or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk


Ebooks and Resources

   March 16th, 2010 Brian Herzog

Shelf Check ebook comicI've had ebooks on the brain lately for a few reasons, so I thought I'd pull together some resources I've been bookmarking.

But first, my reasons:

  1. My consortium will soon be offering ebooks via Overdrive. This is good, as Overdrive ebooks are compatible with Sony Reader and the Nook, but will still include existing Overdrive drawbacks
  2. The IT Section of the New England Library Association is devoting our spring workshop to ebooks. Speakers will range from libraries already circulating ebooks and ereaders to a certain library that made waves by going digital to a book store that takes digitized books and makes them print again. It will be a great day, and I'll post more details soon.

Ebooks are certainly in the cards for libraries, and hopefully not like these comic strips. In no particular order, here are a few ebook-related links worth reading:

Ebook Reader Reviews and Guides and Deconstruction
A nice introduction to ereaders and ebooks, "7 Things You Should Know About E-Readers," from EDUCAUSE, focusing on teaching and learning:

Reviews of ereaders from various sources:

The eBook Buyer's Guide to Privacy from the EFF talks about how each of the most popular ebook readers rate as far as privacy, tracking of purchases, sharing of information, etc.

I've seen a little discussion on the topic of "why digital," and this is a good evaluation of how and when and why technology matches content:

Ebook Price Wars
This is worth watching, because low prices means lots of people purchased the hardware, but rising prices means people will be coming to the library for ebooks instead of purchasing the content themselves.

Ebooks for Downloading
A few places where people can download ebooks for free - please list additional resources in the comments.

Of course, as soon as I finish typing this post, I'm going to pick up the old-fashion made-of-paper book I'm reading and enjoy flipping through the pages.



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