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• VAT plea

  At the time of writing, this online petition asking the government to scrap VAT on e-books has gathered 4,566 signatures . As an e-book author, I sympathise, but these campaigners are wasting their time. The government is refusing to consider the...

• David vs Goliath at Digital Book World

  The schizoid nature of today’s business – the electronic/print divide amid the electronic/print marriage of necessity – was anatomized, predicted upon, and everywhere in evidence during two packed days of trade-centric Digital Book World in New York.

   In case we needed reminding about the stakes involved, a few days later the front-page story in the Sunday...

• The last chance

  The forthcoming Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry into library closures is perhaps our last chance to save the public library service for many communities. At least 600 libraries are threatened with closure or transfer to volunteer groups, and one in five librarians are expected to face redundancy. Access to a comprehensive and efficient service as prescribed by the Public Libraries and...

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  Return to Rotherhithe

  The news from the public library sector has been pretty grim in recent months, with short-sighted councils seeking to curtail—sorry, “streamline”—their library services in ways that are often antithetical to the 1964 Act. So it was a relief to turn away from the gloom towards an unabashed good news story—the opening of the new Canada Water Library at Rotherhithe...

• Making a noise

  Penguin India celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, with what sounded like a glittering party at the Jaipur Literature Festival—about 1,000 people apparently turned out, some invited, some just hoping to squeeze into the star-studded event. A highlight was a new Hindustan Ambassador car decked out in those famous orange and white stripes.

  Speaking afterwards, Penguin Books...

• Best of both worlds

  The retail world is reeling from the double whammy of a global crisis and a simultaneous lurch towards e-commerce across all sectors. The new buzzwords in retail strategy are “Omnichannel”, “Next Best Offer” and “Experiential Advantage”:

  Omnichannel The ability of retailers to engage with customers across multiple channels; ranging...