The Bookless Library: A Paradox Unto Itself

This past week the Twittersphere has been bombarded with the 'earth-shattering' news out of Texas that a library in Bexar County will open the first 100% digital public library in the United States. That is to say, there will be absolutely no books available – in physical form. Instead, patrons will be able to access a large collection of e-books and databases from the rows upon rows of Mac computers. Essentially, the library (dubbed “BiblioTech”….how exotic!) will be an Apple Store with a reference desk instead of a Genius Bar. Many academic institutions having been establishing bookless libraries over the past few years but public libraries often have issues with funding and budgets, which prevents plans from going forward. Bexar County, however, is determined to make this idea come to fruition. Interestingly, a judge from Bexar County is at the helm of this revolutionary plan and claims the idea came from Steve Jobs’ biography. From the preliminary design the new library looks like a souped up Internet café or a very expensive computer lab.

Since the introduction of e-books a number of years ago, the question on many library professionals’ minds have been whether the written word will become obsolete. Countless articles have been written and opinions voiced on the subject and it appears as though Bexar County has made a pointed step in that direction. The only question is, will this step stick?

It’s hard to say what my take on this innovative plan is. I’m all for progress – but only where progress has a point. If their point was to go for the glitz and glam innovative factor they certainly have that well in hand. The library's golden rule of improving accessibility has also been met with flying colours. But what about literacy? There is no guarantee that simply improving the technology of your library system will improve the literacy of the community. It could be argued that giving exclusive access to online or electronic material will be, in fact, detrimental. Do the members of this planning committee honestly think that patrons will be using the computers to read books online? Since the majority of students Google their research anyway, my guess is that many of the patrons will be using the computers to update their Facebook status and check on their Farmville crops. I write this not out of spite, but from experience. After all, those who will be doing serious research will likely be accessing materials on their own computer and those looking to sit down with a good e-book will do so with a tablet in the comfort of their own home – not in a crowded computer lab.

BiblioTech is set to open Fall 2013. Let’s see what happens. 

Free Ebooks!

E-books are all the rage what with the tidal wave of Playbooks, iPads, e-book readers and other personal tablets hitting the market. Although e-books are a 10 on the scale of niftiness for their accessibility, portability and availability, the potential ‘spendability’ can be sky-high if you don’t practice a little self control! Once you have an account with Amazon or any similar e-book retailer, it’s easy enough to click ‘buy’ and charge it to your credit card. It’s almost magical! But that magic dissolves pretty quickly once your bill comes in at the end of the month.

There are two major advantages to buying e-books online:
1) Overall, they’re considerably cheaper than print versions
2) Downloading = no shipping charges
However, wouldn’t reading your e-book be all the more sweeter an experience if said experience was, wait for it, FREE?! 

There are plenty of ways to accomplish this so read on, fellow e-reader, read on!
First of all, there are a number of websites that are run by non-profit organizations such as Global Christians or Jesus.org. They offer a list of free e-books on their site that can be downloaded in a number of different formats. For the most part, many of these books are of the non-fiction variety and quite a bit older in terms of their publication date. On the Global Christians website, they also promise a free e-book in your inbox every two weeks for two years if you fill out the form on the top of the screen. That’s a lot of reading! 

There are also publishers that offer freebies through their websites. These books might be a little more recent and include fiction as well as non-fiction. Plough has a great list of free e-books that are searchable and include a short description under each title. Bethany House also has monthly specials where they offer free e-books of various titles. Some publishers also have a blog where they are able to highlight new products and promote free materials, such as Tyndale’s blog. The freebies are usually a limited time offer though so you have to check often! 

Thirdly, there are the book distributors, the big one being, of course, Amazon. These websites will also offer free e-books of various titles from time to time but you have to know how to look for these deals! The process is actually very simple. Simply visit Amazon.com and search for Books on the left menu. (If you’re searching on Amazon, you should note that you need to have a Kindle in order to read the e-books they offer). From that point, I usually type “Christian” in the search bar on the top of the page. But one could type in any number of keyword combinations including ‘romance,’ ‘mystery’ or ‘Amish’. Amazon will then list all the materials that these keywords describe. Click on ‘Kindle Format’ in order to list all the e-books. Once this is done, just choose to sort by ‘price: low to high’ to have the free e-books listed first! If the list is still too long, there are a number of limiters in the left menu to make the list a little shorter.  Christianbook.com also provides a collection of free e-books – although these materials are much easier to find! 

Finally, there's the, you guessed it, Library!! Libraries have been offering free reading material for thousands of years and a little bit of new technology won't stand in their way! Many public libraries give their patrons access to e-books through Overdrive. A consortia of church libraries have also managed to put together a deal with Overdrive to offer e-books to their patrons! It's an amazing accomplishment - read more about it here! 

There are plenty of free e-books out there for you to find and enjoy! Happy reading! 

E-Reading Christian Fiction

I came across this article from the Wall Street Journal a little while ago. It begins by discussing the growing numbers of ebooks being sold and then launches into its effect on the religious fiction market. The writer wonders why Christian fiction sales have gone up 7% over the past year and attributes this success to privacy. Actually, the author writes that privacy is one reason but doesn’t bother to examine other possibilities (Convenience? Price point? Environmentally-friendly? Immediate access?)  In any case, “privacy” in this context seems to be linked exclusively to embarrassment. Just as those who enjoy reading erotic fiction are thankful for the freedom an e-reader brings (no more raunchy paperback covers to attract questioning stares from spouses or coworkers), this post seems to indicate that readers of Christian fiction experience the same level of mortification for their choice of literature. I believe the author includes a quote that reads, “Book jackets covered in angels and rainbows may be equally uncomfortable for some people to read in public.” Angels and rainbows? I’ve seen my fair share of Christian fiction book jackets and I can’t recall any that included angles and rainbows. Perhaps they were referring to children’s Christian fiction; that seems a little more plausible.

       
Another posting that carries similar conclusions includes this little dagger of a quote: “It is easier than ever before to buy books while on the go via WIFI and not have to advertise to the world the essence of your faith, unless you want to.” Ouch! Is this quotation included simply because it has an excellent “zing!” factor or because there is actually fact (through observation or shared experience) to back it up? Although I am, by no means, condemning the use of e-readers (I hope to get one myself….someday), I truly hope that those reading Christian literature electronically are doing so for convenience sake and not in an attempt to “hide it under a bushel.”

Sources:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/07/22/fifty-shades-of-christian-fiction/

http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/christian-fiction-undergoing-a-resurgence-via-ereaders/

E-books in Church Libraries

It was estimated that 25 million e-readers were sold last year with the number expected to rise to 67 million annually by 2016.[1] Even if you’re not interested in participating in this new tech trend, it is likely that others in your congregation are. As a result, members of your church may be searching for electronic versions of their favourite Christian literature, in other words: e-books.

E-books are, by definition, electronic books that are the digital media counterpart to the printed version. They can be viewed on a computer or on any number of e-readers such as iPads, Sony Readers, Kindles, Kobos and Nooks, just to name a few. E-books are released in a variety of formats, some of which are more compatible than others.

Digital distributors such as Overdrive and NetLibrary provide ebook titles to libraries and their users through a contractual agreement while guaranteeing Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection to the publishers. Unfortunately, this type of service does not come cheap. A few years ago, the South Ontario Library Service (SOLS) and OLS-North set up an agreement with Overdrive to provide e-books and audiobooks to smaller libraries (serving a population under 100,000) in Ontario. It is estimated that the start-up costs and maintenance fees for two years and an initial collection will be valued at approximately $300,000 - a number that is quite out of range for our church libraries. 

I have often attempted to discover other church libraries that are participating in a similar program, with Overdrive or a smaller distributor, but have not had success finding one…until now! Recently, it was announced that six Baptist church libraries had reached an agreement with Overdrive to form a consortium in order to offer ebooks to their congregations! Ruthe Turner, a librarian from one of the church libraries, made an excellent point when she said, “We thought it was important to provide an alternate source that is family-safe and Christian-focused, much like we do for traditional print books.”

To read more about how this innovative concept is taking place, click here!

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[1] http://juniperresearch.com/viewpressrelease.php?pr=272