Placing e-books in public libraries is not a new idea. I’ve reviewed a couple of e-book library systems, including the one my own local library has. However, it turns out that e-books may have a place in school libraries, too.
I was interested to see this piece in Mediabistro’s “EbookNewser” section in which Amy Chow, Head Librarian at Brearley School in New York City, is interviewed about her library’s use of e-books. Said Chow:
We’ve been providing access to eBooks online for some time now. We subscribe to Questia School eBook collection and we use the free Google Book Search to support the research done in the Brearley Upper School. We bought one Kindle to circulate among faculty, but we have not moved beyond that yet. We are waiting to see which device is the most functional and cost effective. I’m also interested in seeing whether schools and textbook publishers will make textbooks available on eBook readers. If there can be a more complete integration of eBooks and eBook readers into school functions, I feel the potential for successful adoption is increased.
Asked about whether the decreasing price on e-book reading devices would help schools adopt them, Chow said that it would help, but they’re still pretty expensive and given all the budgetary demands school libraries are under already, it can be difficult to justify their purchase. Only one person can use an e-reader at once, whereas online e-books can be used by anyone with a computer.
Chow also observed that the way people read using e-books is different than they way they read printed books. She brought up the example of search ability, and said that most use of e-books in her library was for nonfiction works rather than novels.
I showed the article to my mother, Judy Meadows, the librarian at Verona High School in Verona, Missouri. She found it interesting, and added, “I agree that the advent of ebooks and Internet resources changes the way that the user reads and accesses information.”
