Introducing electronic readers final

Editor's Notes

• #2: During the fall of this year a student came up to me and said, “When we were at a volleyball game in Stover I saw a poster that said, ‘Nook or Book? We Have Both.’” That student went on to ask me what I thought that meant. I turned that question around to her and asked her what she thought that meant and she said, “They have Nooks in their library?” The next time I was in Barnes and Noble I mentioned this to one of their employees (who was a retired teacher from our district) and she said they did in fact check out Nooks to students at the Stover library. I got on the Stover website, emailed their librarian, Brenda Steffens, and immediately and set up a visit. Thus, I am sharing my experience with you today about the introduction of Nooks into my library’s circulation.The introduction of eReaders into a library can loosely support many of the standards for the 21st century learner but most directly it would support the following: 4.1.1 Read, view, and listen for pleasure and personal growth, 4.1.2 Read widely and fluently to make connections with self, the world, and previous reading, 4.1.3 Seek information for personal learning in a variety of formats and genres, 4.1.6 Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily, 4.2.1 Display curiosity by pursuing interests through multiple resources, 4.2.2 Demonstrate motivation by seeking information to answer personal questions and interests, trying a variety of formats and genres, and displaying a willingness to go beyond academic requirements, 4.2.4 Show an appreciation for literature by electing to read for pleasure and expressing an interest in various literary genres, 4.41 Identify own areas of interest, 4.4.6 Evaluate own ability to select resources that are engaging and appropriate for personal interests and needs.
• #3: Throughout our history the medium upon which words are recorded has changed…it would be foolish of us to not consider that things will change going forward. We can not put up a barrier in our attitude towards electronic reading. It will happen with our with out us. The change we are experiencing in or library environment is both exciting and scary.
• #4: Who owns an eReader personally? Who has eReaders or eBooks that can be checked out to eReaders through your library? What does this big trend in “e” everything mean? We hear all these words and we may own an eReader personally but as a librarian the decision to embrace eReaders for our patrons is a big one that will need to be addressed sometime in the future.
• #5: According to Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson’s article, “Nurturing a New Breed of Reader”,we are experiencing great changes in the way we are reading. The electronic reader markets are blowing up Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This raises a lot of questions for libraries (56).
• #6: Why should we care about electronic readers?
• #7: We should care because 25% of children 15-17 have read on a digital device (“Reading Books in the Digital Age”).
• #8: We should care because 57% of children 9-17 are interested in reading books on a digital device (“Reading Books in the Digital Age”).
• #9: We should care because 33% say they would read more if they had greater access to electronic reading (“Reading Books in the Digital Age). As far as digital reading is concerned, these are old numbers. According to Julie Bosman in her blog titled Tablet and E-Reader Sales Soar , “For adults, tablet computers and e-readers were the gifts of choice, judging by a new report that indicates the number of adults in the United States who own tablets and e-readers nearly doubled from mid-December to early January” (Bosman). This report was from Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.
• #10: According to Karen Springen in her article, “Are Kids Embracing E-Books?”Barnes and Noble sold 5 times as many eBooks geared toward young adults than print ones. At Amazon young adult novel sales are increasing more rapidly. Her article goes on to explain how teenagers are constantly on their digital devices that eReading will be an extension of how they already live. (Springen,20)
• #14: According to Mallorie Colvin’s article, “Why Read Digitally?”, 66% of “public” libraries offer eBooks in one way or another and some libraries even circulate the devices (Colvin). It will be interesting for those of us going to the MASL spring conference go here about other “school” libraries and their approach to eBooks and eReaders.
• #15: Jessica Bock quoted librarian Mindy Siefert, “Reading is reading. As much as we love paper books, our kids are using their devices in every way possible, so why not offer them a way to read?” (Bock) When we think about this as librarians, we spend thousands of dollars on books, databases, and periodicals, all to encourage reading from different sources. Why not add eReaders?
• #16: Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and other eReader manufacturers are in price wars and the price of eReaders is getting more and more affordable. This year I bought my daughter the Nook Simple Touch at Target for $100 and got a $25 gift card as an incentive. That means a reader for $75. Now, these simple readers are only for reading, no Internet or games, but I like that anyway for a library.
• #17: My principal helped me find $800 to go ahead and get started with 6 devices. I will be getting my budget restored in June at that time I will consider adding 12 more Nooks. My administration feels that I could use equipment money to purchase the actual devices. Usually equipment money must be spent on nonconsumables (things such as computers, printers, and furniture). This is the area of my budget that I usually have money left. After I have the devices I can use book money to load up the devices. Of course you would each need to check with your district’s administration. This gives you an idea that for every 6 devices it would cost about $800. Some libraries purchase eBooks that can be checked out to students who already have an eReader. I personally feel it is important in public schools to remove as much of the “digital divide” as possible. The kids who do not own eReaders are the ones who stand to benefit the most from having access to them from their libraries.
• #20: Librarians considering adding eReaders to their circulations can get examples of user agreements from libraries that already do this, research online for examples, or come up with their own user agreement. I got an example from the Stover librarian and adapted her form to meet my library’s needs. When a student returns the form they are put on a waiting list for a Nook. When their turn comes up they get the next available Nook delivered to them. The student then gets to keep the Nook for 2 weeks. When they return it they tell me what books they read and I record the data.
• #21: In the article “Are Teens Embracing eBooks?” we can read, “Unfortunately, there are teen have and teen have-nots this is apparent in e-reader ownership. Many libraries are trying to play a role in lessening the inequality by lending out e-readers” (Springen,23).
• #23: According to Barry Cull’s article “Reading Revolutions: Online Digital Text and Implications for Reading in Academe”, he states, “while continuing to provide the necessary access to digital test, academic administrators and librarians need to be aware of students’ continued desire to read from print, as well as their need for the availability of appropriate spaces-such as reading rooms and study halls-suitable to the time-dependent and cognitively intensive activity of deep reading, whether it is done on paper or on a screen” (Cull).
• #24: Mallorie Colvin tells us in her article “Why Reading Digitally?” that we do not need to replace all our books, but we librarians do need to figure out how to incorporate reading digitally and work in a mixture of digital reading into our already existing print collections (Colvin).
• #25: William Powers says it right in his comment on Aaron Houston’s article, “Do School Libraries Need Books?” in the room for debate blog at the nytimes.com by writing, “This is indeed the start of a new era. Digital devices are transforming how we live in all kinds of thrilling ways, and we’ve only begun to explore their potential. But embracing these new tools doesn’t require us to simultaneously throw out all the old ones, particularly those that continue to serve useful purposes. Who says this has to be an either-or decision?” (Houston)
• #27: It is really up to you to decide what types of books you would want to start with but I suggest novels at first. These are popular with young adults. When discussing what books I should start with, several librarians suggested starting with the Gateway nominees.
• #28: Even though I suggest starting with novels for circulation through the library, several teachers have mentioned that it would be feasible to use Nooks instead of lit. sets in their rooms. This is another way to ensure all kids get to have the experience of reading from an eReader.
• #29: Text books are another option. In Christopher Harris’ article “Ebooks and School Libraries” he writes, “Publishers are working to enrich their ebooks to better meet the new Common Core State Standards. For example, enhanced social studies ebooks from Rosen Publishing include maps, timelines, and primary-source documents” (Harris).
• #31: We have all hopefully witnessed the transformation in some students from being a reluctant reader to being an avid reader. As librarians we must be open to all methods of reading to give kids more practice and to give kids more options in the hopes of helping kids make this transition.
• #32: According to Christopher Harris’ article, “One of the areas of greatest potential for ebooks in school libraries is in accommodating students with special needs. The US Department of Education-funded BookShare.org program supplies free DAISY-formatted books, offering text-to-speech enhancements with read-along highlighting to students with a qualifying print or visual disability” (Harris).
• #33: Christopher Harris goes on to point out in his article that, “ readers thanks to the single-page display that lets students focus on the present without worrying about the pages to come” (Harris).
• #34: This point is also emphasized on page 21 in Karen Springen’s article, “Are Teens Embracing E-Books?”
• #35: In Barry Cull’s article, “Reading Revolutions: Online Digital Test and Implications for Reading in Academe” Cull writes “thanks to the Internet and its medium of digital text accessed via personal computing devices, most people are reading very differently today than they were in the very recent past” (Cull).In that same article, Cull quotes Robert Darnton, the historian and Director of the Harvard University Library “The explosion of modes of communication is as revolutionary as the invention of printing with movable type” (Cull).