David Rothman writes “How to round up volunteers to get nongeeks more comfortable with e-books from libraries and schools? The right fonts, displayed sharply on the right hardware, can make a big difference. So can the right e-book readers (I myself like Mobipocket but think other options should be available).
Volunteers could also help spread around public domain books on memory cards and make it much easier for the public to check out digitized best-sellers.
I offered some volunteer-related specifics yesterday in my article on e-books at the Cleveland public library–and in related messages.
David Rothman writes “How to round up volunteers to get nongeeks more comfortable with e-books from libraries and schools? The right fonts, displayed sharply on the right hardware, can make a big difference. So can the right e-book readers (I myself like Mobipocket but think other options should be available).
Volunteers could also help spread around public domain books on memory cards and make it much easier for the public to check out digitized best-sellers.
I offered some volunteer-related specifics yesterday in my article on e-books at the Cleveland public library–and in related messages.
Meanwhile here’s another idea–a national registry of e-book volunteers who, in exchange for their help, would enjoy discounts and other perks from handheld vendors. The program obviously should be organized to avoid favoring any particular brands. Librarians and friends should take the initiative and make sure that these efforts are in line with libraries’ traditional goals–rather than letting the registry become a tacky PR scheme for the vendors.
Perhaps Friends of Libraries USA could run the registry or at least help it get financing.
In a related vein, I think Rochelle is absolutely on target when she says about the e-books her library will serve up: “Since I don’t have a handheld, I won’t be able to sample the wares when we launch the new service. I wonder if that is an issue for other libraries.” Might the Gates Foundation be up to buying handhelds for librarians, with the understanding that there would be no favoritism of the Pocket PC platform or others with Microsoft connections? With foundation money, libraries could buy the handhelds at a fraction of the cost of desktops. No, we’re not talking desktop replacements–just a way to help acquaint librarians with handheld technology. Also, the foundation could help pay for training. Perhaps, too, the foundation could experiment with the financing of some PDAs and tablets for libraries to lend out. If Gates won’t go for this, then maybe other foundations will.
Reminder: This is not a nefarious scheme to replace all paper books, but rather a way to offer more options to patrons in line with libraries’ traditional goals and a more recent one–spreading around information-related computer literacy. Believe me, e-books are A Good Thing and actually rather old-fashioned in certain ways, considering all the wonderful free classics available from Project Gutenberg and other sites, including works by women and minorities who may not be fully represented in the paper collections. My own favorite writer these days happens to be George Gissing, but my local library owns just a fraction of his writings, far fewer than PG has online. Would be wonderful if local libraries could help readers discover writers beyond those whose paper books the libraries could afford to house. As enthusiastic as I am about Cleveland’s experiment with e-books of bestsellers, I don’t want to see the old books forgotten!”
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