Week 9 #22

I have wondered about e-books. My brother seems to think that it will be easier to carry an e-book on trips than an actual book. I am very old fashioned in that I love to have an actual book in hand than reading one online. When I went to the World eBook I checked out many titles that I wouldn't mind having on hand to read at a moments notice. I was frustrated that I couldn't actually view many of the titles that I saw without joining. I'm sure though that it costs money to post these books online.

I know as a librarian I've looked into purchasing e-books but my biggest concern is that only one person at a time can check out the book and the books are not cheap. I at first thought that purchasing e-books might be the way to go so that more students could view the same book at the same time.

I did read a few of Grim's Fairy Tales from Project Gutenburg. I found that there is quite a collection of classics available. I think that the future of books will be as ebooks. While I don't enjoy curling up with the computer or ipod many of my students do. I think that posting a collection of ebooks would help students to view the library as a place of the future, rather than as a place of in the past.

I think by offering a listing of sites where they can sign up to join e-books I won't necessarily have to join or pay for them to have this luxury. But at least I'm helping them to connect to some good books.

I will have to continue to explore and yes, probably join, so that I can have access to the online books.