by Anne Welsh and Associates
How would you like to support us AND independent book shops, just by buying books?
Some of you may remember that when we started our newsletter, Beginning Cataloguing Monthly, we looked for affiliate links that share our values.
Now we’re very happy to share that with Bookshop.org having entered the UK market, we have been able to set up an affiliate “shop” at https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/beginningcataloguing.
So far, we’ve added two lists:
Continue reading “Beginning Cataloguing Bookshop”
It’s been six months since Beginning Cataloguing opened for business, although we’d been gearing up and getting things ready for longer, of course. Today’s article provides a brief reflection on some things I’ve learned, in case they are of use to you.
We’re really excited about our newsletter, Beginning Cataloguing Monthly, which we’re sending to subscribers next Tuesday and which features a range of exclusive content not available elsewhere on our website, blog, or social media.
The lead feature is our Cataloguing Careers series, in which each month we ask a different person 5 questions about their route into the profession. We are absolutely delighted to feature Emma Booth as our interviewee this month. As well as being E-Resources Metadata Specialist at the University of Manchester Library, Emma is the author of the National Acquisitions Group’s report Quality of Shelf-ready Metadata, which is our Metadata Must-read for September.
The Metadata Must-read is one of the Beginnings Bookshelves, which also consists of a Classic Cataloguer, an Associate’s Choice of leisure reading, and a Body in the Library – a new book selected from our project researching crime fiction set in libraries. It’s one that we received as an Advanced Reader Copy, so is different from those on the @bodiesinthelibrary Instagram.
Beginning Cataloguing Monthly also includes a Typo Tip-off and a Metadata Muddle, for which you can suggest solutions and possibly win a free place at one of our upcoming seminars.
All this alongside listings of our events and recent publications, and a newsletter loyalty freebie or discount.
Apart from the listings, all Beginning Cataloguing Monthly content is exclusive to newsletter subscribers. Sign up before Tuesday to receive the first issue.
Image: Emma Booth’s profile picture on Twitter and LinkedIn. Reproduced with permission.
We’ve made an important change to the way we link to some online book sites.
While investigating best practice for creating our newsletter, which will launch next month, we decided to introduce affiliate links. There’s a straightforward article about how these work on The Guardian website. Essentially, each time someone clicks on an affiliate link, we make a few pence.
Don’t worry – we’re not going down the road of product placement, shoe-horning links to, I don’t know, fishtanks or phishfood ice-cream into our writing. Several major book sites to which we link anyway – Abe, Abe UK, Betterworld Books, Foyles and Waterstones – offer affiliate links, and so all we’ve done is convert those. (See our book publications page for examples). We’re also not stopping linking to places that don’t offer affiliate links. Facet, who publish books by both Katharine Schopflin and me, will always be the first place we link for those books, and we’re still linking to WorldCat and other library catalogues.
The only change, from our point of view, is that when we link to Abe or Betterworld, for example, we’ll use the affiliate links they offer.
From your point of view, you should be aware that affiliate links use cookies. You can opt out of this here.
We continue to support independent bookshops, ordering directly from them where we can. However, I find Abe helpful to find rare books and, indeed, bookshops that are new to me. The books pictured in today’s shelfie were all tracked down via them this summer, when I had to replace the collection of old books that is still locked down in my old office, while campus is closed for Covid-19. I have supported Betterworld Books since it first launched, with its regular donations of books to others. It’s my preferred way to dispose of unwanted collections of textbooks, knowing most will find good homes.
I’ve commissioned Andy Horton (BPP University), who wrote his Masters thesis on corporate book donation schemes, to write a Beginnings article on this topic. I’m also commissioning some pieces on indies. If you have a favourite independent bookshop, especially if it trades in second-hand or rare books, and would like to submit a piece to the blog, do get in touch via email to find out about how we commission and remunerate guest posts.
If you have any concerns about our use of affiliate links, you can get in touch directly via info [at] beginningcataloguing.com
Addendum, 17 December 2020:
With the launch of bookshop.org in the UK, we have set up an affiliate “shop” at https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/beginningcataloguing.
Read more about it at https://beginningcataloguing.com/about-beginnings/beginning-cataloguing-bookshop.
It just occurred to me that while we’re still working on the format for our newsletter and, not wanting to overwhelm the excellent LIS-UKBIBS mailing list with too many emails, it might be useful to provide you with a snapshot of what’s currently open for booking on the Beginning Cataloguing Online School, and provide you with a sneaky peek of what’s under development and coming soon:
Continue reading “Currently Booking: Bibliography, eBooks and Masterclass Recordings”