“I’m with you on that one,” Colbert said. “You shouldn’t give a mouse a cookie. The mouse should earn the cookie.”  Or just go with Sendak’s option: “You should open the door and say, ‘Get the hell out of my house!’”

LJ’s in-depth 2011 Placements & Salaries Survey found pockets of optimism but generally it reported  similarly distressing numbers, particularly in the public library sector. For example, among reports  from LIS programs, 34% indicated there was less demand for talent to fill positions than previous years. Employers described getting 200 or more applications for one available spot. Of the 1,547 graduates reporting a job of any type, a mere 59.2%  described those jobs as being both permanent and professional.”  Source

For adults, tablet computers and e-readers were the gifts of choice, judging by a new report that indicates the number of adults in the United States who own tablets and e-readers nearly doubled from mid-December to early January.

The report, which is expected to be released on Monday, confirms what book publishers say they have experienced in the last few weeks: a big jump in e-book sales after the holidays. A similar e-book boom came immediately after Christmas 2010.

The report, from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, found that the share of adults who owned tablet computers increased to 19 percent from 10 percent, with the same increase for adults who owned e-readers.  Full article

“We’re in the stages of a complete transition,” Mr Locke told the BBC, “Self-published authors were made to feel second rate, and ridiculed. It’s perhaps the only industry where that takes place. Now, the playing field has levelled because of the access to electronic media.”

Self-publishing specialists not only make unleashing a book into the world a free, five-minute process – but they also give authors the lion’s share of the profits, in some cases as high as 80% or 90%. Traditional publishers, meanwhile, are more likely to give their authors around 25% of e-book sales. For printed copies, even less.”  Full Story

Tesco, the British chain, has been opening virtual grocery stores in subway stations and bus stops in Seoul, Korea. Commuters use their smartphones to scan and purchase these virtual items, which are delivered to their homes.

…Nonetheless, it is interesting to speculate: Suppose the educational system is drastically altered to reflect the structure of society and what we now understand about how people learn. How will what universities teach be different? Here are some guesses and hopes.  Full NYT opinion article