e-readers

Thanks to scotlibraries on Twitter, I read the article by Tom Peters on the changing form of reading,that we must listen to what our customers are saying and purchasing around the topic of e-books. Are our customers whether it be in libraries, bookshops or online stores now gravitating more towards e-readers such as the Kindle and the Sony Reader for their reading adventures or are they reading chapters a day on their phones,like reading a daily horoscope?

I work on the front line with my tin hat and billy can every day and as yet I’ve never had a customer ask whether they can access e-books within the libraries. I am asked daily whether our wifi connection is working but never to my knowledge on supply of e-books. Is this due to the age demographic of library users? When predominantly the age of adult library users is above the age of 40 (estimate from a visual perspective not a user survey) and that many of these customers have little or no PC knowledge let alone the ability to use an e-reader, would we then suggest e-readers and downloads.


I have several ways of reading my favourite fiction; I can pick up a book, my iPhone, my palm tungsten T3 or my PC. However the book is the only one I can rely on not to need charged after a couple of hours and the least expensive to replace if I loose it. I’m not against the advent of more ways to increase my reading power or that of customers but what do we do with the problem of file formats? Will I consistently be worried that I have to upgrade my systems? I own a Tungsten T3 which I predominantly use to read online fiction however its not compatible with Vista so I’m lucky to still have xp on one PC at home that I can use to download all my files. I love the fact that I can read it in bed with its little back light and feel like a kid with a torch under the covers,that is until the battery dies. I prefer the size of my T3 to the Kindle or the Sony reader but I don’t want to upgrade just yet.


What about cost, is it seen as a luxury item to purchase,a big kids toy? If someone done the math would it be cheaper over a year to buy the reader then buy your fiction online or do bookshops still offer enough discounts to make buying the print edition cheaper? How would you parcel an e-book under the tree? Ultimately the cheapest option is always use your library card it costs nothing (well minimal charges). For libraries would we supply the e-books or the reader and could you borrow it as you do a CD or DVD?

Mark Twain once said that a classic was a book that people praised but didn’t read, Peters mentions that we live in a society where we skim rather than read due to technology such as phones and computers, so without the printed book would all reading material become classic as we would learn to skim and praise rather than fully appreciate the content.


I work surrounded by both books and technology every day and I see the benefits of both and as technology grows libraries need to grow, not only in how we share information sources but how we ultimately share books. I use both but even within my workplace very few people use e-readers, I could probably count them on one hand.