to Your Profile service is an author already established in the marketplace, particularly in the UK.  Peter James was born in Brighton, England.  He was educated at Charterhouse then at film school. His novels, many of which have been "Sunday Times" top 10 bestsellers, have been translated into thirty languages and, not surprising considering his background, three have been filmed. He actually has a very impressive resume.  We would encourage you to visit his website and read more about him here.

International best-selling crime thriller novelist published in 34 languages doesn't begin to cover it!

Once you realise what an interesting man Peter James is, have a look at his books!  His website presents his titles in a way that filters just the novels featuring Detective Superintendent Roy Grace of the Sussex police force.  Seven books have already been written featuring DS Roy Grace and in an interview with Shots Magazine, Peter James had this to say about his creation:

Roy Grace has indeed been through the grinder, in his private life, both with his beloved Sandy’s disappearance and now Cleo’s perhaps endangered pregnancy… and professionally with a boss who disliked him, largely for his maverick behaviour and tried hard to undermine him.   But he’s a survivor, and above all, he is a good man in a dark world.

We also liked what Lee Child had to say about one of Peter's earlier books - Dead Like You -  "Sinister and riveting, Peter James is one of the best British crime writers". 

 

So with that background information, we'd like to introduce this month's title for Read it Love it Add it to Your Profile - Dead Man's Grip by Peter James.

    “ I want them to suffer, and I want them dead ...   ”

Carly Chase is traumatised ten days after being in a fatal traffic accident which kills a teenage student from Brighton University. Then she receives news that turns her entire world into a living nightmare.The drivers of the other two vehicles involved have been found tortured and murdered. Now Detective Superintendant Roy Grace of the Sussex Police force issues a stark and urgent warning to Carly: She could be next.The student had deadly connections. Connections that stretch across the Atlantic. Someone has sworn revenge and won't rest until the final person involved in that fatal accident is dead.

The police advise Carly her only option is to go into hiding and change identity. The terrified woman disagrees - she knows these people have ways of hunting you down anywhere. If the police are unable to stop them, she has to find a way to do it herself. But already the killer is one step ahead of her, watching, waiting, and ready ...

Is it his most nail-biting thriller yet?  You tell us!  Request a copy at your local library today.

ISBN 9780230747241 | Paperback | 408 pages | published July 2011 by Pan Macmillan Australia

Ebrary, ebooks and libraries

James Bennett will shortly be representing ebrary in the Australasian marketplace.  As many of our libraries would know, ebrary has had a close working relationship with our parent company - Baker & Taylor - for years.  James Bennett has been working with ebrary on integration for the ANZ region for several months now and we're pleased to be adding another market-leading ebook platform to our stable.  Contact us today to discuss James Bennett selecting, profiling and purchasing ebrary titles on your library's behalf.  You can call your nominated Customer Co-ordinator or email our dedicated eResources team.

For those of you wanting to know what took us so long - well, it's been a challenge integrating ebrary into the James Bennett system.  This is not due to our close and long-standing relationship with our other ebook vendor, EBL, but due to the use of the ISBN as the primary identifier in the James Bennett database. Publishers generally use one e-ISBN across multiple ebook systems and platforms.  Our database links one ISBN to a vendor and our IT team has spent years working their way through all the e-ISBN issues including pricing, markets, special prices, loans/rentals, and more.  We won't go into details today but you can probably imagine our relief this project is nearly finished and we can represent many more digital products in future.

That said, we have represented ebrary's subscription product for public libraries for over 12 months.  That was easy to manage in the database and through our Standing Orders area. Contact your account representative for a demo or contact the eResources team to set up a trial for you.

So, want to know more about ebrary?  Here's just a snapshot!

Key features and benefits

• Works on multiple devices
• Contextual linking across multiple online resources with InfoTools™
• Unique ability to upload and integrate a library’s own digital content with DASH! and Software as a Service (SaaS) Shareable bookshelves that automatically store links
• Notes and highlights
• Multiple options for searching and navigating
• Automatic citations when text is printed or copied and pasted into Word or any text applications. Citations include an automatic URL hyperlink back to the source
• Ability to transform text into a hyperlink to a URL of the end-user’s choice
• Text-to-speech and other keyboard shortcuts to assist end-users with special accessibility needs

Platform Overview

• Available in multiple languages including English, Arabic, Chinese (simplified), French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Swedish, and Turkish, with additional languages in the works
• Compatibility with a range of discoverability and technology services including the ProQuest platform, SerialsSolutions Summon™, Ex Libris SFX, Doody’s Core Titles, Eduserv OpenAthens, Shibboleth®, Blackboard, RefWorks, EndNote, Moodle, and moreFree on-demand MARC records
• COUNTER-compliant usage statics

Request a soft copy of the ebrary Pocket Guide for Academic Libraries and the Pocket Guide for Public Libraries, contact Marketing today! 

And of course, order your library's ebrary titles through your trusted library supplier, James Bennett.  We aim to provide you with the best from the digital world with our renowned - and superior - local service.

A formal media release will follow in due course.

An Update on the Course eTextbook Trial

We've recently sent out an update on the Course eTextbook Trial we are conducting with our ebook partners, EBL.  For those not subscribing to the service or participating in the trial, we thought we'd share some news with you here.

Firstly, we are hopeful we can get the trial off the ground in time for 1st Semester 2012.  We know it's ambitious, but we like a challenge!  Subscribers have been told who is on the Steering Committee, which as you know, is being co-ordinated by our Publisher Relations & Marketing Communications Manager, Rachael McDiarmid together with colleagues at EBL.

We have representatives from 20 academic libraries on board for the trial and half a dozen publishers willing to explore eTextbooks in libraries.  Those publishers participating in the trial have asked to review core textbooks that are adopted at the participating institutions.  The Steering Committee has suggested focusing on business & economic titles, nursing, health sciences and law but will consider other subjects.  Local textbooks are the primary interest - afterall, we are working with Australian based publishers on this trial!  Their content is the most relevant to students and we hope there won't be too many hurdles ahead for them with regards to contracts and content management.

Each publisher will be looking at business model (access/loans) and other considerations like chapters, rentals, purchase (print/electronic version), supplementary materials, downloads.  There is much work to be done.  Much to think about but we will endeavour to keep you informed on the more important decisions and models as they develop.

We all need to consider what it is we are testing with this Course eTextbook Trial - what books, what criteria, and how we are going to measure the impact.  As a pilot, we also need to look at how the information regarding the eTextbook is actually conveyed to the student, how is it promoted to library patrons, how do we engage them in the electronic version so we can measure their behaviour?

Do you have any thoughts on these issues?  If so share them here!  Remember, this is an industry trial and something we all have an interest in.  What is it we are testing? How are we going to do that so the results are meaningful to all?

In the meantime, these are the keywords cropping up in our teleconferences.  No doubt they will ring true for everyone:

academics, access models, Adobe Digital Editions, awareness, booking time with the textbook, books on reserve, booksellers, bookshops, budgets, business case, campus booksellers, chapter level, chapter purchase, communication, compatible devices, course book, downloads, EBL, ebook purchase, ebooks, eTextbook, James Bennett, libraries, limit of concurrent users, limited loans, loan restrictions, loans per hour, measurement of turnaways, minimum number of concurrent users, no limits on overall use, patrons, print book purchase, print sales, project, promotion, rental, sales impact, shorter access, stakeholders, students, supplementary materials, testing, testing competing textbooks, testing supplementary materials, textbooks, unique loans, universities, unlimited access.

Staff Focus - Profiling & Selection Executive

Focus On......

This month's Bennett Blurb focuses on Profiling & Selection.  Whether you are a public, academic, specialist or government library, James Bennett can assist with all your collection development needs.  Need support with subject profiles? Opening Day Collections? Spending funds?  In a nutshell, we have the service - and the experience - you need.

One of our most experienced staff is Julie Buckroyd, Profiling & Selection Executive.  She answered some general questions in the Bennett Blurb but she also allowed us to do our own profile of her, here in The Bennett Blog.  How did she get to where she is now? What makes her tick?  Read on and discover for yourself.

Name: Julie Buckroyd
Position: Profiling & Selection Executive

When did you start at James Bennett? 6/6/1994.  D-Day.  (I don't know if that was significant!)

What roles have you had in your 17 years with James Bennett? I started in the Kit area and moved to the Allocation area.  Now all the New Title areas have combined under me!

Describe your job: My role is extremely busy, but very rewarding. Overseeing a team of people and ensuring we have the best coverage of New Titles in all areas and in a timely manner. Making sure that our customer’s profiles are offering them the most appropriate titles. Always looking at the best workflows within the team to make sure that we are covering all the titles that we can and should be.
What do you enjoy most about your job? It is always changing!
Describe James Bennett (as an organisation) in a few words: Dynamic, Local, Knowledgeable 
What would you like customers to know about the work you do? We work hard to ensure full coverage on your profile. We have a great system now that has enabled us to have a better matching and non subject coverage. But the real work happens when the team “find” the first available, or be the first to let you know about a forthcoming best seller. 
What are the challenges you are facing? Local offices of international publishers. Bringing out titles here in Australia months after the US or UK release, and inflating the prices. There have been improvements but we spot every title that doesn't meet our customer's requirements.  And we have to review each and make the best buying decision for our library.
What gets you excited about your day? Waking up! Seriously you can’t make plans about how your day will go, as it will always change.   
What books do you like to read? True crime, crime fiction, and biographies 
Do you have a favourite author?  It changes with every book I read but Jodi Picoult stays there at the top. 
Last book you read? Violent Exposure by Katherine Howell 
Currently reading? The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez. 
On the reading wishlist? Probably Cloudstreet so I can make more sense out of the mini series!

If Customers are considering Profiling & Selection Services what are the things they need to consider?  What they will do with their spare time!  (laughs)  No the main things are: what sort of areas they are interested in. Should I just start with an author profile and build up to a full profile? How much money should I commit to Profiling? Do I need to know expenditure in certain areas ie: Adult Non Fiction, Adult Fiction or just overall expenditure?  There's lots of questions but we can assist them along the way.

And if they have any further questions?  Contact me or their sales representative.  


What staff member would you like to see a Focus On here on the Bennett Blog or in our newsletter service?  Contact Marketing on jbmarketing@bennett.com.au and we'll see what we can do!

Read it! Love it? Add Andrew Nicoll to your James Bennett Profile

Before we tell you about this month's selection for the Read it, Love it, Add it to your Profile service, we'd like to congratulate the publisher.  Quercus (UK) was recently awarded Publisher of the Year at The Bookseller Industry Awards.   The company was co-founded in 2005 by CEO Mark Smith and Wayne Davies and they beat seven other nominated finalists, including industry giant Penguin, to win the prestigious award. Past winners have included Little Brown and Faber & Faber, so they are in great company. 

Now that is out the way, we'd like to introduce you to this month's featured author on the Read it, Love it, Add it to your Profile service - Andrew Nicoll.  His second book, The Love and Death of Caterina has us spellbound. Sebastian Barry calls Nicoll "a life-enhancing storyteller, of stellar wit and intriguing depth...pure gold' and we can see why.  We're hooked!

The protagonist is Chano Valdez, a celebrated writer in his South American country.  He pens not just novels, but works of such astounding quality that he is known as the finest of his generation.Unfortunately he's suffering from writer's block and his latest great work comprises the words ‘The scrawny yellow cat crossed the road’. He’s tried all his usual tricks to get back on track - he’s had a few debates with his trusty colleagues at the university, he’s had an affair with the banker’s wife, nothing will work. Until he meets Caterina. Beautiful, young and one of his biggest fans, she has idolised him since she was a child and he has inspired her to write. Convinced that falling in love with her, spending every minute he can alongside her, moulding her to his world, will unlock something and enable him to write, he pursues her and soon enough, he falls headlong into her arms. But it’s only a matter of time before he murders her.  

This book is a great library read.  Andrew Nicoll's first book - A Good Mayor - sold close to 15,000 copies in Australia and won the the Saltire First Book Award.  It has been translated into 20 languages. 

Naturally we're expecting great things from this second book.  With promotion on the Macquarie Radio Network, reviews and promotion in Woman's Day, Sun Herald, Courier Mail, Hobart Mercury and West Australian, as well as some radio interviews with the author - it will be a popular request in your library.

Make sure you have plenty of copies available for your patrons!  

Of course, to ensure you automatically get his third book, add him to your adult fiction profile today!  You can email jbmarketing@bennett.com.au or contact your local sales representative to set this up.  We'd highly recommend it.

ISBN 9781849164719 | Paperback | 358 pages | RRP $32.99

Bibliographic data: helping customers make informed decisions

Bibliographic data.  It is something so important to our organisation and to our customer base.  We source product information from bibliographic agencies, we process thousands of files from publishers and even our parent company in the US keeps us well informed of what is being published in their part of the world.  And of course, there is book-in-hand. 

Good, solid, and reliable bibliographic data makes our business run smoothly - from order placement to receipt to cataloguing, processing and despatch to our customers.  As Australia's leading library supplier, we expect to receive accurate, timely information on both new releases and backlist titles for our customer base.  It is an important part of our trading relationship and the request should not be a surprise for our many publishing partners.

James Bennett has a database approaching some 10 million titles thanks to the growth in ebooks, formats, and the important role of Print on Demand (POD) in the supply chain (which has resulted in a growth of scanned documents and facsimile editions of varying degrees of quality).  More ISBNs make their way to our database every day and some days there is no stopping it.  We are reliant on this information yet trying to set "protection rules" and "exclusions" can be a headache for all involved.   Our customers for example don't want to know about a "dump bin" or "spinner" that has been given an ISBN to help distribution centres get the right POS materials to the right customer.  We don't want colouring-in books and similar materials.  We work on getting the mix right, but sometimes those ISBNs pass right by us no matter how hard we try to implement solid business rules for data.  

But there is a way our customers can make informed decisions when looking at JBO.  

For some time now we have a simple icon next to the data.   That icon tells our customers the edition listed is the one we are promoting, it's the one we are ordering, that we are selling. The JB icon identifies the product that has been selected for New Titles Services and promoted in the Sales Kits.  Our talented and experienced Profiling & Selection staff work with our publishing partners on the "right" editions to promote. And of course, they also make business decisions based on other factors in the supply chain - availability etc - which would also come with a icon and this brings us back to bibliographic data....

Dirty data is the bane of our lives yet there are still too many people in the book supply chain simply don't "get" how important bibliographic data is. Catalogues are still printed with wrong ISBN, price, binding, and publication date information.  You can almost forgive a printed catalogue or Advanced Information Sheet - they are prepared in advance and changes to the publication process cannot be accommodated in time.  But Electronic files, that's another story.  We have the ability to keep up-to-date with these changes - as long as publishers provide the latest information, even if it's reliant on manual data entry.

We have to interpret book information in a way that produces the best outcome for the customer. That includes websites and ecommerce sites from our many publishers and distributors - where correct title information is essential.  Display the correct information and more than likely you will get the order.  Display the wrong information and you will have additional costs for your business while you work out how to best handle the non-conformances.  Thanks to the internet and ecommerce developments, we believe that what we read on screen is correct and we get disappointed when our expectations are not met.

Whether we are talking bibliographic files or information sourced over the internet, James Bennett staff have to select the most appropriate title so the library gets the correct book (with the correct binding, price and release date) that they ordered for their patrons.  It isn't rocket science, but no matter how the industry tries to improve their service and information sent, there are roadblocks, exclusions, and errors that we have to work with.  But trust those "in the know".  Let our experience guide your selection.

Our library customers should trust the icon.  It provides peace of mind and a degree of certainty with their purchase.  If in doubt, always contact your James Bennett Customer Co-ordinator on their direct email or phone, or send us an email at info@bennett.com.au   We want to help you make the most informed purchasing decision.  

The icon is just one of the ways we do that.

_______________________________________________

And if you are a publisher reading this, wondering if you are giving us good data - just ask us!  For specific data enquiries please email and we will do our best to answer your questions.  We also have Guidelines we can send you that covers our requirements for AI title information, images, and electronic bibliographic files.   Email our Publisher Relations & Marketing Communications Manager for your copy.

Library & Information Week

Congratulations to all librarians - this is your week!  

We so love the tagline this year: "We Find Stuff".  It says it all really.  We read somewhere it was considered controversial, which was a little surprising.  Isn't that what you do?!!  You find stuff, you catalogue stuff, you look up stuff, you research stuff, you know stuff!  What an amazing thing you do.

We were reminded of the important role librarians play when we came across a wonderful website recently that had gift ideas for librarians.  No doubt many of our customers will have already discovered it (afterall, you "find stuff"!) but the reason we mention it here is the fun t-shirt and other promotional items they had listed that said "Librarian: the original search engine".  The word itself was often made to look like the Google logo.  Clever.  But true wouldn't you say?!

We also liked "be nice to your librarian, it could mean the difference between a right and wrong answer" and we couldn't help chuckling at "Librarian by Day, Deadly Ninja by Night".  Needless to say, a wide range of materials were on offer and there's many more sayings we could share with you, but we digress.

It's Library & Information Week.  And as Australia's largest and leading library supplier to public, academic, specialist, government and reference libraries, we're celebrating with you.  Afterall, as your support network, don't we help you "find stuff" or at least source the raw materials on your behalf?  We work with thousands of suppliers locally and internationally and sometimes we know what it's like to be finding a needle in a haystack.  But we do it.  You expect it of us.  And together we can put the workflows and systems in place that help you "find stuff" for your patrons every day.

Library and information services are important to us.  And we are here to support your efforts.  Tell us about what you're doing.  If you're on Facebook, Twitter or here on Blogger, link your site to us.  And that goes for our publishing partners too.  We're all in this industry together, let's have some fun, share the joy of reading, spread the word about our products and services, and ensure future generations love books, their libraries and the world in which they live. 

WIN LIBRARY SCIENCE BOOKS THIS WEEK!

For those of you reading this blog during Library and Information Week 23 - 29 May 2011 click on our Facebook page, follow us, and comment on our Library & Information Week post by telling us What Library & Information Week means to you.  The winning entry will receive $200 worth of nominated library science books from Facet Publishing, Libraries Unlimited, ALA, Neal Schuman - thanks to our Inbooks business unit, also proudly supporting Library and Information Week.  The winner will be announced the following week and naturally some conditions apply.  Make sure you let us know what library you are from when you comment and keep an eye on those Facebook feeds for news on this and many more promotions from James Bennett.