e-books celebrate their 40th Birthday

I'm hoping that one day I'll be sitting in a Quiz when they ask 'What year was the first e-book published ?'

Unbelievably e-books have now been around since 1971 when Michael Hart (who died recently) typed the American Declaration of Independence into the mainframe computer at the University of Illinois.

Thus was born the first digital library : Project Gutenberg, named after the inventor of the first printing press. Hart's aim was to make books as widely available as possible, and to "break down the bars of ignorance and illiteracy"

Project Gutenberg is still going strong, making freely available out of print materials.

Wot no bookshop ?

I was disappointed when Luton's only bookshop (Waterstones) closed recently. The site is still unoccupied.

However Luton is, of course, not alone.

Nearly half of the UK's High Street bookshops have closed since 2005. A total of 580 towns do not have a single bookshop.

Campaigners warned yesterday that the loss of bookshops, coupled with threats to close thousands of libraries as part of council cuts, will lead to "book deserts" across large areas of the country.


Hall, J (2011) Internet and supermarkets kill off 2,000 bookshops, Daily Telegraph
2nd September

British Brands not the only ones to get taken over....

If you are doing the piece of work on British brands which are disappearing spare a thought for Foster's lager...

The company is currently facing a hostile bid from SAB Miller ( formerly South African Brewers ). They make Peroni and Grolsh....

Charter Airlines - Have they a future ?

Students studying the Airline Industry ( in particular Monarch )should be aware that the journal Tourism and Hospitality Research contains some useful information. It is available both in print and electronic formats.

Overall the picture seems glum (as the above title indicates)

Other sources of information (all electronic) include
FAME ( Financial data available to compare Monarch and it's competitors )
Keynote and Marketline Use Airline and Airport reports, but also consider related areas such as trends in Travel & Tourism
Newsbank Particularly useful statements from Monarch's CEO about the company's strategic direction

More on bikes....

At the risk of becoming fixated on the bicycle market here's a story about a British Brand which is doing well which might also be relevant. Bromptons make a folding bike, and are apparently doing well at the moment. I have seen quite a few of these on trains between Luton and London recently, although I'm not sure if there are any restrictions on taking them during the rush hour period.

The company which manufactures distinctive folding bikes ( pictured )at a plant in west Twickenham, saw its profits rise more than a quarter last year. The number of Bromptons sold in the year just ended - the majority of which go for export - was 80%up on the total four years earlier.

Without using FAME for detailed profit and loss accounts, it is now possible to check digestible company financials using the Keynote Database

Cycling Statistics

Following my last blog post about finding some statistics about the number of cyclists in the UK I discovered for myself just how tricky it is to get hold of figures.

Firstly the National Statistics website itself proved difficult to search and showed me no obvious results. I remembered attending a user group a couple of years ago suggesting that looking for official figures was best done on Google. This may have worked better.

Newsbank proved more rewarding, although alot of cycling stories are about horrific accidents or the UK cycling prospects at the 2012 Olympics. Both of these topics were interesting, and potentially useful. No wonder people are reticent to use a bike in London I thought. Then again, success at The Games, and some cyclig superstars might be a boost for the bike. Do people really call Boris Johnson Bo-Jo by the way ?

Then I struck gold with an article from the Sunday Times.

Laurance(2011)notes that in the 1940's one third of all vehicle trvel was by bike. This figure has now declined to less than 2% . Two thirds of the population never cycle, or get on a bike less than once per year.


There was also some good news. But I'll save that for another blog-post.

Laurance, B (2011) Cycling hits the wild side as Britain gets back in the saddle, Times, May 29th. Accessed via Newsbank [online] http://library.beds.ac.uk on 9th August 2011

Bicycle Market....

When students were set an assignment on bicycles last year Peter and I struggled to find much information. Neither Keynote, nor Marketline have produced a report on this market. The Mintel Report which we traced was unfortunately very expensive, and we feared that it may not reach the library shelves in time.

I recently found a article in a print journal which looks relevant ( albeit two years old ) about a UK manufacturer of cycles and the challenges that they face. The article is available in the LRC in print.

Lawell, F (2009) Raleigh : cycling to success ? Business Review Vol 15 (3) p. 16-17

The article got me thinking about a SWOT analysis of the whole Market

STRENGTHS
Cycling is being promoted for health purposes
Road congestion, improved cycle-paths, "Boris Bikes" might encourage people to try it
A cheaper option than your car ? And if the roads are congested, quicker too ( over a short distance ? )
WEAKNESSES
Most people still prefer their car - low uptake - I would try to back up this point with some statistics
Cycling in cities seen to be dangerous
Accidents and smog make it an unattractive option
OPPORTUNITIES
Government support of green transport
Bike Loan Schemes
Cycling charities
Reports on health benefits
THREATS
Government funding might be cut
Cycle manufacturers ( eg Raleigh ) may suffer in the recession
More production moving abroad ( most made in Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Eastern Europe and Vietnam )