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!

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