One of our country's best institutions (in my opinion) is the Public Library. The library is a place of learning and discover - no matter your age. That said, I imagine our libraries will need to evolve with technology if they will continue to thrive - perhaps becoming more dependent on e-book readers and the internet.
Today, we went to the local library here in Kingsland, Georgia.
Stephanie and I trade off work during the daylight hours. When she works, I watch the girls (and vice versa). Our campground has less then stellar internet so the four of us went to the public library for a good part of the day.
While Stephanie worked at a quiet table, I took the girls to the children's section. I read all sorts of stories to them. We read, re-shelved our stack, and then grabbed more.
After repeating this process a few times, the girls and I went back to the fifth wheel for Italian Ice. While we were home, the three of us searched through our book collection. Even though we gave away most of our books before we left Tucson, we found a handful to donate to the library.
Later, when we went back to pick up Stephanie, our four year old proudly gave the books to the librarian and said, "we want to donate these."
Have you switched to a Kindle or another e-reader or do you still like old-fashioned paper? What do you think Libraries should do to innovate?
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My daughter was given a Nook for her birthday and I have to admit I call it mine! I love it. I have hundreds of books that I have collected all my life. I never thought I would enjoy an e-reader so much. I love the ease of purchase at any time, the ability to store all of our books in one place, and the fact that it is eco-friendly. But there is something about books. I love the musty old smell, the yellowing of the pages and that you can physically share a book. I no longer buy books for myself unless they are in digital format but I do for my girls who still prefer to hold the book while they read. When they are ready, they will get an e-reader also!
I prefer books to e-readers, but that's just because I love books and always have - especially the older ones, I'm fascinated by printing as it has evolved through the years and I love seeing books that were produced on old-fashioned presses, books with gold leaf, embossed covers, hand-drawn illustrations. I also love reading so would enjoy an e-reader for all those other books I read, the ones I read once for entertainment and then never pick-up again. Any truly great book - one that I would re-read, I want in traditional book format.
We enjoy the library! I appreciate a few changes our library has made over the past several years - I can browse the catalog online and put books on hold then simply go pick them up, also I can check out e-books online and download them digitally to listen to. Since we listen to a lot of audio books that has been a handy feature!
I received a Nook for Christmas and I love it! And the best part about it is I am able to borrow e-books from the public library!! The Nashville Library has a good amount of ebooks new and old available for checkout! The great thing about that is, I can do that from my computer at home. We very seldom purchase books that are not available on our e-readers, but we do check out both ebooks and regular books very frequently. We have eliminated many of our books that are collecting dust on a shelf. I hope that more public libraries will adopt the ebook system soon.
I am excited about the growing number of libraries offering electronic copies to borrow!
Does the Nashville Library only checkout books to Nooks or could you use a different e-reader?
Most e-readers read the format that the libraries use. (.pdf) the Kindle is currently set up to only read kindle books. Hope this helps :)
Got it. Thanks.
Aw, your 4 year old is such a sweetie! I agree with you 100% about our nation's libraries. I love how anyone can use the library regardless of age, race, gender, income, or other demographic.
I have read that library foot traffic is actually increasing due to people like you, who use the library for working. There are also many community programs at libraries like storytime for little kids, book clubs, reading programs, etc. I love how the library is at the center of the community.
I haven't switched to a Kindle yet but the $139 price is enticing. I find it hard to justify spending money on books when they are free at the library! However, our library is starting to lend electronic books, but so far they just work on Nooks and not Kindles.
That is what I love about libraries, too, that the clientele is so diverse! But that is why I hope that libraries don't swing too far on the pendulum toward ebooks. Many library users cannot afford the price of a Nook or Kindle.
I can't decide if I would like a kindle. I love the library and very rarely purchase a book unless it is something I really want to read about and think I will want to look back on. Otherwise I check the books out from the library. And most of the free books available on a kindle aren't very new releases. I had no idea that you could check out ebooks. A Kindle might be looking a little more enticing with this option.
My son loves the library and getting to pick out his own books to bring home and it is great when we are learning about something specific and we don't have a lot about books about it.
I have an iPad, so I have some e-reader applications. I do like the convenience for things like travel and reading in bed with the lights off (because the baby is sleeping next to me), but I do like hard copies for some things, like parenting books that I might want to reference again and again, since it is hard to flip through an e-reader. Our library does have e-books available, but the check out period is often too short for me (14 days) and the selection is very limited. Lately most of the books I want to read aren't available. Hopefully more and more will become available.