SAXTON B. LITTLE FREE LIBRARY
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Keeping you up-to-date on what's happening at your library. We invite you to join in the conversation!
AUGUST 9, 2010
Kindles, Sony Reader, Nooks and Crannies! - Update
 In our Wednesday blog this week Su begged the question to E or not to E. Seems this is a topic on many minds. Consider these blog posts and musings I came across this week:

Not an E Book - Early Word Blog

Visit their site to see the trailer of the new picture book by Lane Smith called It's a Book. Not only is it book, it's a riot! 

Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia's in Madison is vacationing in Maine this week and has A Question for You? When in the middle of the night her power went out and all gadgetry failed, and sleep was out of the question, Roxanne resorted to an old fashioned flashlight by which to read Nicole Krauss's Great House (not due out until October). Reading by flashlight was a trip down memory lane, as it must have been thirty years since she had read this way. One thought led to another and she began to wonder: 

"this experience of holding a book - of being one with the words and being immersed and surrendering to the story - is it uniquely tied to a physical book? Can the experience of reading be duplicated with an electronic device? Does it engage the same dimensions of the brain and therefore elicit the same sensations? Most of my recent conversations about books quickly gravitate toward electronic reading. This is not a discussion about trying to stop the march of technology, but simply a curiosity I have, and I would love to have a further conversation. And an easy way for us to do this is for you to go to the rjjulia blog."

From the Daily Beast The CEO of Ingram Book Company, David "Skip" Pritchard, speaks out on Will the Book Survive?

"I foresee a future when all of the electronic devices will have a button to press when you decide you really want that hardcover or paperback copy mailed to your home."

I don't own an e-book reader, I hardly own a cell phone but I'm very interested in the technology. Frankly, I'm looking for a device that will do three things. First, be capable of downloading and playing audio books, secondly, be able to connect via wifi to the internet, and lastly to have a decent sized screen for e-book reading. I can see the advantages to e-books. The ability to bookmark, search and find is a key factor for me. I also think being able to jump off to explore an idea on the net that is presented in the text of a story, fiction or non-fiction, would be great. The ability to look up a word, hear it spoken immediately has appeal. I like the idea of carrying several books in a compact format for vacation reading. In the end though, I don't see the hard copy of the book going away and I really don't want to see it's demise. I love holding one, opening it's pages, breathing in it's unique smell. Want to know how paper is made?Here's a link to a great video by Melissa Klug, who works for Glatfelter, which manufactures many of the papers that are used in the books on our bookshelves. 

http://www.glatfelter.com/learning/interactive_tour.aspx

What e-book reader can produce such stunning effects as deckled edges, french flaps, or Step-backs, Die-cuts, and Foil, Oh My! Click on the previous link to learn about most of these in a video presented by Michael Kindness, one half the team doing a fantastic job talking about books on a podcast called Books On the Nightstand. The edges are mentioned in this podcast

 http://booksonthenightstand.com/2010/02/botns-books-podcast-65-cookbooks-on-the-nightstand.html

 We're not going to solve this question anytime soon. This will be an ongoing conversation in the our book world. One last thought for this blog post. I truly wonder what impact e-books will have on libraries. It's something I think about often. How about you? We'd love to hear your thoughts on any of this? If you have a reader, please chime in. If you abhor the thought, let us know why. 

Update 8/11/2010

Read comments by author Pat Conroy about e-books in an ABC interview.

an article by Rob Walker, New York Times, Creative New Uses for Books which advises readers to "set aside any emotional attachment you may feel toward the reading of physical books; the truth is that creative uses for books that do not involve engaging with words on a page already abound."
 

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