Bonus(!) Final Blog Post: Amazon and eBook Lending

I'll admit it; I bought a Kindle today. I've had the money set aside for three or four months now and have just been waiting for the Kindle to support the lending of library eBooks. Even though I don't anticipate using my Kindle for library lending often (I have a suspicion I'll still prefer physical books over eBooks), it's the principle of the matter. Now that Kindles are willing to play nice with libraries, I expected the library blogs and Twitter feeds that I follow to explode with excitement. Not the case.

Sarah Houghton-Jan had a reaction I could handle, and one I would label cautiously optimistic. Many of the questions she raises are worthy ones (like How exactly will patrons privacy be kept? and Will libraries get MARC records?) and those that I disagree with (like the disappointment that Amazon went to OverDrive for this deal instead of going directly to libraries) are minor. Bobbi Newman also takes this cautiously optimistic stance, though, again takes issue with the fact that Amazon is dealing with OverDrive instead of libraries.

Then it begins its switch towards the negative with Jason Griffey, though he still doesn't come right out and say he's not pleased with the entire deal. But that's where Andy Woodworth comes in, and it was his post that really made me mad, particularly the following argument:

"If the '1 eBook to 1 patron at a time' model is [the] best we still have when the Kindles come to Overdrive, I think it will be a serious problem. It’s not simply a matter of sending eBook wait lists skyrocketing (which it will for new releases), but that it will fail to meet patron expectations as to how eBook content should be managed."

Let's start with the idea of growing wait lists. The wait list is a concept with which library users are fully familiar, as they've been dealing with it in relation to print books for years. While it can be frustrating to wait for their turn, patrons generally understand that a library can't afford to purchase an endless copies of even the most popular titles. Though it would be wonderful if eBooks could cut down on this wait time (and I still have hope that, in the future, there could be licensing options that allow for this), it won't cause a decrease in service for patrons-- they're used to have to wait. As far as "failing to meet expectations on how eBook content should be managed," not providing eBooks for the most popular reader is a much larger failure than a wait list.

Sure, the situation doesn't fit librarians' ideals, but it's a huge step in the right direction. Did you really think Amazon's entry into the eBook lending field would solve the many other problems in that area? I fully applaud librarians posing important questions, and I think it's equally important that librarians recognize that lending Kindle eBooks is going to increase, not decrease, patron service. Having seen firsthand the disappointment on a Kindle-user's face when she was told she couldn't borrow eBooks from the library, I cannot wait until we can stop turning away that patron base. And I also can't wait to read a book on my Kindle.

Final blog post (webinars and such)

I'll admit, Elluminate is still kind of thrilling to me, even after watching (and leading) a handful of webinars over the past week. Though I wouldn't want all of my classes to be taught over the internet, there was something so cool about not having to make a trip to campus for class. And I get a kick out of all of the buttons, particularly the "laughter" one.

Elluminate aside, the webinar experience was still pretty cool. Like Kristin warned us, it was odd talking to the empty room, (and seeing that people were chatting, but not having time to read the chat). Seriously, I don't know how anyone could present a webinar and, at the same time, monitor chat. Even without reading what was happening in the chat box, I still found it a little distracting.

So, let's jump into this week's reading!

I had mixed feelings about the "Fusion" teaching style that the Semadeni article discussed. On the one hand, I think we do need to experiment with different teaching styles, and figure out a program that rewards good teachers and encourages teachers to try different methods and increase their skills. However, the Fusion style seemed a bit extreme, and I would have liked to hear more about how students (and parents) felt about this teaching method. Though the article did state that students had better achievement scores, there was no testimonial by any students in the program. I am particularly curious about how the roaming substitute affects the students experience. When I think back to elementary school, we really didn't learn much when a substitute came. Would this be different if the substitute was the same person? Does the substitute have to be versed in the curriculum of every classroom in the school? Basically, I'd like to get a bit more information before I make up my mind about the Fusion teaching style.

Blowers & Reed's computer/web training modules (and Fontichiaro's remix) seem like a great way to allow interested staff members advance their knowledge. I particularly liked the parts that emphasized group learning (staff training staff, teachers talking together about what they learned). What I wonder is how those less enthusiastic about learning computer skills would react to the system (and if they would still have success in picking it up). Specifically looking at it with CDL in mind, I feel like the people who could learn the most from the learning modules are those who would not be interested (and would be intimidated) in the modules. How can libraries encourage these people to participate and learn these skills?

You've been a great blogging cohort, all!

Twitter!

I wanted to hate Twitter, I really did. (Okay, I didn't actually want to hate it, I just thought I would.) But I definitely didn't expect to like it. How quickly I was won over. Though I hate that the format encourages abbreviations (I will never use "2" for "to" or cut words short) and bad/no punctuation, the 140 character limit is an interesting challenge-- almost like a game. I also really like Hootsuite-- it makes it much easier to follow, and, somehow, is just easier on the eye than Twitter's site or TweetDeck (which I did not care for). As I said in my first...post (I still can't bring myself to use the word "tweet" seriously), my feed consisted mainly of librarians and comedians. It was a nice mix, and I will continue to keep up with Twitter after this class. This also prompted me to finally make use of the Twitter that, ages ago, I secured for my Daily Shill blog project. Though I only have 2 followers of @dailyshill , I still think it'll be a good way to get out the word about the blog. Oh, and let's talk about class last week! I enjoyed listening to Paul Courant talk about the various challenges and dramas associated with digital libraries-- how timely! I also appreciate the time we had to talk in groups about embedded librarians (plus, I got to talk with Susan about my much-loved elementary school librarian, which was great!) As much as I love my blog group (really, you all are super), it would be nice to hear some other points of view, particularly when we're discussing the same things we write about in our blog. Perhaps for future group chats, we could mix it up more?