As usual I owe a debt of gratitude to LM_NET for all their help with this information.

I’ve been researching the whole ereader thing for awhile now.  I really needed to find out if ereaders could access the Follett ebooks our library already owns.  Turns out that if they have a usable browser, it IS possible.

It appears that the Nook and of course the iPad work quite well with the Follett ebooks, as long as they are connected to the internet.  I tried to access my Follett eBooks via the Kindle browser, but got an error message when I clicked on the links.

I needed this input to finish a report for our district.  They are considering the purchase of ereaders and/or ipads.  No one has asked for my opinion, but that has never stopped me before.  So… I sent them this report to help with their decision.  I decided to post it here also in case anyone could make use of it.

eReader/eBooks

I know that the district has been talking about ebooks/ereaders.  I am doing some research on the issues involved in a school/school library setting.  Here is what I have found out so far:

ISSUES TO CONSIDER:

• The high school library currently owns about 20 ebooks from Follett (our book supplier).  They cannot be downloaded, but they CAN be viewed on a browser. They are all research books at this point.  My plan for the high school library has been to phase out the purchase of non-fiction print books in favor of the Follett ebooks.
• The public library provides a service called Overdrive.  With a library card and a pin number, it is very easy to download ebooks and audioboooks for free.  They are then available for reading for 21 days.  They can also be placed on hold and renewed, just like print books.  Here is the post I sent out to our staff offering this as a training option:
  Kindle/Nook/iPad costing you money?
• Overdrive is a service to consider for our school libraries in the future.  I have no idea of the cost right now.  It would be beneficial, because we could build a collection tailored for our student needs.
• If we go to ereaders, we need to deal with replacement costs if the readers are damaged when they are loaned to students.  If we purchase only research ebooks, then ipads and dedicated ereaders would probably be fine for in-school only usage.  If we purchase fiction, that is a different story.  We would have to be willing to loan the readers.

HARDWARE:

Kindle: Works only with Amazon ebooks.  Does NOT work with either Overdrive books from the public library or the Follett ebooks that the hs library already owns.

NOOK: Works with Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Overdrive, and Follett.  Color or black and white model available. ($249 or $149 at the Barnes & Noble website)

iPad: Gotta love them.  They not only work very well with all the formats, but also have so many other uses.  The downside is the cost.

Sony eReader: I have not investigated this one as yet.

Borders eReader: Much less expensive, but the company is in trouble.  Not sure if it handles ebooks in other formats such as Follett, Overdrive etc.

MY OPINION:

iPads and NOOKs are the best choice because they handle a wide variety of formats, including the formats that are already available in the high school library.   I would suggest that for students, iPads be used in school only.  The NOOKs are cheaper and could be purchased for use both in school and at home.

I just posted this on LM_NET.  I hope to get some good suggestions.

Does anyone know of really upbeat fiction titles with GLBT characters? I am feeling frustrated about how “dark” all the literature is.  I don’t want to be Polyanna and act as if problems don’t exist.  It just seems that so many of the plot lines are relentlessly depressing and discouraging.

A favorite former student and I have stayed in contact over the years. I will never forget asking him what he thought of the latest Rainbow Boys book.  He sighed and said that he was really sick of gay problem/coming-out stories.  He said “For God’s sake, don’t gay people ever just go out for a cup of coffee?!”

He was longing to find books with characters who just happened to be gay.  I’ve been searching ever since without a whole lot of success.

Ideas???

I have noticed the videos on Amazon before – but I took the time to look at the one posted for the book The Elements By Theodore Gray.

I know that the book publishing industry is hurting – but this is one way to use the internet to promote the business.

I have been a big fan of Amazon since practically the day it opened.  I knew I had to cut back a little when they sent me a thank-you gift at Christmas.

Still – I have not jumped into the ebook ocean yet.  Have actually not really been tempted.  Until now.  I REALLY want an iPad.

I will be watching it for the next year.  If the proposed iBooks store is anything like iTunes – I am DOOMED.

I’ve just read “Children need books, not quangos”
(Quango – Translation for Non-Brits: “government committee”)

In the article, Gillian Bowditch writes:

At my daughter’s school, literacy levels rose — especially among boys — when the headmaster ended formal reading homework for children from primary four upwards and replaced it with 20 minutes of reading of the child’s choice per night. Magazines, comics and football annuals were all acceptable. Parents were told that the aim was to present reading as an enjoyable activity and to encourage a basic level of competency.

What is so discouraging, however, is the way that fostering basic literacy has become an end goal for politicians, when it is really just the equivalent of reaching base camp.

Sounds like the government in the UK is also suffering from a similar strain of the “No Child Left Behind” disease.

Of course reading for fun improves reading skills! What a treat for young children and their parents to have a break from homework, a chance to have a good time together and improve reading skills at the same time.

I know the roadblocks to providing children with fun reading time. NCLB testing is the biggest culprit at the elementary and middle school levels. But high schools here in New York State have always had “high-stakes” testing and still manage to provide a range of learning activities. Yet any kind of school-wide, “drop everything and read” kind of activity is often resisted by some (many?) high school teachers. They cite the pressure to cover the curriculum – and that pressure is very real. Still, encouraging students to read for fun will improve student comprehension skills, and developing lifelong readers is at least as important as covering the curriculum.

Librarians – myself included – do not get away from criticism here. Perhaps the author is correct when he says:

School libraries have given way to “resource centres” and librarians have lost out to “information technology specialists.

At any rate, this article interested me because it promotes a free reading activity outside of class time. Perhaps such an activity would gain more support amongst busy teachers. Once in awhile, instead of assigning that essay question or that list of math problems to solve, they could change the assignment to:

For homework tonight, read something you enjoy for at least a half hour. Talk to someone in your family about what you have read, and be prepared to tell the class a little about your reading tomorrow.

If the teachers in each subject area would give that assignment to all their students just once a month – it would mean that students would be doing some free reading at least once a week. Surely a teacher could forgo the usual homework assignment once a month? Who knows – reading skills might improve. If not – at least everyone (teachers, students and parents) would get to relax a little.