Dipping a toe into the eBook waters

Librarians often get asked if we think eBooks will ever replace print books. My short answer to that question is, I hope not! Although I do believe that print reference books and many periodicals will probably dwindle away, I don't think all print books will disappear in the near future. While I personally prefer print books for pleasure reading, I definitely embrace the option to read books in a variety of formats. For example, I love audiobooks during my daily commute, and when I travel, it's great to tote along an eReader rather than a collection of heavy books. When I find myself at a meeting or with an unexpected period of waiting time, it's great to have my Kindle Fire handy with books, apps, and the Web at my fingertips. As a teacher librarian, I have a digital bookshelf (Follett Shelf) of reference books available online for my students so they can use them for research 24/7, from any computer.

So in an effort to provide my students with a greater opportunity to explore books in all formats, I decided this year to dedicate a portion of our library budget to eBooks, both on the Follett Shelf and through the purchase of Nook eReaders loaded with over 175 books each.

My reasons for purchasing eReaders and eBooks for my library include:

1. Exposing students to new reading formats,
2. Giving them the opportunity to test out an eReader if they don't have one of their own,
3. Encouraging my digital native students to read more,
4. Providing new books to my students in a more timely manner, as soon as they are released, and
5. Providing better reading oppportunites for students with learning challenges, with features such as text-to-speech, a built-in dictionary, and the ability to change font sizes.

My reasons for hesitating to purchase eReaders are equally valid. The devices and books are expensive - will students even read them? Will the eReaders get lost or stolen? If that happens, can my students afford to replace them? How do I manage the eBook collection with no way to accurately catalog the books? However, I decided that if I waited until all of these questions were answered, I would never have eBooks for my students. It was time for a beta test.

I purchased four Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch eReaders. I decided on the Nook becuase I can use a purchase order to buy books (rather than a credit card, which my purchasing department discouraged), and also because I can download each of my eBooks on up to six devices. The Simple Touch is inexpensive ($99 each), and cannot access websites on the Internet, so there are no CIPA concerns. For each device I ordered a screen protector, a sturdy rubber cover, and a multi-user protection plan through Barnes and Noble. Each device is barcoded and can be checked out as equipment through our library's online catalog. When a student wants to check out a Nook, they must sign a borrower's agreement, which we keep on file. Students can only check out a Nook if they have a clean borrowing record, and each device is be checked out for a two-week loan period. We update and charge the Nooks when they are returned. We don't send out the chargers with the Nooks, for fear we won't get them back, but our Barnes and Noble rep assured me that if the wireless access is turned off, the Nook will stay charged for a couple of weeks. We posted a list of our Nook eBooks in a GoogleDoc on our library website, which can be easily updated as new titles are added. I am in the process of adding a notation in the 500 field of the marc record for each print book for which we have a corresponding eBook, to let patrons searching our online catalog know that an eBook is available. So far, so good.

So, here's to dipping a toe into the eBook waters. The water feels great; come on in!