New books are a lot of work

We are surrounded in here by the new books I purchased and by the mountains of books we are reclassifying. Umpteen things have to be done to every one of them before they are shelf-ready. They have to be searched in the catalog, stamped, cataloged, and labeled. Many are sent off to be permabound (rebound with those hard covers that have the pretty paper covers laminated within). Big thanks to volunteers Emily, Aliisa, and Aaron who stamped the heck out of these puppies so they'll be returned to us after their journey to the bindery. Noam will come help us tomorrow.

Now here's a thought. Just carry a hundred books around with you in your pocket. How? E-books! Sony is trying it again. They are using a new technology that its makers claim duplicates the experience of reading from paper. For libraries, that takes care of the labeling/binding part -- will the rest of the work go away too? There's still the selecting, purchasing, cataloging (so people know it's available), etc. Nonetheless, since I can barely find my desk right now, I'm intrigued...