Can we Kindle your interest?
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report October 2010
STLE’s Tribology and Lubricants Publication Center has the topics (and formats) to match your needs.
STLE has always taken great pride in publishing works that are produced by members which have specific application to the field.
A recent study of 1,200 people with e-readers (devices like Amazon’s Kindle or the Barnes and Noble Nook) found that 40% of the owners said they now read more than they did with print books. More than half of the respondents (55%) thought they’d read even more in the future. This finding was a sharp reversal from a separate 2007 study reporting Americans were spending less time reading books.
The studies remind me that reading a book is both a leisure activity and a way to build your professional expertise. This is true whether you choose hard copy or digital format.
Has it been a while since you’ve enjoyed the experience of adding a book to your library and then sharing a summary with a friend or colleague? If the answer is yes, this fall may be the time to log on to
www.stle.org and make a visit to the Tribology and Lubricants Publications Center.
STLE’s center allows you to preview and purchase hundreds of technical resources and references, and it is searchable by specific topic or title. There also are quick links that take you to books organized into popular categories. For example, there’s a link that will pull up reference materials recommended as preparatory reading for those taking one of STLE’s four certification exams. There are also in-depth book reviews on 12 popular titles prepared by STLE’s director of professional development, Dr. Robert M. Gresham.
Like most professional organizations, STLE has always taken great pride in publishing works that are produced by members and which have specific application to the field. One such book is
Machinery Oil Analysis: Methods, Automation & Benefits: A Guide for Maintenance Managers, Supervisors & Technicians (written by Allison M. Toms and the late Larry A. Toms).
This book is a key reference for those involved in oil analysis and machinery maintenance because it presents the entire philosophy and practice of oil analysis as a condition monitoring tool for machines. It also happens to be the key reference for STLE’s Oil Monitoring Analyst certification exam, which helps explain why thousands of copies have been sold since its original release.
In addition to these titles, STLE is partners with CRC Press, one of the world’s leading publishers of technical and scientific books, which has expanded the number of titles available to members. Books that are marketed through this partnership are identified in the center and offer a number of special features that make it easy to fully explore what’s available when making a selection. These include a preview function that allows you to read a portion of the book before ordering and a recommendation list of other similar or related books that might also be of interest.
CRC also has been one of the leaders in terms of offering technical and scientific material in an e-book format. This option is available through a service called CRC Netbase, which supports book purchases on a pay-per-view basis or as an annual subscription for access to multiple titles. There are more than 50 e-book titles available in a dedicated Tribology and Lubricants Netbase. You can view it at
www.tribologynetbase.com.
Once you’ve found the right book, there’s an additional feature to note. All titles in the STLE and CRC library are available at a discount of 20% or more—provided you are an STLE member. That’s one more benefit of being part of the leading technical society for professionals in the tribology and lubricants business sector.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.