To avoid possible turnaways, libraries could enable automatic upgrades (to a 3-user, concurrent access, or unlimited model), such as are currently offered by both ProQuest and EBSCO. Even given the option of a reasonable P+E purchasing model such as described above, not every library would choose to acquire a print copy of every title. In some disciplines, e is heavily preferred. Some libraries have space constraints or have even gone e-only. On the flip side, even researchers who prefer to read in print often find themselves in need of an electronic copy of any given title, usually to search for a particular name, concept, or quote. I have often made use of the free snippets available on Google Books, Amazon, or the Internet Archive’s Open Library for this purpose, but the needed text is not always available, and such workarounds could be avoided if publishers were willing to bundle their titles. Academic librarians should not have to choose between print and eBook formats when making selection decisions, and they
should not have to pay twice for the same content. I urge publishers to consider the proposals I have made here, and I look forward to reading their responses in the February 2022 issue of Against the Grain.
References Matt Ennis. 2018. “Survey: Print for Reading, ‘E’ for Research,” Library Journal 143:7. Karin Wulf. 2021. “Revisiting: Dear Reader, Are You Reading?” https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2021/06/09/revisiting-dear-reader-are-you-reading/ Weijing Yuan, Marlene Van Ballegooie, and Jennifer L. Robertson. 2018. “Ebooks Versus Print Books: Format Preferences in an Academic Library.” Collection Management 43 (1): 28–48. doi:10.1080/01462679.2017.1365264.
Reader’s Roundup: Monographic Musings & Reference Reviews Column Editor: Corey Seeman (Director, Kresge Library Services, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan) <cseeman@umich.edu> Twitter @cseeman Column Editor’s Note: We have a nice mix of books on the library and archival profession as well as reference books. The books on librarianship really stretch the boundaries of what many consider the core work by looking more closely at archives and data curation in our organizations. The reference books provide views of the value of a dollar (something very important for those starting their fiscal year on July 1st) and feminism and literature. These books all represent opportunities for your libraries to provide a bit more coverage for your readers. I am very fortunate to have a great crew of reviewers for Against the Grain. I thank my reviewers for this issue: Kathleen Baril (Ohio Northern University); David Gibbs (California State University, Sacramento); Mary Catherine Moeller (University of Michigan); Tiffany Norris (Birmingham-Southern College); Jordan Pedersen (University of Toronto) and Steven W. Sowards (Michigan State University). If you would like to be a reviewer for Against the Grain, please write me at <cseeman@umich.edu>. If you are a publisher and have a book you would like to see reviewed in a future column, please also write me directly. You can also find out more about the Reader’s Roundup here — https://sites.google.com/view/ squirrelman/atg-readers-roundup.
If a reference work reaches its 6th edition, several things have taken place. For one, usage has demonstrated ongoing value. For another, the work has become a familiar and “well known” resource and is potentially taken for granted. This newest edition reminded me to look at The Value of a Dollar again with fresh eyes. This book gathers historical price and wage figures for the United States. The content is “all about practical economy: what things cost and how much money people have to buy them” (page v). It is not a resource for global studies. It is not a commodities report. Look here for the cost of coffee, hats and radios, not the cost of bulk wheat, soybeans and copper … a gallon of gasoline, not a barrel of crude oil. Prices are for consumer products: this is not the source for changing costs for farm land, submarines or bridges. This is the kind of book that a reference librarian loves: full of facts and figures, but eminently browsable. It is evocative to know the price of admission for a Jimmy Cagney movie in 1934 (25 cents), or a Macintosh computer in 2004 ($2,500). The fun of browsing is supported by a variety of facsimile advertisements. This mix of hard and soft information should find an audience in high schools, colleges, and public libraries.
Derks, Scott. The Value of a Dollar: 1860-2019. Sixth edition. Amenia, NY: Grey House Publishing, 2019. 978-1-68217-949-9, 600 pages. $155.00.
This book also pinch-hits as a history of advertising, because historical advertisements are a source for many prices found within. The Value of a Dollar cites ads in newspaper and magazine ads, as well as mail-order catalogs, posters and retail store web sites. Sources are specifically cited (Sears, Roebuck 1922 or the Chicago Tribune 1983), and samples of consumer advertisements offer texture and flavor to readers.
Reviewed by Steven W. Sowards (Associate Dean for Collections, Michigan State University Libraries, East Lansing MI) <sowards@msu.edu>
The book draws on sources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but the presentation is nothing like the Consumer Price Index web site at https://www.bls.gov/cpi/. A BLS time series such as the “CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)” presents generalized
Happy reading and be nutty! — CS
20 Against the Grain / September 2021
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