Those of us who get paid to put words on paper get a little defensive when someone suggests that print - whether in the form of newspapers, magazines or books - is dead.

The recent announcement that Sam Weller's Books is leaving its 48-year-old perch on Salt Lake City's Main Street for an as-yet-unknown downtown location started another round of hand-wringing about the fate of books.

Ken Sanders (pictured), the sage who runs his own rare-book store a few blocks from the old Weller's location, offers his thoughts on the matter on his store's web site. In the end, Sanders - who professes to a lifelong worship of the God called Biblio - is an island of calm in a sea of worry. Take, for example, the conclusion of his article:

"Google, Wikipedia, the world wide web, Kindle, e-books, print on demand, and the next new thing threaten to extinguish the old-fashioned book. Perhaps. I think not: the transformation will continue. The value of books transcends the informational, and while some of us in the book world will become extinct, the rest of us will always be here, wherever here is, in the far-off reaches, in the margins, doing what we have always done: loving books, keeping Biblio alive in the world."

Amen, Brother Sanders - though it's mildly ironic that such an opinion is disseminated not through ink-and-paper, but via the Internet.

Labels: Books, Sam Weller's

Hearing the news that Sam Weller's Books will be leaving its spacious Main Street location opens up a whole discussion on what's to blame for the store's sagging fortunes.

Of course, the economy is crappy. And there are the changes technology has brought to the bookselling business - where people would rather search online for a rare title than rummage through a basement full of books.

But there's also the fact that about once every decade, Weller and other Main Street businesses have had to weather an attempt to "improve" downtown Salt Lake City:

• In the '70s, dilapidated historic buildings were torn up to build the Crossroads Plaza and the ZCMI Center.
• In the '80s, Main Street's sidewalks were widened, which reduced driving and parking to increase space for non-existent pedestrian traffic.
• In the '90s, Main Street was torn up to install the rail lines for TRAX.
• In this decade, the LDS Church closed off part of Main Street for its grand plaza by Temple Square, and tore down the Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center to create the massive City Creek Plaza project - which won't be done until 2012.

Here's hoping Sam Weller's can, in its new location and configuration, figure out how to survive the next effort to "save" downtown.

Labels: downtown, Sam Weller's