I just wanted to mention the new Church Street Coffee & Books that’s opening in Crestline Village as first announced over on Magic City Post today. The shop is opening in an recently closed Starbucks and the folks opening in sound like they know what they’re doing:
A limited selection of books will be available, including best sellers, classics, beach reads, children’s literature and staff picks. (The pair plan to add e-books by December). Free wi-fi will also be on hand.
The article says they plan to open mid to late June. It sound a little more coffee shop than bookstore but I hope they get the support they need to take their “limited” selection of books and grow it. Though, they may need more space in there, huh?
And no doubt they’re looking to survive their first few months doing what they’ve been doing. So if they keep the coffee customers coming back then the book sales are sure to follow.
Someone shared Seth Godin’s post The Future of the Library, via Twitter. In it Godin says “Netflix is a better librarian…”. Something that I totally disagree with. I have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old at home. Ninety-five percent of what gets streamed to my house is kids’ programming. From which the Netflix-librarian-bot makes the following not-so-helpful recommendations:
I took these screen shots today and stopped halfway through Page 2 of the recommendations. Now, none of these are offensive (Netflix once recommended Teeth to us, based on VeggieTales and Strawberry Shortcake) , but I’m not sure which one of these programs my Dora-loving 2-year-old would want to watch.
To be fair, Netflix-bot has gotten better over the past year. We really enjoy the service. But they are a looooooong ways away from being “a better librarian.” I do hope you all read Godin’s post, he does end up highlighting the need for people to curate and determine selections. Even if he does over reach with his esteem for bot-driven recommendation engines. People are still better.
Books, Publishing, and Birmingham
