ALA 2026

Here’s a sign of the times. Oxford University Press’ booth at the American Library Association’s 150th Annual Conference in June in Chicago features nary a book. Seems like others still believe that libraries are interested in print books! In a nice simultaneous announcement Publishing Perspectives brings us a story under the title “Better Late Than Never: Late Adoption of POD Brings PRH’s Titles to U.S. Libraries” Carlo Carrenho’s piece on late adoption of Print on demand. (It’s the second story there.) The oddest thing about this story is perhaps that it’s a story at all. Even “anti-book” OUP have been using print-on-demand for years. If Penguin Random House set up lots of backlist titles at Lightning Source then presumably any customer, wholesaler, library, bookstore or even individual could get a copy. “After researching which high-demand books often become unavailable, particularly in libraries’ preferred hardcover format, ILS and PRH have created a set of 200 titles by authors…