In my recent eRead* presentation @ NIULitConf, I mentioned the eBook sharing site Lendle. I learned yesterday (by way of the twitterfeed) that Amazon has revoked Lendle’s API access, thereby crippling the Lendle website.
…the reason our API and Amazon Associates accounts have been revoked is that Lendle does not ‘serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.’
We take issue with this, as Lendle was built from the ground up to ensure that it would be beneficial to authors, publishers, and Amazon. Our site requires that you be willing to lend books before you can borrow them. We even went so far as to allow users to sync their Lendle accounts with their Kindle accounts, so that we could ensure anyone who borrows books on Lendle has previously purchased lendable books from Amazon. Our philosophy is: You can’t borrow if you don’t lend, and you can’t lend if you don’t buy.” (read more…)
What’s an API, anyway? Check here for an explanation that I’ve already spent way too much time trying to summarize.
A colleague recommended me to one of the Children’s Literature Conference program planners as a potential speaker on the topic of kids, eReaders, and engaging one with the other. I tried to disqualify myself as “not a librarian,” but Melanie assured me that “not a librarian” is exactly what she was looking for in a presenter for this session.
I am a Youth Services Technology Coordinator at the public library in the town where I grew up. I work with children, their families, their schools, and their teachers to turn knowledge into wisdom, curiosity, and enthusiasm for lifelong learning.
I am a user, not an expert. My goal for the session was to share my experience at the intersection of Text and Technology, show and tell you how I work and play with eRead* technology and tools; and send you off with a few resources and ideas to help you create your own eRead* experience for yourself and your public.
eREAD* (note the asterisk) is my own word, where * is the wildcard that denotes any of many suffixes: eReader, eReading, eReadability.
Formats in eRead* is similar to file types at the keyboard. They tell us what software or device we’ll need to access the contents of a document.
Reflow is the way content can resize (reflow) on the digital page to fit the size of the device screen. You can adjust the size of the text to your personal preference.
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management (or Digital Restrictions Management, depending on what you read). My colleague, Toby, describes DRM as a lock on digital content. DRM is what prevents us from doing anything to or with the content that its creator doesn’t want us to do. It also prevents us from keeping the eBooks that we download from our library’s digital collections. It’s the DRM that ensures I have no late fees on the eBooks I download. After 14 days, the file I borrowed from my library will automatically expire on my device and return to the digital collection for use by another borrower.
DRM is also a topic of much discussion and controversy in libraries because it essentially controls what users (and libraries) can and cannot do with the content we purchase for our digital devices and collections. If I purchase an eBook to read on the nook I own today, I’d like to be able to read that same eBook on the Kindle I might own next month. That won’t happen in today’s eRead* environment. I’ll have to buy another copy of the book in the Kindle format.
Talking DRM can be like discussing politics or religion at the dinner table. I try not to do it. I don’t want to get caught up in the…
Kerfuffle. The controversy. The fracas and the fray. Misunderstanding and accusations. There’s one going on now between HarperCollins, OverDrive Media, and libraries. it’s about loan policies, circulation limits, and a whole lot more. You can read about the kerfuffle in the resources I’ve provided. If you’re on the twitter, search for the hashtag #hcod.
Devices.
There are many more eRead* devices than I’m prepared to discuss. I’m a user, not an expert. My experience is with the Sony Touch I owned for two months and the nook that I currently own. I can talk about about why I ditched the Sony for the nook and why I didn’t choose the Kindle. This is my experience, not buying advice.
I know little to nothing about the Kindle. I’m sure it has many wonderful features, but I don’t own one and this is why:
I wanted to borrow content from my public library’s digital media collection
The Kindle isn’t supported by the vendor that supplies my library and the majority of all libraries with content for their digital collections
I didn’t want to be locked in to the Kindle’s proprietary file format or forced to purchase eBooks from Amazon
I honestly never thought I’d be an eRead* person. I like the bound book: the way it feels in my hands, the texture of the pages, the cover art, and the way it fits my face and blocks the sun when I fall asleep while reading. When my family asked me to recommend the eReader that they wanted to buy me for the holidays, I researched and recommended the Sony Touch for all the reasons I didn’t want the Kindle:
I knew that my library’s downloadable media collection was compatible with Sony devices
I could see the device in a store to try before the buy. I could touch it, try it, and experience the display of “screen ink” to see for myself if eRead* was something I actually liked and felt comfortable using.
Of course I like it. My curiosity was piqued and my geek was engaged. I had more than just a book. I had hardware, software, and firmware to maintain; configuration, connectivity, and synchronization to tweak; and user, power, and display options to adjust. This might seem tedious and even intimidating if all you want is something to hold words on a page, but this was play for me and play is good. It leads to learning. And, for me, eRead* play led to reading more than just what I needed to read to Get Things Done. I started reading more youth and YA fiction by choice–my Sony was almost always loaded with the maximum 15 titles allowed for checkout. I also started feeling more confident with readers’ advisory in my work with children and students.
And then along came Adam.
It’s never a good idea for anyone to show off a new tech toy to me. I see, I want, I buy. Adam showed me his new Barnes & Noble nook and it was easy for me to see that the nook was a much better fit for me than the Sony Touch:
In my opinion, the screen clarity on the nook trumps the Sony Touch. There’s a reason for that: A touch screen is made up of at least three layers of material. Those layers can degrade the visibility of the text that sits pretty much sits beneath the third layer.
The touch portion of the nook is used only to navigate menus, tap commands, turn pages, and browse the pretty book covers.
The page portion of the nook is not touch sensitive, so the text isn’t buried beneath layers of touchscreen material. It’s noticeably clearer.
I could share my nookbooks with other nookbook owners through their “LendMe” feature. If I have a book that Adam wants to read, I can send it to him through the nook network. The book is then locked on my reader, unlocked on his, and automatically “returned” to my nook after 14 days.
The nook has free desktop and mobile applications that I can use to read nookbooks from my laptop and my iPhone in addition to my nook. I can use the Barnes & Noble Reader desktop application to read an unlimited number of books from my personal eBook library as long as they’re in ePUB format (PDF is not supported). The iPhone app, which also works with the iPod touch, allows me to read from my online library of nookbook titles that I’ve downloaded from the B&N nookbook store. I can even use bookmarks to resume reading on the nook where I left off on the iPhone.
The OverDrive Media Console mobile app is especially nice for students and young readers. Many of the kids at my library are already carrying handheld devices. They can use their library card to download eBooks from our digital collection to the devices they’re already using. With one or more eBooks in their pocket, they have the option to read a book while they’re listening to music and in-between text messages, IMs, and games.
Formats.
There are many more eRead* formats than I can name. My experience is with ePUB, PDF, and Web-based content.
But first there was Mobipocket, one of the earliest formats in use when eBooks were still very young. Mobipocket was purchased by Amazon in 2005 and became the proprietary format for the Kindle. The Mobipocket format is identified by three different file extensions: .mobi, .prc, and .azw.
ePub is my preferred format. It was originally developed as the industry standard for eBooks. The nook is an ePub reader and ePub uses reflow. I can change text size and also font style. I can look up words in the built-in dictionary, highlight words, and take notes. I can’t do that with a PDF document on my nook.
PDF stands for portable document format. We see a lot of PDF across the web and it’s especially useful when we want to share a document with someone who might not have access to the software that we used to create the content. Unlike ePUB, most PDF files do not reflow to fit a variety of screen sizes. If I open a PDF eBook on my nook, the text is usually too small to read. If I zoom in to where the text is readable, I have to scroll left and right to read a single line of text. that same file in ePUB format will “reflow” to wrap the lines of text to fit any screen side.
The Web isn’t a format, but rather a platform. I include it on the list to acknowledge that eReading can happen without a dedicated eRead* device. There are many websites and subscription products for young readers to introduce them to eReading on the computer. My Evernote-book includes links to some sites where individuals and groups can eRead without a Kindle, nook, or other dedicated eRead* device.
Content.
How do you keep your eReader fed, full, and interesting? There’s something for everyone. My favorites are “free” and “cheap.”
The free kind is available for download from many public libraries–probably your own–but library loans have limitations and restrictions such as shelf availability, waiting lists, length of loan, simultaneous users, and device requirements. These limitations may not get in the way of the adult user’s eRead* experience–I can add myself to the reserve list for a checked out title, and I can usually finish reading it within the 14 day loan period–but they can be a stressor for students who choose to eRead on deadline for a class assignment, or the educator who wants to eRead with a group of students.
There are many Websites where users can download their own copy of an eBook for free, in the format best suited to their eRead* experience, without the limitations of a loan collection. You won’t find the latest bestseller or the newest installment in The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but you will find the classics and other out-of-copyright titles of fiction, poetry, short stories, drama, and more.
Project Gutenberg is the original producer of free eBooks and a great source for the “classics” that students often read in school. The Gutenberg catalog includes children’s literature, children’s picture books, series fiction, history, and school stories.
Young Readers is part of the Classic Reader website, an “online library of thousands of free books by authors such as Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare and many others.” The eBooks can be read on the site and registered users can download complete books. The Young Readers collection includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, short stores, drama, and classical literature.
Read Print Library bills itself as “free online books library for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast.” The collection is organized into essays, fiction, nonfiction, plays, poetry, and short stories.
My first stop for borrowing eBooks is my public library. We have a growing collection, a generous loan limit, and 7- to 14-day loan periods. The best part is that my eBooks are never overdue (DRM takes care of that). The biggest player in the library loan field is OverDrive Media.
NetGalley invites “professional” readers to download current titles and advance reading copies of future favorites and award winners for kids, teens, and adults of all ages. Genres include children’s, teen-young adult, comic and graphic, textbooks, and more. Yes, we are “professional readers.”
Some eRead* devices allow sharing of “lendable” content over the air between registered devices. Barnes & Noble nookbook “LendMe” titles are licensed for sharing. When I lend my eBook, I’m also lending you my license to the book, so I won’t be able to open the book while you have it. And I won’t have to ask you to return the book… the nook and DRM will do that for me, automagically (whether or not you’ve finished reading).
If you don’t know anyone to exchange eBooks with, you can find someone on the Web…
Lendle and BookLending.com are online destinations that match Kindle users who want to borrow and lend titles from each others’ Kindle bookshelves. eBook Fling, which is in beta as of this writing, will offer the same type of sharing for nook users when it opens for use.
UPDATE 3.15.10… eBook Fling is live as of yesterday!
Many of the littlest users at my library experience their first eRead* through Tumblebooks, a popular subscription product that many libraries offer to their cardholders and in-person visitors. A thoughtful surf of the Web will shake out some similar online eRead* opportunities for the wee ones…
The International Children’s Digital Library is a digital library of children’s books from all over the world. The collection includes more than 4,000 books in 54 languages that were, at one time, published in a physical format and recognized in their country of publication.
MeeGenius is a collection of “enhanced online books for kids.” Their shelf of free content is a small but mighty sample of richly illustrated picture books (there are six titles available as of this writing). More is available to sample and purchase for around the same price as a mobile app. All titles include audio, word highlight, and auto read/independent read options.
StoryJumper is a DIY eBook creator and eRead* collection for kids. Users can create their own books, read books authored and illustrated by other users, and purchase hardbound copies in picture book format.
BookGlutton is a social reading website and eBook library. Users can read available titles (many are free and include classics) or upload their own and create groups for discussion, study, and reading right inside the book. A quick browse of the most active groups yields a long list of student groups–mostly high school and college–engaged in book discussions and review.
Create your experience.
So there you have it: a little bit of language and information about devices, formats, and content. This is where I leave you with a few ideas for creating and sharing your own eRead experience.
Read. Subscribe. Follow. Friend. The cloud is bursting with opportunities to keep up with eRead*, whether it’s the latest releases, content, trends, partnerships, news, products, conversations, professional articles, opinions. Follow @users and #hashtags to see what publishers, vendors, users, and professionals are tweeting about eRead* experience and developments. Keep up with the kerfuffles, too, especially if you work in a field that might be directly affected by the issues.
Discover. Explore devices, software, file formats, content, and sources. Experiences reflow! If you’re not already using a dedicated device, download one of the eRead* apps to your mobile or laptop and try reading an eBook. The apps are free and provide access to a nice collection of public domain content. Then check out a few titles from the digital collection at your library. See what works for you. Find your comfort zone.
Discuss. Join in the conversation on any any of the many blogs about eReading in schools, libraries, and on your sofa. You’ll find a wealth of links to resources and content, opportunities for conversation, opinions, and ideas.
Engage. When I had the Sony Touch in my hand, and later the nook, I knew that the future of my leisure reading was in that little device. I talked about eRead* with friends, colleagues, and the one child I know of who owns her own eReader. I asked their opinions and got some interesting answers. There’s Mary, who initially resisted the idea of eReading but eventually fell in love with the Kindle after she was able to download and start reading the 2011 Newbery Medal winner within 30 seconds of its announcement. And Louise, who finds eBooks “very irritating” because she can’t see what people are reading when she walks along the beach. And the child who likes her Kindle for the most practical reason: “I can carry 20 books without carrying 20 books.”
Your enthusiasm can be contagious. Talk to parents, show them the content available for loan through your library and for free (or cheap) on the Web. Remind them that a dedicated device is optional, that a child can have an eRead* experience on the family computer or the iPod that she’s already using. Since my own day one I’ve looked forward to the day when kids in waiting rooms and restaurant reservation queues set aside their handheld gaming devices for an eReader jam-packed with their favorite series books.
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Thank you to the 80+ people who attended The eRead* Experience… I hope there was enough chocolate to go around.
Thank you, Lane Smith, for allowing me to use your ‘It’s a Book’ character illustrations and for signing/doodling in my personal copy of the book to give away at the presentation. The lucky winner of that book was Dwayne who, until yesterday, never wins anything.
I discovered this while searching for books about the Ubuntu operating system, which I recently installed on my netbook for the simple challenge of learning something new and because, well, I don’t like Windows…
A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed…
Ubuntu is an African way of seeing self-identity formed through community. This is a difficult worldview for many Western people, who understand self as over, against, or in competition with others.
Certainly not what I was looking for, but a totally welcome non-coincidence.
But still, I’d really like to know why Jaunty Jackalope won’t recognize the Ethernet and wireless devices on my new Asus 1005HA. I’ll keep looking.
Words.
Devices.
Formats.
Content.
Create your experience.