[Publib] Advice request

[Barry Blesser]

Hi all,

As a my first post to this list, I would like to introduce myself as an
author who has benefited from libraries and librarians. During the five
years of research for my new book, I experienced librarians as being kind,
helpful, dedicated, and very knowledgeable. Without libraries, I could not
have written the book, and I doubt that my experiences are unique.

In following the discussions on this list, I notice that there is little
appreciation for the need for marketing and publicity, which are the
vehicles for getting your message into public and political spaces. I too
looked at publicity as distasteful, but it should be viewed as a necessary
survival expertise. And it too is a skill like any other. But unlike the
traditional skills of the last century, the electronic age has made
publicity a bottom up activity without the need for deep pockets. If your
library owns the book, "Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing,"
I suggest that you look at the first chapter for a summary of these newer
techniques. While the book focus on selling such products as soap, the
principles work for everything, including the value of libraries and
librarians.

Now, back to my motivation for posting. As an academic publisher, MIT Press
just released "Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? Experiencing Aural
Architecture"  To my surprise and delight, my book appears to be crossing
over into a more general audience. After being available for only 10 weeks,
it is going into its 2nd printing. I would like to evaluate its potential
for a wider readership. To that end, I would appreciate some advice from
this group about its suitability for various public libraries.

The book has a hidden agenda: to raise our techno-visual culture's
appreciation for sound and hearing. For example, some libraries have very
corrosive acoustics, which makes them hostile work environments. And they
were designed by architects who never even took a single course on sound and
acoustics. But even with a bad design, the average individual can still
function as an aural architect to make a space more aurally comfortable.
Because a library offers a way for a single book to be read by dozens, if
not hundreds of people, libraries are a great vehicle for changing a
culture.

If any of you have a few minutes to read the 9 page introduction, I would be
delighted to send it to you for your comments and thoughts. Just send me an
email requesting a copy. You can also get more information about the book at
the MIT Press web site:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10947

With appreciation,
Barry Blesser
bblesser at alum.mit.edu




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20070119/3e25c17f/attachment.htm