Link Du Jour: Kindle Makes Nice with the Library
If you’re like me, hesitant to take the eReader plunge due to the frustratingly complicated web of “it works with this, but not with that” compatibility, it looks like one of these issues is about to be solved. By the end of the year, Kindle owners will be able to check out books at 11,000 public libraries.
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Click here to read the story (via the AP).
There are still plenty of reasons (DRM, user-friendliness, content availability) for concern, but for me, this moves the eReader purchase needle (curiously located on the dashboard of my car) a bit to the right. How about you?
Filed under: Link Du Jour
About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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I’m already happy with my Kindle (and still read books from the library) but this will be nice indeed. I just hope my my library is one of the 11,000. And that they get to check them out more than 26 times…
I’ve had a Nook for quite a while and I’ve been very happy with it (although I do have NookColor envy, now that the newer version is out!). Sometimes I like a book, and sometimes an e-book is better – it depends on the circumstance. You can’t beat the e-reader for taking on vacation. With a Nook, you can have all your books and your kids’ books, and a rudimentary web browser. One downside to library borrowing is the relatively short loan period.
This is ultimately why I went with a Nook when I dove into the ereader world. Hopefully, as time progresses, more sharing and lending options will continue to evolve.
I’ve had a Sony Reader for a few months – picked it because it was teeny and it worked with NetGalley. My GIANT issue with library lending of ebooks is that at least here in Maryland, availability is not dictated by demand: i.e. the Maryland Digital Elibrary Consortium (insert swear word here) only buys X number of licenses for any given book, and when they’re all checked out, the borrower has to get on a waiting list.
It’s idiotic. One of the big selling points of ereaders is that you can get any book any time, and here, our libraries cannot provide that, which drives users to the bookstore ebook outlets. I counsel borrowers every day on how to download library ebooks to their ereaders, and I have to admit to them that the library’s system, she is BROKE.
Thanks for your comments, Paula. The whole eLending thing is crazy. I have no idea where that’s headed, but hopefully to the any book, any time place you mentioned.