The killing of Osama bin Laden is an epic story with many facets and countless implications. And while people around the world hunger for every shred and scrap of new information, only a few know the real details.

To satisfy the desire for informed observations, we reached out to our farflung network of well-placed sources -- not necessarily to uncover some stunning piece of information everyone had overlooked -- but instead to get a feel for how people with relevant experience are tracking the story, and to find out what questions they’re asking about what comes next.

We heard back from a former CIA agent, former Special Forces, former FBI, a State Department employee stationed in Kabul, military intelligence and a Middle Eastern expert, among others. Many told us they are most curious about the role Pakistan played in hiding and harboring bin Laden, and they’ll be closely watching how U.S.-Pakistan relations evolve from here. A retired FBI agent who now works as a security consultant and is an expert in non-coercive interrogation told us anonymously that if he were looking into Pakistan’s role, he'd:

"find street-level police officers in places like Karachi, Baluchistan FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas], etc. who are willing to provide information. Some street cops had to know, at a minimum, that Bin Laden's residence was highly sensitive."

Albert Petite is a former member of the Special Forces. When he heard the news, he found himself imagining the intense back-room discussions that preceded the raid on bin Laden's compound.

"I would love to know what behind-the-scenes lobbying took place with regards to which branch would execute this mission. My guess is that it was fierce, but I don't know this. I am also eager to hear triangulation on the report that he was in fact buried at sea."

Petite says bin Laden's death was mainly symbolic, "the man has been irrelevant for years," he says. "I am looking for good coverage of what comes next, the unintended consequences, if you will."

Specifically, now that the source of so much paranoia and emotional politics has been put to rest, Petite says he is "hoping, perhaps against hope, that now the States can start thinking seriously about policy issues."

One of the key policy discussions already underway is about the United States' mission in Afghanistan. Jim White is particularly attuned to the debate. He’s a State Department employee stationed in Kabul, working as a Political-Military Plans officer. "I suspect that there will be increasing pressure by the peoples of the NATO/U.S. to reduce our presence in Afghanistan," he says. He guesses that "the overriding theme of national leaders of all branches of government will be to 'declare victory' and increasingly look inward to domestic concerns/issues regardless of international events."

Tops on the post-Osama bin Laden policy agenda for 30-year CIA veteran Jack Davis is oil. Davis worked on teams studying satellite photography, investigating weapons of mass destruction, studying Soviet and Chinese weapons systems, and tracking bin Laden -- which he won't talk about. 

"When significant developments like this occur," Davis says, "I have learned to ignore all the fluff and repetition for several weeks until a more coherent and objective assessment comes together."

Think of it as processing film: It takes some time and patience to let the image come into focus. And the picture Davis is focusing his attention on has nothing to do with terrorism, or who succeeds OBL, or whether Pakistan will be held accountable for possibly harboring the most-wanted terrorist. He's thinking about the price of crude.

"You should let the following sink in, really sink in. It is a fact. It is not conjecture. It is scientifically obvious. Here it is: The world we live in has finite resources which we must have as a species to survive. Further, we are culturally, religiously, and politically biased to ignore this obvious fact. This includes oil which is at the core of the American presence in the MENA [Middle East and North Africa]."

Oil prices are an important piece of the bigger picture, as is U.S. spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which, according to Middle Eastern historian Andrea Stanton, Islamic extremists point to as evidence of their "impending victory." She closely tracks the rhetoric of Anwar al-Awlaki (a dual citizen of the United States and Yemen and a key radical figure) as well as Inspire, the magazine published by Samir Khan for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

"What I see in Awlaki's speeches is the argument that the US spending more money and attention on extremists is a sign of their impending victory -- for two reasons. First, because God is bringing the world to a black/white state of final confrontation. Second, because the US is spending tons of money while the mujahidin are spending little -- economic terrorism, if you will. In Inspire, what I see is a general respect for bin Laden, but a much stronger focus on men like Awlaki as actual guiding lights."

If your work or experience has you paying attention to particular aspects of this ongoing story, and you're interested in sharing your experience, please click here: Respond.

- Andrew Haeg, Public Insight Editor

Photo credit: Kevin Harber via Flickr

Talks about privatizing government services are happening at every level of government. Rep.Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) introduced a budget bill that would partially privatize Medicare. Lawmakers in Ohio are debating privatizing its prisons and the city of San Carlos, Calif. considers privatizing the fire department.

The main argument for privatization is that it will save money and be more efficient than programs run by the government. New York City, however, is actually taking the opposite tack to save money. They have found that it will be cheaper to have high-tech projects done in-house rather than hiring contractors and consultants, which have proved too costly.

Suffice to say, privatization is hot, and fraught. We wanted to get at the truth behind the rhetoric, and so we asked government employees and contractors in the Public Insight Network what questions they had for each other in hopes that they could bring light to areas of this debate that should be getting more attention.

Two aspects were particularly interesting to me as I read through the questions – and the answers. Is the government shooting itself in the foot by getting into contracts that will prove costlier over time? And will they lose their highly-skilled workers to boot?

1) Long-term costs v. short-term savings

Just as New York City seems to have found out, many government employees responded that they have actually seen costs go up   the longer they’ve been contracting out for services.

Oftentimes, sources tell us, companies come in with a low bid, only to jack up the price later on.

John Hamilton of Madison, Wis. found this out in the early ‘90s. He writes, “I worked for a family owned school bus company that had the contract with the public school system where I lived. An interstate corporation (Vancom, eventually sold to Laidlaw) came in, underbid the local company, then demanded renegotiation of the contract.” 

There's a good reason for that strategy, says Jack Ungerleider, an IT professional who has worked as a contractor. He says contractors bid below cost to get the work, and then raise the price later to what they would normally charge.

Submitting the bid is a sales function and some contractors will bid low to "get a foot in the door.'"  Often times this will be done as a way to allow the client to get comfortable with the contractor. Maybe it's a short contract that is bid at a lower rate to prove that the contractor has the ability to do the job. Once that contract is completed and everyone is satisfied that the contractor can do the job then they bid the next contract at their regular prices.

It's not clear whether this is a common sales practice. But if it is, the observations several sources have shared of steadily rising prices on contracts would make sense

2) Government employee brain drain. 

Seattle Department of Transportation employee Mark Mazzola first got us thinking about this when he posed the question: "Does privatizing government functions have the potential to result in a sort of "brain drain," where knowledge and experience is shifted away from the public sector?"

In all the talk about financial cost, the cost in human capital is being left out of the debate.

Several sources pointed out to us that the government is stripping itself of highly-experienced workers by contracting out highly-specific work. Susan Dellinger of Raleigh, N.C. worked as federal government contractor for 20 years. She sums up the conundrum:

Eventually, as the government sheds employess who are capable of doing the technical work, the government employees left will have no technical competency AT ALL. The contractor will fill their workforce with warm bodies capable of billing for their time but not producing quality or timely work, and the government managers won't know the difference.

So what’s the proper path? To privatize or not to privatize? Jump in on the conversation in the comments.

I'm just going to put it right out there. Women's clothing sizes are not helpful. Consider the following images. Same person, same month, no major changes in body size or type (I would know; it's me).

How does this even happen? What does this say about how we're marketed and sold to? And are we (the shoppers) participating in or even -- the cause of -- sizes changing and varying so drastically? After a New York Times article on a new sizing machine caught our eye this week, we turned to clothes designers, retailers and sources in the Public Insight Network to make sense of this.

First, a word on "vanity sizing". As The New York Times notes, a woman who wore a size 14 in 1937 would wear a size zero today. There may have been a time when people were fooled, and some perhaps still are. If it makes us feel better, what's the big deal? 

Kathleen Fasenella, a pattern maker, blogger, and author of The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing, says it's not done to make us feel better. In other words, vanity sizing is a myth.

What people describe as vanity sizing is the practice of sizing to the mean. That is what sizing must do because people's bodies evolve. At best it could be called size inflation but it has NOTHING to do with inflating people's egos and everything to do with increasing girth of U.S. waistlines upping the average size. It has to do with arcane production practices people don't understand. Garment costing is based on the average size. If the average size increases, it affects all other sizes. It is necessary in order to buy the correct amount of yardage, etc.

And when it comes to fixing women's sizes, Kathleen says, "Better sizing hang tags could reduce ambiguity and more detailed specs at the point of sale would be helpful too. Yes, I know consumers often don't know their measures but with this information, the onus is on them."

But talking to Kathleen I still didn't understand: How are women's sizes so different? How did the sizing industry get this way? If men's clothes can be measured by inches, why can't women's? And why can't there be a decree to all designers saying, "Hey everyone. We're doing inches now. Go forth, and resize!"

First of all, Kathleen told me it's pattern makers that deal with sizing, not designers, and they're often flying blind when it comes to sizing. She will ask her client who they aspire for their clothes to "hang with" (which is cool industry-speak for "be displayed close to in the store"), and then she'll try to figure out the magic of that brand's sizing and replicate it.

Then -- and I'm still reeling from this revelation -- Kathleen told me that with our disposable income increasing over the last 30 to 40 years, people are adopting the attitude of seeing something they want, and buying it, regardless of if the product was meant for them. Stay with me here.

If I walked into a tutu shop and asked for their finest tutu in a size 4 (because I'm a dress size 4, remember from the picture?) and I tried on the skirt in the dressing room, I probably wouldn't be able to breathe. Why? Because I'm not a ballerina, and that skirt was designed for someone the size of a dancer. Similarly, if I walked into a Western shop and asked for a shirt in my size, the sleeves would be too long. Why? Because many Western shirts are designed with longer sleeves so people riding horses and holding onto the reigns will have their arms covered.

Point being: sizing is an unbelievably complex process. If it were as simple as everyone thinks it is, we wouldn't have these problems. And sometimes, the clothes you're buying that you think are in your size might not even be meant for you.

But why do guys have it easier? Great question. A lot of it has to do with the difference between menswear and womenswear companies. Kathleen says 68 percent of womenswear companies have fewer than 20 employees and produce small lines aimed at very specific types of people. They therefore can't decide to suddenly change the way they size their clothes, especially when they are aspiring to "hang next to" other brands that use the regularly way of sizing. Menswear companies, conversely, are larger, produce more commodities, have fewer styling changes, more predictability between seasons, and, as Kathleen says, men are going to buy Dockers year after year.

We were also lucky to hear from Terri Spaeth-Merrick, a clothing designer from Portland, Ore., who said as a designer of custom clothing as well as ready-to-wear clothing in standard sizes, she sees individual fit issues all the time. Also, being 5'11", she says it's difficult to find pants herself that are long enough. She says pants are hard to fit in the first place because of all the variation in the complex curves of that part of the body, and then add in the length issue and your choices get extremely limited.

Here's Terri's take on why standard sizes are near impossible to perfect.

Two women can have the exact same bust, waist and hip measurements, but because of their posture or physical build could not wear the same clothing. For example take a 36" bust circumference measurement, a woman who is very athletic and has a strong back could use a good portion of that 36" across the back of her body and have a smaller bust while another woman with the same 36" bust circumference measurement could have a small back and fuller bustline. A garment with a 36" measurement would not necessarily fit both of them.

And now to address some of your questions. Martha Moyer from Elmendorf, Tex. wrote in saying she feels like clothing designers neglect to address style in older people. She says "We never see an older person shown in any catalog or advertisement. We don't wear those short short skirts or pants that dip down low."

Kathleen said there are two answers: First, one of the biggest gaps in the marketplace is sizing for women age 55+. Part of the problem, is what do you call that size? The "seasoned" look? "Silver sizing" (Kathleen's idea)? There just hasn't been an industry-wide way to refer to older women's sizes, which is a marketing problem. But secondly, it's a responsibility on the part of consumers. If you're shopping for grandma at The Gap or American Eagle, you're not going to find what you want. But if you're looking at department stores or Chico's, your chances are better. If those aren't working, shop at smaller stores or  boutiques. There are clothing lines out there for everyone, but if you're not finding it where you're shopping -- shop somewhere else.

We also got a few questions about the machine mentioned above, called MyBestFit. Barb Portinga is a theatrical costume designer from St. Louis Park, Minn., and her normal mode of operation is to carry her tape measure into stores. Barb wondered if using the device is free, how it works, what the plan is for discount items, and whether it works for shoes.

(photo from www.mybestfit.com/)

Using the machine is free. The scan takes 10 seconds, but the process start to finish takes about 10 minutes. You register some basic demographic information, step in (clothed), get scanned by a rotating wand, then create your own shopping guide where you can filter the list by brand, style, price or retailer. From what I can tell, shoe-sizing is not included.

Here's the kicker though. As of right now, there is only one up-and-running machine. It's located in a mall in Philadephia and there will be 13 more in malls in California and along the East Coast by the end of the year.

I also wanted to call attention to a great comment we got on our post introducing this topic yesterday. Erica Lurie, owner/designer of Garnish Apparel out of Portland, Ore., has tried a completely different tactic when it comes to sizing the clothes she designs and patterns.

So many women attach a portion of their self image to that number on their dress tag that we have replaced the traditional sizes with positive adjectives like Superfine for Small and Extra Hot for Extra Large. This allows us to promote a positive body image at any size. Also, by presenting a unique system it helps our customers distance themselves from their traditional expectations and desires of their own size and allows us to encourage them to buy the size that fits them, rather than the size they would prefer to be.

If you also would like to share questions, answers, your philosophy, or your experiences, I invite you to join the conversation in the comment section below. Thanks!

- Anna Weggel, Public Insight Analyst

Economic activity is picking up. Yet, few companies are hiring, which means for many employees, longer hours and more work to do. With that in mind (along with Steve Carell's last night on The Office), we thought we'd take this opportunity to explore the relationship between bosses and employees.

We think this issue is a great topic for a current project we're working on with our network of 100,000 sources, and we're calling it "Call and Response," where we pair groups of people in the network and ask them to pose questions to each other. We know most sources in our network have probably had a boss at one time or another, and we'd like to give you the opportunity to ask our bosses in the network anything you want.

Share your bossy questions here.

Maybe it's something you've always wanted to ask your boss, or maybe it's something that you're simply curious about. Whatever it is, ask away. We'll connect your questions with bosses, and we'll get back to both of you with a summary

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Anna Weggel, Public Insight Analyst

American Public Media

aweggel@americanpublicmedia.org

Whether it's coffee, oil, gold, silver or corn, prices of many commodities the average American counts on are at or near historical highs. To help us understand the cause and effect of these soaring prices, we turned to sources in the Pubic Insight Network to share stories and ask questions of each other.

Augusto Carneiro's family owns Nossa Coffee, based in Portland Ore. Higher prices cut into Nossa's profits, and force him to raise his prices. He's got one advantage: Nossa grows coffee too, and so gets more for every pound they grow and sell.

The high coffee prices creates challenges for our business, as we have to operate at lower margins and have no other option but to pass on some of the increases so that we can continue to to pay competitive wages and retain our workforce. The OK part about it is that all our 'friends' in the coffee industry (competitors), are in the same boat. Prices on the shelves are already higher, and cafes are starting to raise prices too. My family grows coffee and so they are on the other side of the equation, happy to be getting better prices for their hard work. Unfortunately their payoff could be higher if the dollar was higher.

Mark Magers is CEO of Divine Chocolate, a Fair Trade chocolate supplier based out of London. They buy all of their Fair Trade cocoa from the same co-op in Ghana which has an ownership stake in the Divine brand. Higher prices can be good for the farmers, provided the rising cost of  inputs doesn't eat into their profits. 

Where prices go from here is, of course, a mystery. Carneiro's strategy now is to thoroughly understand the market, so he can best predict his family's operating costs. One X factor: how much hedge funds are playing in the price run-up. We asked Helen Russell, co-founder and CEO of Equator Coffees and Teas for her take. She's had to raise coffee prices for her wholesale customers by $1.50 to $2 a pound, which translates to a 10 to 12 cents a cup increase for the average retail consumer.

She sees mostly supply and demand pressures behind the run-up. 

Increase in world population and living standards have fueled demand for super-premium coffees among affluent professionals in Brazil, India, Russia and China. On the supply side, unpredictable weather patterns, causing heavy rains has limited coffee production across major growing regions in Colombia, Central America and Indonesia. It will take several years for coffee production to get back to acceptable levels to meet demand. The lower dollar and increase for all raw materials could be driving speculation as well.

Commodities trader William Mouser from Waxahachie, Tex. has a first-hand perspective on speculative trading. If he's right, it appears that speculation is playing no small part in the commodity price run-up.  

If one queries individual investors in the forums I frequent, almost all of them will affirm they have moved as much of their assets into commodities (precious metals, Exchange Traded Funds trading in oil, agricultural products, etc.) as possible, in anticipation of runaway inflation of the US currency.

What’s your take? Share your insights in the comments.

Today we're going to be exploring a new development in clothes sizing. Several department stores on the coasts are setting up new body-scanners to help people figure out what their true size is. "What's the big deal?" you might ask, especially if you shop only rarely, or if you're a guy.

But women know why this matters, and there are some questions beyond the convenience of shoppers that we think merit some attention and discussion. 

Watch the video for an introduction to today's topic, and click here to share your questions or expertise.

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These days, all levels of the government are feeling the fiscal pinch. States are debating how to close enormous budget gaps, and proposals to outsource certain government functions to private contractors inevitably are popping up around the country.

We know that contracting raises a lot of questions (i.e. does contracting actually save money?), and we'd like to hear yours.

It's part of our Call & Response project , where we turn to the Network for both the questions and the answers, and we report back with what we've learned in the process.

Today we're asking government employees and those who work in industries that often receive government contracts to submit questions they'd like to have answered by the group.

Tomorrow, we'll feed those questions back to you. A journalist at American Public Media will write up a summary of what we learn, post it on our Call & Response blog, and send you a link.

Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you.

The thing that’s most exciting to me about this Call & Response project is that the questions we receive from sources are grounded in a wealth of knowledge and expertise. They raise questions that we may never think to ask – or be able to frame in a way that only someone with deep expertise and insight could.

Case in point: Peggy Callahan and Ronald Refsnider. Both of these sources have been deeply involved in the management of the grey wolf population in Minnesota and brought years of experience and insight to the questions  they asked.  

The answers to their questions helped me see how science had become so entangled with politics and litigation –  forcing scientists like Refsnider and Callahan to spend more of their time on minutiae instead of on understanding the complicated and delicate ecological picture that wolves are an integral part of.

Ronald Refsnider summed up his experience:
 

I am a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) endangered species biologist. I was deeply involved in recovery, reclassification, and delisting of the gray wolf in the Midwest for about 20 years. I was not a "field biologist" but rather a Twin Cities Regional Office "listing coordinator" with a great deal of knowledge of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the varying viewpoints on wolf recovery/delisting, and the numerous wolf lawsuits. I also served briefly as a consultant to the Justice Department for wolf litigation after I retired. I retired early from FWS in frustration, because wolf litigation was taking up far more of my time that was taken up by biology. ESA decisions are supposed to be science-based, but they became litigation-based. Now we have reached the bottom of the decline--the wolf decisions are being dictated by Congress.

 

And Peggy Callahan:

I am the Director of an education and research facility north of the Twin Cities that studies behavior, physiology and social/political issues surrounding the gray wolf. We also study methods of conflict resolution in matters that effect humans and large predators. I served as an advisor to the MN Wolf Roundtable in the 1990's and watched an unprecedented consensus be reached by stakeholders from drastically different perspectives. This experience led me to believe we would see delisting in the late '90s, and my facility (the Wildlife Science Center) hosted Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit in 1998 for just such an announcement. Somehow, the harmony established during those meetings evaporated and more litigation ensued. Several years past and the courts ruled in favor of delisting, so once again the Wildlife Science Center was asked to host the announcement, this time under Interior Secretary Gale Norton in 2004.

Both scientists, both frustrated by the politics of the situation. Edward Lagace, a park ranger and hunter from Fountain City, Wis. asked, “Why must we see only black and white? There is a compromise here, is there not?”

Minnesota offers a glimmer of hope for the conflict we’re currently seeing in western states. They have found compromise even if it remains unpopular with some. Refsnider shared what’s worked in the Midwest:

My opinion is that the Depts. of Natural Resources in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan have each developed wolf management plans that are compromises. Each state is zoned. Wolves in one or more zones are stringently protected, while in the rest of the state they have less, sometimes little protection. The zones with less protection for wolves are the agricultural and more developed portions of each state. Each state's wolf management plan ensures the survival of a viable wolf population, while containing clear provisions for the removal of problem wolves anywhere. "Problem wolf" is reasonably defined in each plan. So yes, in the Midwest a compromise solution has been found. The problem is that the more extreme organizations and individuals (on both ends of the spectrum) don't support the compromise because they don't trust each other.

What’s your take? Can other states find compromise? Can we move away from litigation and politics when deciding these matters?

Share your insights in the comments.

Photo credit: goXunuReviews

There are many for whom the phrase “page-turner” can still be taken literally. But an increasing number of Americans are more likely to scroll through the latest best seller, sliding their finger across the smooth screen of their e-reader when they finish a page. 

This has been good news for e-book sellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But for libraries, the rise of the e-reader is a bit more complicated. 

Libraries know they need to bulk up on digital titles, but that costs money, and money’s been tight in recent years - so tight many libraries have experienced cuts to programs, cuts to staff and cuts to hours of operation. 

Yet, the question of how to remain relevant while the doors are open still lingers, and is on the minds of a number of librarians in the Public Insight Network. We were curious about this, too, so we initiated a conversation. We asked librarians and booksellers in the Network what questions they had for readers of e-books. We then passed those questions along to the Kindle, iPad, and Nook users within our source network.

The questions from the librarians reflected a clear desire to get a handle on the needs and habits of those who prefer to access their books digitally.

Librarian Jill Wagy of Durham, North Carolina wanted to know if readers of e-books think it’s an acceptable trade-off for the library to buy fewer print copies of books in order to purchase more electronic ones. The response to that question was a bit surprising: “No.” Or, at least “not yet,” the Network’s digital readers said. 

“While I'd love to be able to check out books on my Kindle,” said Margaret Rasmussen of Waunakee, Wisconsin, “it is more important that the library have a copy for someone to read who is unable to buy the-book, let alone an e-reader.”

The general consensus among those who responded was that once e-readers become more affordable libraries should make a bigger investment in e-books. But there is a risk to waiting. Marie Lambeck, a high school principal in Lansing, Illinois, says she simply doesn’t read hard-copy books anymore, so if her library doesn’t have e-books, she won’t be using her library.

Sharon Malenfant, chair of the board of trustees at her local library in New Hampshire, says that librarians have to strike a balance. She answers librarian Wagy's question with "a precautionary yes." But, she says, it's not a one-size-fits-all issue. Her advice to librarians is assess your patrons needs, consider the demographic make-up of the community, look at your budget, then decide how much you want to invest in e-books. 

Read more highlights of the conversation between librarians and e-book readers below.

Librarian Jill Wagy of Durham, NC asks: Is it an acceptable trade-off for the library to buy fewer print copies of books in order to purchase e-books?

Margaret Rasmussen, stay-at-home-mom, Waunakee, Wisc.: “Libraries are for everyone. While I'd love to be able to check out books on my Kindle, it is more important that the library have a copy for someone to read who is unable to buy the-book, let alone an e-reader.”

Sharon Malenfant, chair of local library board of trustees, Tamworth, N.H.: “I would say a precautionary "yes" -- depends on your patrons' needs, community demographics, budget, etc. Should be balanced.”

Brian Filipiak, project leader at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mich.: Right now, the model for libraries to loan e-books seems too clunky. I'm not sure if it's necessary for them to be in the e-book business. Also, if Harper Collins puts a 26-read cap on e-books, then no, libraries should stay away from at least Harper Collins titles.

Haddayr Copley-Woods, marketing writer, Minneapolis, Minn.: “No. E-books are, right now, for middle class people like me who can afford them. I hate the thought that folks who can't afford e-readers would miss out on books so I can have some convenience.”

Marie Limback, high school principal, Lansing, Ill.: “I wish librarians would actively embrace e-books and make them available for e-readers. I might be more inclined to borrow an e-book than I am to borrow a paper one simply because I don't really read paper books anymore at all. “

Megan Taylor, Arvada, Colo.: “I would love, love, love it if kindle-compatible e-books were available from my library. I've been dreaming about that idea since I first learned what an e-book was. I would also love it if I could get a copy of the e-book when I bought the hardcover version of a book. And if e-books were transferable between people.”

School librarian Anne Harlan of Washington, DC asks: In which situations, if any, do you prefer a printed book? And in which situations do you prefer e-books?

Sharon Malenfant, chair of local library board of trustees, Tamworth, N.H.: “E-books are good for on-the-go, waiting at the dentist or doctor's, sitting under the dryer at the hair salon. Real books for reading in bed at night, laying on the couch on rainy days, sitting on the porch on a sunny day.”

Johannes Ruscheinski, book and comic book collector, San Diego, Calif.: “I am a collector and I always prefer printed books for my collection which is huge. (Thousands of books and tens of thousands of comic books.) For taking with me, I would always prefer e-books. I spend a lot of time commuting on public buses where I almost exclusively read e-books daily.”

Janet Vandenabeele, office manager, Detroit, Mich.: “I like print for textbooks, books about travel or where color pictures and graphics are key to the presentation. I have some Kindle recipe-books, but I wouldn't want all my cookbooks to be without lush photography. But for fiction and some popular nonfiction, e-books are fine. Same for classics that are out of copyright.”

School librarian Becksvoort of New Gloucester, ME asks: How do you organize your collection? What do you do with the e-book when you're finished with it?

Brian Filipiak, project leader at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mich.: “What do I do with it when I'm finished? Huh. Hadn't really thought about that. They just sit there, waiting to be read again, I guess.” 

Haddayr Copley-Woods, marketing writer, Minneapolis, Minn.: “I am worried that the slow-moving publishing industry will not get on board with e-books fast enough and will totally implode. I am confident e-readers will eventually become cheap enough that more people will be able to read e-books from all walks of life.”

Mike Van Horn, small business consultant, San Rafael, Calif.: “When done with a regular book, I pass it along to a friend or family member. Impossible with an e-book. For this reason alone, e-books should be much cheaper than books. E-books are best for read-once-then-toss books, like mainline fiction.” 

Janet Vandenabeele, office manager, Detroit, Mich.:  “I have categories on my first screen: Nonfiction, fiction, reference/texts, Chinese, Shakespeare and Poetry, Recipes, a miscellaneous and an admin folder. I wish Kindle let you make subfolders; I'm kinda obsessive that way. I just keep read books in the folder for now. If I get too many, I will probably delete them from the Kindle as long as I can store them on my Kindle for PC app. I haven't researched whether I can do that yet.”

Megan Taylor, Arvada, Colo.: “My collection is organized on my computer (and backed-up at Amazon.com) the same way my mp3 files are organized on my computer and backed up off-site. When I'm done with an e-book, it sits on my virtual book shelf the same way a print copy sits on my actual bookshelf until I want to re-read it. What I would love to be able to do with e-books is "lend" them to my friends.”

Retired librarian Barbara Henry of Canandaigua, N.Y. asks: What, if anything, worries you about e-books and the future of books?

Sharon Malenfant, chair of local library board of trustees, Tamworth, N.H.: “Not worried, both will continue to exist, just as TV didn't replace movies. A good way to keep the younger generation reading. Technology continues to evolve and libraries must help lead the way.”

Brian Filipiak, project leader in the College of Education at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mich.: “I'm happy moving back and forth between the "real" and the "virtual". Will I shed a tear when "real" books go away? Yes - but I don't think they ever will completely disappear. We still have newsprint, radio, TV, and real books. Or, they won't go away for a long, long time. The-book format has been around for hundreds of years, and the physical book transcends all technological trends and passing fads.”

Mike Van Horn, small business consultant, San Rafael, Calif.: “I recently unearthed a box of ancient books and magazines 75 to 100 years old--novels, school books, an old encyclopedia, Life and National Geographic magazines. In 100 years, it will be impossible to unearth such boxes from the early 21st century. This will be a huge cultural loss, leaving a void in our connection to the past. How great was the loss to Western Civilization when the library at Alexandria was burned? In the future, we could suffer the same catastrophic loss if the plug was pulled on Amazon and the few other repositories of most published works. Anyone who doubts this could happen is foolish. Redundancy and dispersal and low tech preservation are the only ways to avoid this. Suppose in 500 years you found a Kindle e-book. What exactly would you read it on? I can't even access my floppies from the 1980s.”

Claire Dyard, La Guyonniere, France: “I live in Europe and I hate it when an e-book is not available due to "geographic restrictions."” 

Johannes Ruscheinski, book and comic book collector, San Diego, Calif.: To me it is of utmost importance to make sure that we can move our e-books between devices from various vendors and that they are future proof. Also I am concerned about the ability for hardware and software vendors to remotely wipe my books!

Anything else you want to tell librarians or booksellers about this topic?

Rick Kennerly, Virginia Beach, Virg.: “Imagine a Dan Brown travel/thriller like The Da Vinci Code augmented with Google maps and street view of the sites visited. Possibly additional narration by the author; video how-tos in reference-books; the complete annotated Sherlock Holmes or Jane Austen encoded for pleasure readers, lightly annotated for student readers, and fully annotated for bibliophiles and researchers. Also, interestingly, I think, I use the dictionary/thesaurus features of my e-books far more than I reach for my keyboard or bookshelf when reading a regular book. I used to settle for an approximate understanding of a word or usage, now I'm spending far more time delving into the exact meaning of a word. Finally, imagine a school with e-book readers instead of maintaining warehouses of text books and all the time entailed in checking them out, checking them in, and keeping tabs on the markings and defacements. I remember in college I had a MWF backpack and a TTh backpack both chocked full of books. A Kindle or iPad would have been wonderful then.”

John Ranta, high school computer teacher, Hancock, N.H.: “The battle between Amazon, Apple and Google for the right to be the main supplier is quite interesting, and is going to have a huge impact on the e-content market. Print publishers will end up with a tiny niche market, they just haven't admitted it yet. As e-books become the dominant format, there's no way that print publishers can afford the expense of the press + warehouse + shipping infrastructure, which will price them out of the business. This will be good for authors, btw.”

Claire Dyard, La Guyonniere, France: “The e-book is the future of the-book: it's easy to choose an e-book, easier to obtain it (the click of a mouse) and, contrary to popular belief, there are great e-books which are very cheap too. Publishers should think twice before asking too much for an e-book: one can buy a hardcover, even if the price is high, and then sell it. This can't be done with an e-book.”

Janet Vandenabeele, office manager, Detroit, Mich.: “I worry most that publishers will continue to jack up the price of e-books because the margin is so attractive, and that they will gradually forget about pictures, and scholarship, and cutting-edge literature in favor of big sellers and quick bucks. Those have been concerns for a while, but the e-reader trend may accelerate the demise of the good read.”

- Alison Brody, Public Insight Analyst