[LINK] Print on Demand Books for Libraries in Australia to Combat Global Warming

[Tom Worthington]

I am planning to launch my book "Green Technology Strategies"
<http://www.tomw.net.au/green/> during the Government's "Realising Our
Broadband Future" in Sydney next week <http://broadbandfuture.gov.au/>.

In the process of diagnosing some problems with the Print on
Demand (POD) process, I discovered some Australian connections. LuLu.com
prints books in Australia and the National Library of Australia buys them.

One aspect of POD which worried me was that if the books are printed
overseas, then there will be a high environmental cost in delivery. I
criticised Professor Garnaut for his decision to publish his "Climate
Change Review" for the Australian Government in the UK. Each book if 
flown to Australia would cause about 104 kg of carbon dioxide pollution:
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2008/10/garnaut-climate-change-review-final.html>.

If my "green" book was printed in the USA it would case unnecessary
pollution. However, in ordering some more books I noticed that the
postage was domestic and checking further showed that LuLu is printing
books in Australia. Hopefully, the books travel a few hundred kilometres
on a truck, not thousands on a plane.

Also in 2008 there was a National Library of Australia LuLu.com trial
for the acquisition of items. NLA had some quibbles with the POD
process, as this resulted in one order arriving in many separate
packages, from different print depots, rather than in one delivery. But
this seems to be more a problem of the NLA's old fashioned systems
unable to cope with the modern world, than with LuLu:
<http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/issues/98/story11.html>

Also selection of items was resource intensive, as LuLu simply supplies
whatever the customer orders, it does not choose the books for you. This
may seem a curious problem, but one of the services which book suppliers
provide for libraries is to choose books for them. The library orders
books on a particular topic, or for a particular type of reader, and the
supplier provides what they think relevant.

There is the opportunity for a new business where an intermediary web
based company selects books for libraries and then orders them via a
PoD. Such a service might also be useful for individuals looking for a
gift or a book for themselves. Amazon.com attempts this to some extent,
both with automated suggestions, and lists of books generated by
customers. A new service might also use the wisdom of crowds by
providing the opportunity for the library patrons to suggest books and
vote for a short list of what is proposed for acquisition.

A simple automated acquisition for the NLA would be any book published
in Australia. Under Australian law a publisher is required to supply the
NLA, and the relevant state library, with a copy of their book. This is 
not a burden for a commercial publisher who produces thousands of copies 
of a book. But for a DIY author this could be a burden. NLA might like 
to choose to simply buy those books themselves. They could offset the 
cost by offering the books for sale in their catalogue and take a 
commission.

ps: So far I have not managed to get my book into the NLA catalogue. 
Because the book was POD, NLA refused to provide "Cataloguing in Print", 
as the book was, in their terms already printed 
<http://www.nla.gov.au/services/CIP.html>. They also refused to 
catalogue the book from the electronic version, they insisted on a 
printed copy. Because of a problem with the POD process I had no book to 
give them (I tried giving them a proof copy, with no response).


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/people.php?StaffID=140274