Thanks, John, for shining a light on this issue. Like many matters involving the National Park Service, it's complicated. Interpretive and educational materials (including books) sold at national parks are subject to the laws governing NPS. There is no one-size-fits-all for all the park units and the many different concessioners, cooperating associations and friends' groups. This and thousands of other behind the scenes issues keep NPS attorneys busy!
Thanks Carla! In your experience, am I correct that "bookstores integrated into visitor centers" operate under different rules than "gift shops that also sell books"? I'm not (yet! :) ) doubting the rules, I'm just surprised at how little authors and publishers know about them.
You are correct in that some shops at parks operate under different "rules" than other shops. In my experience, it doesn't clearly break down along the lines that you mention. It matters less about the name or location of the shop and more about the entity operating it. Many of the shops in a "visitor center" or park museum are operated by a cooperating association, such as America's National Parks (formerly Eastern National). Congress authorized such entities to conduct certain activities in support of parks and make donations to NPS. Other shops may be operated by a concessioner or under a partnership, allowed under a separate law. The agreements between the respective operator and NPS generally govern the scope of the merchandise and selection criteria.
Thanks! My experience has been seeing the locations of the cooperating association versus other stores, but it makes sense that underlying status would be the actual governing factor.
John. Great piece about one of the most important topics of our time: the role of gatekeepers. Populism is assaulting the keepers of metrics and standards on all fronts – even county clerks, for pete's sake. But it's a different variety than the what happened in the 1960s. The counter-culture movement shied alway from demanding a seat at the gatekeeper's table. This current version, however, demands such a position. My friends in the academy worry about the watering down trends of peer review. In the long run, this dynamics flames out but not after spawning damage, some serious. Consider the "experts" who convinced FEMA to remove Camp Mystic from the Guadalupe River flood plain, aka Flash Flood Alley.
Thanks Sam! I'm not sure I agree about the contrast between the '60s and today. After all, whatever their immediate demands, the counter-culturalists have mostly indeed become today's gatekeepers. And in today's complaints I hear a mixture of wanting to take over that role and wanting to abolish it.
But I fully agree about the importance of gatekeepers, with floods as a fascinating example. My home was damaged in the 2022 floods, and I subsequently got a phone call suggesting that floodplain maps could basically be crowdsourced, rather than drawn up by experts. Didn't I want to participate in redrawing the local one? Hell no, I said, this is science! Science doesn't care about your opinion -- but only if the experts are empowered to gatekeep.
I've tried to get my own book into the eastern national parks. Its been an opaque and somewhat frustrating process. This has been a helpful little peak behind the curtain. I'm in total agreement that if the NPS is going to be the chief storyteller of US History (and science) there has been to a fairly high barrier to entry for the texts it in-essence endorses in its bookshops. Congrats on getting your own books shelved!
I've been very fortunate that my publishers' salespeople will do a lot of the work. This is one of the hurdles to self-publishing that nobody tells you about! :)
Always something to think about here. One thing that's clear is that our 1960-70s distaste for gatekeepers has led to a violent backlash in 2025. The oligarchs apparently think that the gates (and walls) need to be reinforced! Fortunately, its awfully hard to put knowledge back "into the bottle."
I recommended Natural Rivals to a fellow Substacker, Kate Howlett who writes about children and nature, and wanted to know more about John Muir.
Thanks, John, for shining a light on this issue. Like many matters involving the National Park Service, it's complicated. Interpretive and educational materials (including books) sold at national parks are subject to the laws governing NPS. There is no one-size-fits-all for all the park units and the many different concessioners, cooperating associations and friends' groups. This and thousands of other behind the scenes issues keep NPS attorneys busy!
Thanks Carla! In your experience, am I correct that "bookstores integrated into visitor centers" operate under different rules than "gift shops that also sell books"? I'm not (yet! :) ) doubting the rules, I'm just surprised at how little authors and publishers know about them.
You are correct in that some shops at parks operate under different "rules" than other shops. In my experience, it doesn't clearly break down along the lines that you mention. It matters less about the name or location of the shop and more about the entity operating it. Many of the shops in a "visitor center" or park museum are operated by a cooperating association, such as America's National Parks (formerly Eastern National). Congress authorized such entities to conduct certain activities in support of parks and make donations to NPS. Other shops may be operated by a concessioner or under a partnership, allowed under a separate law. The agreements between the respective operator and NPS generally govern the scope of the merchandise and selection criteria.
Thanks! My experience has been seeing the locations of the cooperating association versus other stores, but it makes sense that underlying status would be the actual governing factor.
John. Great piece about one of the most important topics of our time: the role of gatekeepers. Populism is assaulting the keepers of metrics and standards on all fronts – even county clerks, for pete's sake. But it's a different variety than the what happened in the 1960s. The counter-culture movement shied alway from demanding a seat at the gatekeeper's table. This current version, however, demands such a position. My friends in the academy worry about the watering down trends of peer review. In the long run, this dynamics flames out but not after spawning damage, some serious. Consider the "experts" who convinced FEMA to remove Camp Mystic from the Guadalupe River flood plain, aka Flash Flood Alley.
Thanks Sam! I'm not sure I agree about the contrast between the '60s and today. After all, whatever their immediate demands, the counter-culturalists have mostly indeed become today's gatekeepers. And in today's complaints I hear a mixture of wanting to take over that role and wanting to abolish it.
But I fully agree about the importance of gatekeepers, with floods as a fascinating example. My home was damaged in the 2022 floods, and I subsequently got a phone call suggesting that floodplain maps could basically be crowdsourced, rather than drawn up by experts. Didn't I want to participate in redrawing the local one? Hell no, I said, this is science! Science doesn't care about your opinion -- but only if the experts are empowered to gatekeep.
I've tried to get my own book into the eastern national parks. Its been an opaque and somewhat frustrating process. This has been a helpful little peak behind the curtain. I'm in total agreement that if the NPS is going to be the chief storyteller of US History (and science) there has been to a fairly high barrier to entry for the texts it in-essence endorses in its bookshops. Congrats on getting your own books shelved!
I've been very fortunate that my publishers' salespeople will do a lot of the work. This is one of the hurdles to self-publishing that nobody tells you about! :)
Always something to think about here. One thing that's clear is that our 1960-70s distaste for gatekeepers has led to a violent backlash in 2025. The oligarchs apparently think that the gates (and walls) need to be reinforced! Fortunately, its awfully hard to put knowledge back "into the bottle."
I recommended Natural Rivals to a fellow Substacker, Kate Howlett who writes about children and nature, and wanted to know more about John Muir.
You and Will de Man both! Poor Kate! 😀