E-Reader (Kindle Touch 3G)

It took me a long time to decide upon a personal use e-reader, but I finally decided upon the Kindle Touch 3G, which my wonderful boyfriend bought me for my birthday last year. While the Kindle Fire seems like a blast, I prefer to have the 3G option available, and I disliked the glare that tablet screens produce. I’ve had the Kindle for a few months now, and I’m really enjoying the device! I have read The Lightning Thief, The Maze Runner, My Ántonia, The Omen Machine, and Hattie Big Sky on the device so far, and I plan on reading a few free classical selections for a the literature course very soon.

I tried working with the MintanaLibrary2Go previously, but I don’t think I ever managed to transfer my downloads to my Kindle. Since I never transferred them, I never ended up reading them, so this assignment will encourage me to use the library e-reader resources more often. I love saving money, so renting the books I want to read appears ideal. Even though it appears that the e-book renting business is on the verge of being withdrawn to some extent in libraries, I’m hopeful that the e-reader market will flatten out soon to make it easier for librarians to be able to decide if they should use e-readers in their libraries.

I already downloaded OverDrive Media Console and Adobe Digital Editions, so I started out by looking for a book and audio book that I wanted to download. For most of the popular books, you need to get on a waiting list to download the book, but I ended up downloading Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I figured out how to get the books and audio files onto my Kindle with some tinkering with Adobe Digital Editions and OverDrive Media Console. I'm actually slightly ashamed how long it took me to figure out how to download the e-books.... My main complaint about the program is the fact that if you have to wait in line for an e-book you might not have time to read it once it's avbailable, but who can argue with free?

In overview, I’m very excited about the fact that I can listen to audio books with my Kindle since I adore audio books and listen to them frequently on my iPod. I am also excited about saving some money on e-books! I can imagine multiple ways that they would be exceedingly valuable in a K-12 setting, but I have not worked in a library where they use them regularly. The library at the school where I substitute teach just received their first Kindles within the last month or so, and they aren’t yet prepared to rent them out to students. One suggestion that I might give to libraries that are just now starting to use e-readers is to save money for some protective accessories such as cases and screen protectors. I haven’t used a screen protector yet, but they, in my opinion, are expensive for a piece of sticky plastic! I will be reading up on e-readers in libraries and hopefully gain a good understanding of my position on the devices as a reading aid before I am employed as a librarian.

Automation Systems Assignment #2

Since I have not yet worked as a librarian, I chose the
second assignment option. After reading
the Wikipedia page and Automation Marketplace article, I decided to look into
Ex Libris’s Alma, which is mentioned early on in the Automation Marketplace
article as a new product that differs from older and more popular products such
as the mentioned Symphony and Millennium.
I enjoy researching newer technologies and products, but the main detail
that caught my eye was the fact that Alma is primarily cloud-based and works
for both print and electronic resources, which is where libraries are headed. (I did not pick OCLC’s WMS, which the article
also mentioned as a new product, because I’m not a fan of WorldCat… it seems to
lack structure in its records.)
The Wikipedia page did not mention Alma, but the Automation
Marketplace did offer some interesting statistics. Ex Libris, for example, was one of the few
ILS producers that saw an increase in sales during this period of budget cuts
in libraries over the past few years. I
found an synopsis at http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/category/AlmaOverview. In short, Alma claims to be a cost-saving/customizable/collaboration
encouraging program, which utilizes the Unified Resource Management (URM)
framework, that provides major functionalities such as combining acquisitions
with cataloging and inventory maintenance, easy-to-understand services for the
users, dissemination control, and multi-library coordination of various types
of resources. I’m not sure if this
aspect is a unique quality since I haven’t researched too many Integrated
Library Systems, but the program is also multilingual. Since this project is also in the testing
phase, a variety of buyers can participate as testers who can influence the
future of Alma.
I’m not sure if I would recommend this service to a K-12
library based upon the information I found.
The program seems to be focused more so towards a high education
audience based upon the current partner libraries listed on the Automation
Marketplace article. It will be
interesting to see if they attempt to pull in the K-12 library market.