Local library launches digital reading with Kindle
By: Cori Lee Miller
Libraries are known for having rows upon rows of literature, with stacks and shelves of novels just waiting for the right borrower to open up the pages and instantly travel to a new world.
At Cochrane’s Nan Boothby Memorial Library, technology is making access to the written word both easy and accessible from almost anywhere.
Over the last few weeks, the library has introduced two new ways of accessing books, one online and the other handheld and portable.
Online, library patrons can now access and download electronic books, also known as eBooks, or audio books.
Instead of visiting the library to check out a paperback or hardcover, users can simply go online at www.tracpac.ab.ca and access the Marigold Library Systems collection of audio and eBooks. The books are free to borrow and expire after one or two weeks.
The second new piece of technology, the Amazon Kindle, has Nan Boothby’s head librarian David Larsen especially excited.
“This is something, to be honest, I brought in literally as a piece of equipment,” Larsen said.
The Amazon Kindle allows users to access and download books anywhere you can use a cellphone.
The device is wireless, hand-held, about the size of a large paperback book and can last up to a week on a single battery charge.
“I’m sure we’re one of the first libraries in Alberta to circulate it,” he said of the device, which was only recently made available for purchase in Canada and was lent out for the first time on Dec. 1.
- Head librarian David Larsen shows off the library’s Kindle, at left, the newest portable way of reading, beside the ever-popular paperback. Photo by Cori Lee Miller
Almost anywhere in the world, users can download and be reading a new book in around 60 seconds.
“To be honest it’s in a league of its own,” Larsen said about the device.
Since it was first lent out, interest in the device has been building.
“We’re going to start a waiting list. People can call and get their name on the waiting list for that machine.”
The device is lent out for up to two weeks at a time, and each borrower can download one book, as long as the library doesn’t already own several copies of it.
As the catalogue of books grows, each borrower can read any or all the books on the machine. The Amazon Kindle holds up to 1,500 books, and has access to over approximately 390,000 titles.
Because the device cost the library approximately $300 to purchase and each book costs around $13 to download, Larsen is asking those interested in borrowing it to make a donation to the library for around the same cost as a book ($13) in return for a tax receipt.
Larsen said the policy around borrowing the device will evolve as time goes on, but he hopes people will use common sense and treat it like it was their own.
As for content that is downloaded, Larsen said it must follow the same standards they hold print books to.
“Common sense needs to come into play and we’re a public library,” he said, adding that library’s are about people being “free to access information, but there is content that we would never purchase as a print book so we would never purchase as an eBook. There’s no difference in our minds.”
Larsen said interested borrowers should also check out the Kindle books, at www.amazon.com to see if the book they are interested in is available, or just to see what titles are out there.
The design of the Kindle and other technologies like it also have some very practical impacts for libraries.
When one device can store 1500 books, with no shelf space involved, it means less space is needed and less capital costs to accommodate shelves and expansions.
As technology advances, some might be worried about the effect it could have on older technologies, such as books.
For Larsen, and the Nan Boothby Memorial Library, that is just not the case. He said the library has been as busy as ever, and the staff have been working hard to make new technologies accessible.
“For us to get it, it was really a proactive attempt to put the library at the forefront of this technology and circulate it,” he said. “Librarians, primarily, have been quite open to new technologies.”
Larsen likened the demise of libraries because of new technology to being “just like the VHS tape was going to be the death of people going to the movies.”
Larsen said printed books are “far from going anywhere,” and the library will continue to investigate new technologies.
“There’s still going to be lots of people who still prefer a book,” he said. “We’re now really moving forward and we’ve embraced technology.”
To have a name put on the waiting list for the Kindle, or to ask questions about either the Marigold Library eBook, audio book borrowing or the Kindle, call David Larsen at 403-932-4353.
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