Just announced and sent courtesy of the johnny-on-the-spot Ramune Kubilius (Galter Health Sciences Library Northwestern University)! Wolters Kluwer Health intends to acquire UpToDate, the evidence-based electronic clinical information resource. This acquisition (expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008 pending regulatory approval) will strengthen Wolters Kluwer Health's portfolio in the growing point of care and electronic medical record markets by expanding its product and services offerings. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. UpToDate is expected to generate annualized projected revenue of $80 million in 2008. UpToDate has approximately 250 employees and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts with international sales offices in the Netherlands and Japan. UpToDate collaborates with some 3,800 physician experts, who use their clinical experience and review of the latest research to create recommendations on how to diagnose and treat thousands of conditions in 13 medical specialties. Nearly 320,000 clinicians in 130 countries, thousands of patients and the majority of academic medical centers in the U.S. look to UpToDate for clinical guidance, practice guidelines, peer-reviewed articles, photographs, and X-ray illustrations. UpToDate is accessible through the Web, desktop and PDA.
http://www.uptodate.com
http://www.WKHealth.com
http://www.wolterskluwer.com

It's Friday the 5 September in Charleston and we are tracking three hurricane/tropical storms (Hanna, Ike, Josephine). This time of year is always nerve-wracking with all the speculation when the storm, or whatever, is thousands of miles away and the tracks are never predictable. Anyway, here we sit, work is called off, the bridges are closed, it is raining off and on and very windy, so we are just waiting, counting our batteries, water bottles, and candles. Reminiscent of Hugo, the terrible hurricane that went through Charleston in 1989, the year we started Against the Grain! But I am a superstitious optimist, keeping my fingers and toes crossed. Registration for the Charleston Conference continues apace, still running at twice the number registered this year as were registered at the same time last year. Come on down! (But not now!)

Hooray! Have just learned that our own Richard E. Abel, known as the “father of the modern day library approval plan” and founder of numerous publishing presses including Timber Press, has been selected as the recipient of the 2008 Jack D. Rittenhouse Award by Publishers Association of the West. Richard Abel was selected from a slate of nominees for having established vibrant and profitable publishing businesses that serve as a model to his colleagues. As we all know from his memoirs currently being published in the print edition of Against the Grain, Richard worked in a bookstore, became a bookstore owner, started a private press for limited edition books, founded a company that grew into an international library distributor, founded a book marketing and distribution company, started a trade publishing company that has grown into a well respected mid-sized publisher, and is the author of numerous articles and a forthcoming book. Presentation of the Riittenhouse Award will take place at PubWest’s annual National Publishing Conference and Book Industry Trade Show in Portland, OR on Saturday, November 15, 2008. The Rittenhouse Award is given annually in memory of Jack D. Rittenhouse, the West’s consummate bookman. During his long career, Rittenhouse was a writer, bookseller, publisher, lecturer, and mentor. He left a lasting mark on the book community, both in his work and with the people who followed him and this award was established as a way to honor those who have made outstanding contributions to the book community in the West. Prior winners of the Rittenhouse Award are Jene and Jetta Lyon (1991), Fred Pruett (1992), David Flaccus (1993), Dwight and Carol Myers (1994), Gordon Saull (posthumously in 1995), Tom Auer (1996), Joyce Meskis (1997), Tony Hillerman (1998), Katharine J. McCanna (1999), Lisa Knudsen (2000), Robert C. Baron (2001), Mary Powell (2002), Fredrick A. Praeger (posthumously in 2003), Dick and Judy Noyes (2004), Elizabeth A. Geiser (2005), Linda Ligon (2006) and Gibbs Smith (2007).
http://www.pubwest.org

Senator John McCain's announcement on Friday that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be his vice presidential running mate created an unexpected demand for Palin's biography (released in April 2008), published by Epicenter Press: Sarah -- How a Hockey Mom turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down -- by the author Kaylene Johnson (ISBN 978-0-9800825-6-2. To meet the sudden and significant volume of bookseller orders, Epicenter turned to the Ingram Publisher Services and Lightning Source Inc. for the immediate manufacture and shipment of books to retail booksellers. David "Skip" Prichard, CEO of Ingram Lightning Group, said: "A relatively obscure book became the 'must read' for everyone following the closely contested presidential race." Ingram approached Epicenter Press on August 29, shortly after the announcement of Gov. Palin's selection as Senator McCain's running mate. Lightning Source was instrumental in assisting Epicenter Press with the conversion of the original hardcopy version of the title to a trade paperback edition. Within only a few hours of receiving the files from Epicenter Press on Friday evening, Lightning Source was printing books, with over 30,000 copies printed to date. John R. Ingram, Chairman of the Ingram content companies, commended the Ingram team as "yet another example of how print on demand can minimize order loss and maximize sales for publishers." Since its founding in 1988 in Fairbanks, Alaska, Epicenter Press Inc. has become a leading trade book publisher of general nonfiction titles about Alaska, and a leading publisher of books about sled dog racing and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The Ingram content companies provide a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. The content companies are Ingram Digital, Lightning Source Inc., Ingram Book Company, Ingram International Inc., Ingram Library Services Inc., Coutts Information Services, Ingram Periodicals Inc., Ingram Publisher Services Inc., Spring Arbor Distributors Inc., and Tennessee Book Company LLC.
http://www.lightningsource.com
http://www.epicenterpress.com

Rush out and buy the October 2008 issue of Esquire magazine, hitting newstands in September. Reportedly, Esquire, celebrating its 75th anniversary, will release the October issue with an electronic paper cover featuring "words and images that scroll across the flexible electronic page." Also the inside cover will contain the "first e-paper advertisement, with automaker Ford pitching its new Flex vehicle in a double-page ad." 100,000 copies will be printed. Pretty cool, right? Who said librarianship was dull?
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/
http://lisnews.org/node/31039/

Am learning about caring for a baby again. My grandson Trifon has been visiting since Friday morning (without his parents who are on vacation with friends at the isle of Palms). He is a handful but very very cute. We are having lots of fun. He is crawling everywhere and into everything and he's just 8 months!

We returned from Wilmington on Friday morning just in time to go to the airport to pick up Trifon and parents. We had visited my father-in-law in Wilmington who has endocarditis. He appeared to be doing better but has since had a stroke and is in a coma. Very sad.

Tomorrow we do not have the day off so it's business as usual except that I will be taking the day off anyway. Happy Labor Day to all and especially to those of you who have the day off!

So a tech buddy at App State sent me a link from the Palm Pilot site and it DOES TOO synch with MS Office 2007 - Success! This was the highlight of my week - So now I have managed to transfer my address book over to the IPhone by way of MS Office 2007. I feel very clever for having been able to figure this out.

WOW! Just heard from Geane DeLima, Executive Director of the newly-created (5 months ago, no less!) Miller-McCune Center for Research, Media and Public Policy. The tag line is "turning research into solutions." We might have thought that Sara was retired, but no siree! Geane -- who has attended the Charleston Conference many times -- says that the Center was created to promote the results and promise of academic research in solving current issues to the general public. They are publishing articles, research briefs, and stories (in accessible language) in a consumer-like magazine that is national and mailed to about 100,000 subscribers. They also run a website with daily news and stories. Like I said, WOW! Check it out!
htp://www.miller-mccune.com

Had a great visit with John Baudassi (ProQuest) the other day. The new ProQuest Entrepreneurship database is intriguing but too expensive for us at the College given that we just lost $1.8 million in funding from the State of SC!

Was just reading Eleanor Cook's blog this morning. After reading her comments, I am thinking seriously about buying an IPhone (if I can afford it, and probably after my contract runs out on my old cell phone.). Time (and budget) will tell.

Now I'm heading off to Wilmington, NC, where my 94-year-old father-in-law is hospitalized with endocarditis. Please keep him in your prayers.

So now, on top of the Iphone I just purchased for myself, I now have a (small) travel laptop issued to me from work. Such an embarrassment of riches! But right now I am still more comfortable with my good old desk top at home -- but if I want, I now can compute on the couch in the family room like Joe does.

I have gone from frustratingly dead in the water to almost there - if I can just get the d^&*n home printer to work I'll be happy and that solution has been suggested and I think I can handle it!

The bad news is that Palm Pilot will NOT work with MS 2007 -- period.