A more digital world

Publisher's Weekly reports on the activities at the Digital Book World conference in New York this week. Publishers recognize that tweens and teens are attracted to online media and books must have a presence there if they are to be successful. Authors have discovered that interacting with fans on a website or on Facebook leads to more sales and the development of a loyal audience. Harper Collins now spends more money on its online marketing efforts than on conventional print marketing. Simon & Schuster redesigned its website and got an increase of more than a thousand percent in teen visits. Surely this report is a wake-up call for librarians to increase their online presence. Although libraries can't spend the money that publishers can, they can put their time and energy into developing a Facebook presence and engaging in other social media. Tweeting and texting about new books is surely more effective than producing paper bookmarks for library distribution. This is no time to follow the habits of the past. Let the kids lead the way to the places they find their news and make the library a part of their world.