Published: Sun, Jul. 15, 2007 12:00AM

Modified Sun, Jul. 15, 2007 02:21AM

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The changes at The N&O bring good and bad news for readers. The good is that The N&O has committed to continuing the two pages devoted to books in the Sunday Arts & Entertainment section. Smith says she'll have the same free-lance budget to pay reviewers.

The less good news is that Smith is only a part-time books editor -- two days a week devoted to books while she attends to other copy-editing duties for the features department. That limits her time to recruit writers, plan sections, edit reviews. Zane was full-time.

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ANOTHER LOSS IS ZANE'S LITERATE COLUMN ON BOOKS, which he wrote for 10 years. He has moved on to a new assignment as a reporter and "ideas" columnist.

I checked with a few readers to gauge their opinion of the new pages. Phillip Manning, a science writer who occasionally contributes reviews to The N&O, said he missed Zane but was pleased with the new pages he had seen. "It seemed like it was going to be a major change, which turned out not to be the case," he said. "We certainly do miss Peder, but beyond that you've still got a good book page."

Nancy Olson, owner of Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, said the pages have plenty of good information on books, although she found recent reviews to be too long. She said she appreciates the "Sunday Reader" of original local writing -- recently moved to the book pages from the Sunday Journal section -- but she doesn't like it consuming space that could be used for reviews. And she hopes the focus is on books by North Carolinians and Southerners: "The 'big' books are reviewed everywhere, and there's great interest in local writers here (not self-published, please), so I think that would be a niche The N&O could fill. This would tie the paper to the community in a nice way."

Several readers told Smith and me that they miss having a column, like Zane's, that brings a focus to the pages. Smith said she would give that consideration.

The new approach won't satisfy everybody. "Niche" books will have little appeal to readers not interested in those areas. Popular fiction, such as James Patterson and Mary Higgins Clark, will get some attention, which may not please readers of "serious" literature. But Smith says she hopes every reader will find something on the pages that appeals to him or her. "I want to make them more engaging for everyone," she said. "I want everyone to open the page and find something on it that talks to them."

And remember, if she's wrong, you can let her know. Her e-mail address is marcy.smith@newsobserver.com.