Teens eRead

I recently read an article in Young Adult Library Services, called Now Is the Time E-books, Teens and Libraries by Linda Braun. The article gave me a few things to think about. The author discusses how to promote ebook collections to teens, and emphasizes social media sites such as facebook. Some libraries are not just promoting books, but are having book discussion groups via facebook and other web sites. I started thinking about the positives and negatives of having these discussions online.

A bit annoying...

For some reason, some books on my Kobo show images, while others do not. I am reading two books on it at the moment. One is on running and training for races, and I can see images for this book. I get to see the skinny distance runners in their gaunt glory. Oh yay.

The other book is a textbook for a research class, and I cannot see images for this book. It is very annoying, since the images show steps to take when searching databases, as well as the layout for some of the databases. It is very annoying when I see the little ?question mark? with a box around it, indicating that there should be an image here, but I will never see it.

I just want to be able to see what the author is describing. Is that so bad?

Another win for physical books.

Save the Chocolate!

This doesn't have to do with libraries or eReaders, but it is a cause close to my heart.
I read this blog on rodale.com, and felt I needed to take action. It is yet another reason to go green.

Adapting

I am signed up for a mailing list through my school that sends me information on all sorts of library events that are taking place in my area. I have noticed that many of these events and postings are on libraries and ebooks. Many of them are webinars, seminars, and articles (oh my!) about how librarians can integrate ebooks into their collection and the future of ebooks and ereaders. Librarians are sharing their experiences and knowledge with other librarians about this new technology so everyone can keep up-to-date. 

One example of an email I received is that the American Library Journal, which is the magazine of the American Library Association, started a blog on E-content. It should be a great place to learn about the latest in the library electronic world, and gather ideas from other librarians on how to use these resources in different ways.

Libraries + ebooks = A lot of people reading

There was an extremely interesting article (at least, I thought it was) in today's Wall Street Journal titled E-Readers on Checkout. It's a short article and definitely worth reading.
But for those who don't feel like reading it, here is a summary:

Since the New York Public Library (NYPL) has started loaning ebooks, especially those formatted for the Kindle, the library has doubled its registrations for the ebook service, and every day "signs up about 200 new users." Wow. That is a lot of people using the library.
In addition to this boom in ebook loans, NYPL is thinking about loaning the actual e-readers. I am very curious to know how these loans would work. Would the library have books already on the e-readers? or would a patron check out the e-reader and then be able to choose which book(s) to put on it? Hmm...all these questions!

Browsing the Library's eBook Selection

I must say that browsing physical books at a library is much more satisfying than browsing the eBooks on library web sites.

I hold cards to three library systems, and all of them have similar layouts for eBook searches. The general searches are fiction, non-fiction, best sellers and popular titles, new releases, children, teen, etc. If I have an idea of which genre I want to read, this is alright, but there are still only so many books that can fit on a page.
If I want to browse eBooks, I have to pick a genre, and then keep clicking next page... next page... next page... and waiting for each page to load until I find something that looks interesting. I can only search for so long before getting bored. It is much easier if I have a specific title or author in mind so I can go straight to searching for it, click, and download.