eBooks and eReaders

[Elizabeth Roberts]

Hi Everyone,

 

I was wondering if any one else has started to purchase any ebooks and ereaders and what formats  you are using.

 

Our director added money to our budget this year that has to be spent on an eReader but as I do research on what to buy I'm finding many restrictions for both schools and specifically international schools. Has anyone out there bought an ereader for your library? How is it going? I know the previous school I worked at started buying Kindles, but even since then Amazon has become much more restrictive on what you a school library can do with them, so I'd rather not go that route. I've also just read that you can't actually buy books from B&N if you have an overseas IP address, so that seems to be out of the picture unless we get none of our books from B&N, only the reader.

 

Also, if you are using ebooks, from where to do you get them. The options I've heard about so far are Overdrive (which is expensive and not always the most cooperative with Int. Schools) Follett eShelf, Wheelers (out of New Zealand) and of course Amazon and Barnes & Nobles (see note above).

 

Any thoughts or advice on what other schools are doing would be much appreciated.

 

Elizabeth

[Peter Giordano]

We're using Kindles in the Middle and Upper school. I'm not sure about the restrictions you mean but we're actually loaning the devices which is a nail-biting thing in a lot of ways but the students are taking pretty good care of them. Only one break down in about two and a half years. The Kindle has a lot of features that are useful for the students especially in an international setting. We're a one to one laptop school so the students also have the Kindle program on their machines, but of course they would be using public domain or buying their own books; we're not circulating the files (yet). And of course, the digital ink of the kindle devise is cognitively different than back lit screen of any touchpad or laptop but the laptop kindle does work for taking notes and such.

Needless to say we're still feeling our way around. I did read the recent E-Books in Libraries from Facet Publishing but it was not helpful.

 

Peter Giordano

Taipei American School

[Elizabeth Roberts]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the response. What do you do with the students who loose or break the kindle? Are they charged to replace it? Do the students/parents have to sign a special permission slip to check out the kindle or is it just circulated like a normal book?

 

We are going with Nooks for a number of reasons which I don't have time to go into now, even though I know we will have to do some work arounds because we are international. However, any discussion on how you mangage books, devices etc is great.

 

Thanks,

 

Elizabeth

[Janet Allen]

Check out my website. I created it for a project in graduate school...it may answer some of your questions. Had to add the sources cited page at the last minute to fulfull a requirement so it isn't quite finished.

www.ebooksinschools.weebly.com

 

 

[Kim Piot]

Hi Elizabeth, 

I am in Cote d'Ivore, West Africa, and I am using a B&N Nook Tablet. It takes ePub, PDF, and a host of other formats, including MP3 and MP4s. I LOVE my Nook, and use it every day.  Two of my colleagues got them, too, after seeing mine. One is my lower school library IT teacher colleague and he uses the apps and the children's books in his lessons, and the other teaches English, Geography, and History, and he is using his for his own research, and for some of the apps that he can share with his kids -- quiz bowl type things. 

I love having current to the minute issues of Time, Newsweek, Living, O, Seventeen, National Geographic, etc.,  and getting all the newest releases for my YA's favorite series (like  the recent House of Night's book, Destined.) It's great to be able to give them what they want right away. 

But it is true, it takes a little extra effort to be able to order ebooks over seas. But not much extra - i use mine constantly without a problem.

You can work around it, if you have a US account, or if you can purchase a Gift Certificate with a US account, and most international American schools (or American teachers in these schools) have that ability. You can bypass the IP issue with an IP blocker, but it is just as easy to just choose your items online in your B&N account, then have a US based friend (or the US based school rep) login and click the PAY button. As long as the purchase takes place in the US, you can download from anywhere in the world. 

I swear by B&N and I think it's the best reader on the market. Better than Kindle fire for a number of reasons, but one of which is the expandable memory - it takes microSD cards. But it is true, for overseas school the IP issue is a hiccup. However, I am hoping that they will get enough interest from overseas schools and start finding ways to address our needs. I have been emailing them about our school and have gotten a couple of responses, so It might help to contact them and tell them what you are interested in doing. 

Here's something else you might find interesting - a service called eBookFling. It lets you share ebooks with other Nook and Kindle users. I just started to use it and I am not sure how well it will work overseas yet - I think the IP issue may be a problem with it, too, but it's very interesting and worth checking into. 

SPEAKING OF WHICH ... while you are at it, if you click THIS link  http://ebookfling.com/#eBrarian  BEFORE January 31st, and I will get credit for a VISIT to the site -- they are running a contest - the winner will get a Nook Tablet eReader and I want to win one for my school! (So I can stop sharing mine!! ; )  )

Thanks

Kim

(International Community School of Abidjan)