ASK many travellers what books are found in hotels, and they will mutter feverishly about Gideons Bibles, Readers’ Digest hardbacks and dog-eared Catherine Cookson novels. The very idea of a hotel library is enough to send them running to their Kindles for some sort of digital experience, even though a couple of well-filled shelves can provide a welcome surprise and a decent source of local insight.
This is why I’m rather taken with the work of a company called the Ultimate Library, which chooses and supplies books on behalf of its hotel clients for use in library, lounge and individual rooms. The company was started by Philip Blackwell in 2007 after a few too many stays in book-impoverished lodgings. A former CEO of his family’s chain of bookshops he had the knowledge and the contacts to launch such a business, and in the years since he has sold his library vision to the likes of Aman Resorts, Swire Hotels and the Savoy.
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
ASK many travellers what books are found in hotels, and they will mutter feverishly about Gideons Bibles, Readers’ Digest hardbacks and dog-eared Catherine Cookson novels. The very idea of a hotel library is enough to send them running to their Kindles for some sort of digital experience, even though a couple of well-filled shelves can provide a welcome surprise and a decent source of local insight.
