Ebooks vs Ebook Readers

I just attended a web conference session on ebook readers. I was hoping the session would address the problem of lending ebook content that the library already owns with the Kindle. For a quick summary of why Overdrive books don't work on the Kindle, read this.

For that reason, the session was more concerned with describing the wide variety of ebook readers available and encouraging libraries to try lending the readers themselves. My initial reaction was that this was kind of crazy AND probably crazy expensive to implement. Besides, aren't libraries about content, not devices? Of course, then I thought about how every branch provides public computer stations, because the real point of the library is facilitating access to information. Plus, the accessibility of ebook readers is phenonemal, since they are much more flexible than a printed book. Text size can be changed for readers who have vision problems and some ebook readers even have a text to voice feature that makes a book accessible to the blind.

Logistically, a Kindle lending service would be tricky, but a few public libraries are already doing it. The patron is effectively borrowing a mini-library when they get an ebook reader since it can hold so many books. Would a library offer themed Kindles, like one with a collection of popular mysteries and another with romance novels? Or just put the entire NY Times Best Seller list on all of them?

Kindle DX

I started subscribing to RSS feeds and I got distracted by one of the stories from slashdot.org, which is a handy site for both techy and nerdy news. (So far I like having the RSS feeds on my homepage (iGoogle) rather than in Outlook or Bloglines.)

Anyway, a new version of the Kindle has been released, this time with a larger screen. I do think e-ink is getting better and better and more and more like an actual printed page, which might help convince some people to transition from book to e-book. I'm not of a collector mentality, so I don't really care about the container- my interest in books is the content. If Kindle's ever become more compatible with libraries and their e-books, I'll be sold.

But I understand some people feel attachment to books themselves. I had a friend who told me that they would never let go of books for an e-book reader, because the experience of turning the page was too special to them. Of course, at one point the page was the latest technology, so I wonder if people were reluctant to give up turning the scroll.

This video has been around for awhile, but maybe some of you haven't seen it: