Let me start at the beginning. Mother's day the four children came into the bedroom with a gift hours after already giving me hugs and homemade cards. I opened the gift and cried. NOT because it was a Kindle that I had wanted, but because I didn't expect it AT ALL!!! My better half does not read novels and would never buy anything he didn't think was practical. He would also never buy anything without doing any research online for months about it. July. This was when I started talking about Kindle VS Nook VS everything else. He was sneaky about it and had friends post random links on facebook to which I had no opinion. I hadn't decided which I wanted either. I had it narrowed down to Kindle VS Nook. I wasn't wasting money...I was simply buying bigger purses to carry bigger books. Okay, maybe I WAS wasting money.
You may want to grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, this is going to be long. I'm excited. I tend to write a lot when I'm excited.
I was reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov from the library when I received my Kindle. I'm into fashion, and this book has a distant influence on some fashion right now so I did some research as to why. Then I became interested in the author and how he wrote this novel in English himself though it wasn't his first language, etc. (yes, I recommend it in small doses. I'm having trouble finishing it, though, since the main character is a child molester.) I bought it immediately on my Kindle and within 30 seconds was reading it! EASY! In the waiting room at the doctor,I have the Kindle...while my daughter is in dance class,I have the kindle...during lunch at work, I have the Kindle! That's why I wanted the Kindle.
But wait! There's more!
Then yesterday I go to a seminar called "eReaderpalooza!" I must have looked like a kid in a candy store. I'm a geek. I'll be the first to admit it. This stuff is very exciting to me. Tell me what geeky piece of technology is coming out next and my mind goes in a million directions. Technology fascinates me. THAT is why I love this job! They start out with statistics, of course...we're librarians!!! Blah blah blah...then they start to talk about free books and how to get free stuff for the kindle. WHAT???
First up was netgalley.com, now, this isn't just "come get free books." No, I wouldn't be excited about just free books...well, maybe a little... These are titles that big name publishers, like Harper Collins, and small publishers alike, gather to find people who know books (like librarians, bookstores, bloggers, etc.) to review their books. They give you their ebooks as long as they think you're worthy of them, you review them and as long as you hold up your end of the bargain you'll stay on board. I signed up for the service this morning so that I could write about it in this blog. I requested a book entitled "Jackie O On the Couch" as soon as I signed up, along with five other books. Within ten minutes I was accepted to receive the item. It was sent to me on my Kindle in an email and, because Kindle takes a bit to accept email, with 30 minutes I had the item in PDF form on my Kindle to read! I now have three of the six books on my Kindle.
So, how does this all fit into the wonderful world of the library? There are so many ways. Libraries can put ebooks on their ereaders and lend the ereaders out like they do their regular collection. If they're running out of shelf space but want to add to their collection. If they want to put their summer reading on ereaders. Academic libraries could put all the available books on professors syllabi...okay, maybe not text books, since those may break the bank, but any other books or PDFs supplied by the professor. Which brings me to another idea. Reserves. Professors love putting things on reserves. Maybe Academic libraries have Reserve holdings on Kindles or nooks or on apps available for download on your iPhone, iPod or iPad? I think that may be another topic for another blog for another day. I'm completely exhausted (and totally intrigued) just thinking about the possibilities.
I am definitely going to be writing more about this, but that cup of coffee I spoke about earlier that you should be drinking is sounding good right about now...and that job I said that I love so much is definitely being neglected.
I will leave you with this link that was just sent to me in an email that I will be checking out after my lunch break.
