Just wondering: Do you have to be a poet to edit poetry?

Don Paterson, an editor and a poet, claim[s] that “A non-poet can’t do a line-edit on a poem”; it is essential for an editor to be a poet, too.

Michael Schmidt, the editor of Carcanet Press and PN Review, added that the job can be tricky when grappling with the work of someone from a different culture. “If you’re publishing a Zimbabwean poet or a poet from India or New Zealand, they’ll speak a language different from your own,” he said, adding, “This is an issue between genders as well.”

Both these points are slightly disquieting. If only poets can edit the work of another, does that mean that only poets fully comprehend the work?

Contemporary poetry: Do you have to be a poet to edit poetry? | The Economist.

February Book Display

New Madrid Earthquakes

200th Year Anniversary

New Madrid, Missouri Seismic Zone is the most seismically active region in the Central United States today and is famous for a series of Three major earthquakes in 1811 and 1812. They are noted for being the most prolonged series of earthquakes in US history. Come visit our display concerning earthquakes that have occurred locally and worldwide.

Did you know your library can’t buy eBooks from many publishers?

Sadly, unlike a regular person, a library cannot pay Amazon or Barnes & Noble for an eBook and then lend it out to people. We can buy a printed book from these companies, stick it on the shelf, and lend it out–but digital content is treated differently by the publishers and the companies who manage digital content licensing. We desperately want to offer you these eBooks. But the companies won’t let us. As your library, we commit to continuing advocacy for change in these policies.

For more info and to see who to contact, please see bit.ly/noebooks

via San Rafael Public Library – What’s New – Did you know your library can’t buy eBooks from many publishers?.

It’s time for a unified ebook format and the end of DRM – O’Reilly Radar

Imagine buying a car that locks you into one brand of fuel. A new BMW, for example, that only runs on BMW gas. There are plenty of BMW gas stations around, even a few in your neighborhood, so convenience isn’t an issue. But if one of those other gas stations offers a discount, a membership program, or some other attractive marketing campaign, you can’t participate. You’re locked in with the BMW gas stations.

This could never happen, right? Consumers are too smart to buy into something like this. Or are they? After all, isn’t that exactly what’s happening in the ebook world?

via It’s time for a unified ebook format and the end of DRM – O’Reilly Radar.

A look at the news and events happening in the Libraries at Waubonsee Community College