Musings on law, tech, chess & other topics by a geek

Joyce Neujahr  is speaking on ebook readers potential to be a staple in traditional libraries. She is currently Director of Patron Services at the University of Nebraska and her library has 9 Kindles for check out and has ordered 3 more. Hundreds of libraries are now using kindles as loan devices.  Her library has paid up to $135 for an ebook.   The average cost spent per ebook was $13 over the first 2 years. On an average day all their kindles are checked out with a wait list 2 patrons deep. With two years of use they have not had one break yet.

Pros:

3500 books fit on the average kindle.

saving trees

Accessibility! the new kindle has better accessibility features. (i need to see if authors can still opt out)

IT takes 3 minutes to get a book on kindle versus 5 days to a week for ILL

Most ebook titles cost less the physical books  (about 30% less with some titles being free)

Cons:

We are having a format war. We need a standard open format.

DRM is plaguing  the industry

Not a lot of research books are on Kindle. (this is changing)

Page numbers citing is a pain, page numbers change change with the size.

Questions: how much control do libraries have over the privacy settings on Kindle?

A: None they use the standard Kindle TOS

About Joyce: She has been an elementary school library media specialist, coordinator of the Summer Reading program at her public library, and is regularly asked to participate as a guest instructor of library science classes at the University of Nebraska – Omaha.  She is currently Director of Patron Services at the University of Nebraska – Omaha, Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library and an adjunct instructor at Central Community College in the Library & Information Services program.

This was a GREAT talk!

photo by weez42 All Rights Reserved used here under fair use

Hmmm we need a check in at a library on foursquare day!

I will be live blogging the next Session at NWILL It sounds interesting:

E-Book Readers:  Are They the Future of Interlibrary Loan? | Joyce Neujahr

Amazon’s Kindle device lets libraries acquire new titles in just three minutes.  Learn how loaning Kindles can deliver “Instant ILL” and never-before-possible immediate access to bestsellers and new releases. Loaning a new technology offered insights — and raised questions — on areas as diverse as promoting new services, revising borrowing policies, cataloging multi-volume portable books, cost effectiveness, user acceptance, and copyright implications. Both the conceptual view of E-Book reader loans, and practical issues will be discussed.

Joyce Neujahr has been an elementary school library media specialist, coordinator of the Summer Reading program at her public library, and is regularly asked to participate as a guest instructor of library science classes at the University of Nebraska – Omaha.  She is currently Director of Patron Services at the University of Nebraska – Omaha, Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library and an adjunct instructor at Central Community College in the Library & Information Services program.  Neujahr received her Master of Library Science degree from the University of Missouri – Columbia.