Languages on Demand

By Meg McCaffrey -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2004

Print-on-demand technology—which creates one or 1,000 copies of a book in a matter of days from a digital file—has entered the school and library world big time, thanks to a new company called BookSurge. It operates two Web sites of interest to librarians, GlobalBookPeddler (www.globalbookpeddler.com), a resource for hard-to-find titles in foreign languages, and classroomPublishing.org (www.classroompublishing.org), a site that turns students' writing and pictures into bona fide books.

Whether librarians are searching for Goodnight Moon in Farsi or a Harry Potter volume in Punjabi, GlobalBookPeddler can track down the title through its global network of publishers. Once it locates the title, GlobalBookPeddler uses print-on-demand technology to produce, trim, and bind the book in either paperback or hardcover. The book is then shipped to libraries in less than two business days. According to the company, its book prices are on par with what libraries normally pay to publishers in the U.S.

Librarians should also check out a sister site, ClassroomPublishing.org, which lets educators use print-on-demand technology to encourage students to create their own books. Some students have turned around and sold their books to fellow classmates, friends, and family, for instance. Rene Miles, a creative writing teacher at the Charleston (SC) County School of the Arts, says the thought of seeing their works published encourages her students to work harder on their writing. "It makes them feel like real writers," she says. The published books turn out "gorgeous," Miles adds, and she has cataloged and placed them in the school library. One student even sold 100 copies of her book at the local Barnes & Noble.

Books created by students can also be sold to raise funds for schools. Better yet, grants are available to cover the costs.