Catching my eye as August begins…

This weekend, the New York Times will publish – in print only – an advance excerpt from Colson Whitehead’s highly anticipated novel, The Underground Railroad. More on the book, which has already been selected for Oprah’s book club, in this story by Ron Charles in the Washington Post Tuesday, August 2. Nieman Labs reported on this as well as other print features and some recent editorial changes at the New York Times encouraging print readership. While this is not a serialized novel in the classic Victorian mode, it is certainly a noteworthy event in publishing history. I am curious to see if the Times and similar publications will continue to use teasers of upcoming literature or even longer, print only stories as a way to reinforce their print products in an increasingly digital market.

Over at The Chronicle of Higher Education, Barbara Fister’s, latest Library Babel Fish post explores Playing, Learning, and the Teaching Problem. When new students arrive in an academic library setting, could teaching them what to do be doing them a disservice? There is some interesting discussion between the author and readers in the comments.