The Netflix for books is here, it’s mobile, and it makes Amazon look old | PandoDaily

The Netflix for books is here, it’s mobile, and it makes Amazon look old | PandoDaily:

$9.95 per month and an iPhone will get you access to 100,000 books.  Not the newest titles, says the article, but hey, this might be of interest to high volume readers.  An iPad app is coming, and they hope to spread beyond iOS.

'via Blog this'

The First Bookless Public Library: Texas to Have BiblioTech

It had to happen eventually - here's a report from ABCnews.com on a proposed library in Bexar County (TX) which will have lots to read, but no physical books.  

The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy: Our Espresso Book Machine Experience « The Scholarly Kitchen

The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy: Our Espresso Book Machine Experience « The Scholarly Kitchen - a reflection on one academic library's use of an Expresso Book Machine, that gives you the potential of accessing three million digital titles and printing them out quickly on demand. Both that number and the adjective "quickly" come with asterisks, but it's interesting to contemplate what my library (and yours) would look like with one of these on hand.

E-Book Lending Clubs | ALA TechSource

This development fascinates me (both the Amazon decision to allow Kindle users to lend books to one another and the growth of these lending exchanges) - see a list of E-Book Lending Clubs (from ALA TechSource). The downside for libraries is still that you can only lend a title you own once (forever, apparently). Otherwise, I wondered if joining one of these services might be a way to share the Kindle books we've purchased with our patrons (and a larger set of patrons) who might not have Kindles, but would have Kindle apps on their mobile devices, Macs, and PCs. Well, still waiting for the world to change. 8-)

Why E-Books Failed In 2000, And What It Means For 2010

An article by Michael Mace from Business Insider, Why E-Books Failed In 2000, And What It Means For 2010, looks at the current state of e-books and e-book devices in light of earlier failures. It's a very useful listing of the economic and behavior barriers that have kept e-books from taking off thus far, along with Mace's suggestions on what has changed and what issues still remain. Great for getting to the heart of this enduring issues for authors, publishers, the reading public, and, of course, libraries.

Digitize your library on the cheap

I came across this site (DIY High-Speed Book Scanner from Trash and Cheap Cameras) in an article on Slate and it really struck me. I'm not a great do-it-yourself-er, but what if libraries created these, and scanned stuff, and made it available for free and . . .

Wake up! Well, of course it's not legal (for materials still under copyright), but this is an interesting application of re-using old technologies (environmentally sound!) to convert materials from print to digital. I'm not saying that the e-book trumps the printed book, either, but there are some very intriguing convergences here.

Please do not try this at work. But at home . . . 8-)

Kindling yet?

Well, I found this post on Gerrit van Dyk's Shaping Libraries blog very interesting because my library has just taken the plunge and purchased a Kindle 2. It gives some hope to library checkout of the Kindle, assuming that Amazon is contacted and allows you to do so (given the fluidity of their terms of service agreement).

We're not to the point of checking our Kindle out yet, but we're building to that point and choosing titles.

Is anyone using the Kindle at their libraries? How about the Sony Reader?

Google Books vs. BISON - 6/15/2008 - Library Journal

Here's an article from Library Journal comparing searches in an individual library catalog vs. searching Google Books: Google Books vs. BISON - 6/15/2008 - Library Journal. It raises interesting questions about the service that the local catalog provides set against the ever-expanding collection of materials at Google Books.

Audio e-books: choices, choices!

I have been looking into audio e-books for a while now, experimenting a bit to see what might work best in my library setting. I have been unable (long story I won't go into here) to get into the downloadable models offered by Overdrive and NetLibrary (where patrons can download audio- or text- e-books to view/listen to on their PCs, PDAs, or MP3 players -- or in some cases burn them to CD). I've been looking at Playaway as a possibility. Playaway sells audio books as little MP3 players loaded with a single book. You can circulate them as single item (much as you would a print book) or you can also provide patrons with headphones or FM transmitters.

I see the plus with Playaway in that patrons who are not already comfortable with MP3 players do not have the hurdles of a) downloading the title, b) then getting the title onto their MP3 player, and c) getting the title to play correctly. Even with MP3-friendly folks, there are real technical support issues to consider on getting all the pieces to work together. With Playaway, though, will each title get enough use to justify purchasing it? The device is not reloadable at the library level, so if I really wanted three copies of Memoirs of a Geisha, and no one ever checks out How to Prevent a Robot Uprising (great read/listen, by the way), I can't wipe out the latter to accomodate another copy of the former.

Or, should I give up on any of these options because the titles are not the best fit for an academic library setting? We buy a fair amount of fiction and rent McNaughtons for popular reading, so this might not be that different. What do you think?

Digital books start a new chapter - BusinessWeek Online - MSNBC.com

Some interesting developments in the ongoing digital/e-book discussion.
Digital books start a new chapter - BusinessWeek Online - MSNBC.com