The book sale ends February 4th. So you have a few more days to get to the downtown branch of the Birmingham Library and scope out the books. The deal is you pay $6 and get an official library re-usable tote to stuff with as many books as you can. The only catch is that your selection is restricted to the “overstock” carts outside of the bookstore. So the books inside the shop (still priced only 50 cents to $2) are off limits.

You can expect lots of Clancy, King and Wouk out on the carts, but there are lots of other things too. Two carts are crammed with newer kids’ books.

Just inside the Friends of the Library shop is the new merch room with lots of branded shirts, mugs cups and bags. It’s worth checking out as well.

UPDATE : OverDrive has released a statement saying that the library system will work with WhisperSync to push notes, bookmarks, etc. to the ebook if you buy it or check it out again. But you still can only download library ebooks via WiFi or the USB cable. /stop/

News broke today that Amazon officially started letting people, in select parts of Washington state, check out and read library books on their Kindles. This program is in partnership with OverDrive, which is a good move I think, but Amazon should have worked harder to integrate. For starters, they’re wrapping all of the ePubs in their proproetary .tpz format. Whatever. But the “ugh” part really kicks in during checkout.

Checking out JCLC books via the OverDrive app is a painless one, once you get the Adobe DRM straight. But Amazon has added a couple more clicks and a couple more steps to the process. So to read library books on your Kindle you:

1. log in to your library
2. check out book
3. which take you to Amazon.com where you have to log in there
4. check out book there which lets you download the file
5. hook your Kindle up via USB, drag and drop the Kindle library book

Now I don’t live in Seattle and have yet to do this myself. I’m very thankful to the Seattle Times crew and their detailed photos and coverage.

I am not a software engineer and I’m sure it’s very hard to get the big independent systems to work together on something as complicated as checking out files that need to expire. But it’s Amazon! If anyone has the customer-centered focus, skills and dollars, to bring harmony to the library>>OverDrive>>Kindle>>library cycle, it’s them.

No word yet on when the rest of the country might get the service, but no doubt Kindle users will be very glad to have access to their library’s ebook collections, no matter how cumbersome the checkout process gets.

It caps out at $10. So if you have $11 in fines, you will need to bring 10 cans and $1. For that you’ll get your overdue library fines erased, help some people in need and get a warm smile from a friendly librarian.

The Friends Bookstore is even entering into the service side of things, as you can now email them (bplfriendsbookstore [at] gmail.com) and ask to be added to the “new stock” distribution list. So every time the shop adds to their shelves, you’ll get an email. Pretty nifty.

They have even left shelf space for the new additions. So you can run in on a lunch break and see if there is anything new, without having to cruise through all the shelves.

The new set-up also sports new reading chairs and more shelf space for kids and teen books.

One of my favorite new tweaks is that now the overstock magazines are folded in with the books. So when you’re looking at the books on history or crafts, the magazines that fit in that category are on the shelf with the books. The shelves also have new bright green category labels and shelf-talkers, making it easier to navigate the sections.

The books still run from 50 cents (paperback) to $2 (hardback). So the prices are sure to keep you coming back.

The store is on the 2nd floor of the downtown brancj and will be open Monday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Sunday, 2:30-5:30 p.m. It is maintained by the Friends of the Birmingham Public Library.

This is going to be BIG!

Here’s the YouTube video that Nate dug up:

This year, Alabama Bound is taking a different track and falling in line with the state-wide The Big Read initiative. It’s still free (except lunch) and runs from 10a-3p, tomorrow (Saturday, march 20th) at the Central Branch in downtown Birmingham. Since this year’s Big Read is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, they are going to have a Mark Twain impersonator, music “from way back” and the Irondale Cafe will be catering. Looks like the weather is going to be nice too!

Over 140 local authors are attending this year to sell, sign books and meet readers. I haven’t been by today, but I did go last year and posted some photos of the author tables winding around the corridors of the library’s first level.

One thing you are guaranteed, if you you make it by the Author Expo… lots of interesting people talking about interesting local topics.

Kudos to the library crew that put this together. You guys should do regular videos featuring historical stories throughout the year.

This week (September 14-18) has been Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Many, many cool blogs have been mentioned and awarded. Congrats to all who participated and won! My RSS reader overfloweth now. Too many great new blogs to keep up with

Publishers Weekly has declared November 7th as the first annual National Bookstore Day. They promise lots of industry coverage and hometown events are in the works. So I’ll pass along any bookstore specific events I hear about here in Birmingham.

Also, head over to Fictional Stimulus site. It’s a new reading-online experiment that kicks off on September 22nd. I honestly have no idea what is in store there, but I’m excited. Basically, you sign up and they send you 12 emails over four weeks which are designed to dole out “introductory tasters” for digital reading. So if you’re curious about the future of reading, books and publishing, you should check it out. It’s a ning site, so let me know when you get your profile set and we can connect. I do hope it’s good. Lots of potential there!

You have just 13 more days to take advantage of the JCLC’s Food for Fines program. That is, for every canned food item you donate to the library, one dollar will be subtracted from your ‘overdue materials’ fines (up to $10). I think all Jefferson County library locations are accepting the can goods donations. It runs through the end of September.

The event kicks off at 6pm and runs until 8:30pm.