Kindles for summer reading

[Gwen Porter]

My principal wants to purchase Kindles for our middle schoolers (100) to initially use for summer reading requirements. She then sees them as replacing classroom sets of books, other assignments, etc. She has asked me to look into the costs, logistics of doing this.

Would love to know if any others have purchased large numbers of any kind of e-readers and what your experiences have been. Should we consider the Nook, Sony e-readers, any others?

[Heather Heck]

Gwen,

 

I'm curious about using e-readers in my library as well.  I own a Kindle myself.  Though I like it, I think it may be a bit "limiting" in regard to what would be available for downloads.  I'm looking into the Sony Pocket Book Reader for my students, simply becasue the Pocket Book Reader accepts more formats, not just Amazon's stuff.  This sounds like a wonderful idea!  However--talk to someone about possibly adding this to your school and/or district's AUP.  That way you're covered, the kids are covered, and if there is no parent signature, you don't have to hand over this expensive piece of equipment.  You might also want to look into purchasing additional warranties or getting an extended warranty, just in case something goes ker-flooey.

 

Heather

[Laurie Scriven]

I have 25 new Sony e-readers.  I am having difficulty getting an account that is not personal.  The district won't give out a credit card #, Sony seems to have no provisions for purchase orders and I am not getting ebooks.  Any ideas?  How does your district handle the purchasing of ebooks for readers?  Would the other companies be easier to work with than Sony?

[Christi Underdown-DuBois]

I know Tennessee has the R.E.A.D.S. program, where pubic libraries have downloadable content for their patrons' computers and portable devices. It is compatible with everything but Kindle. I wonder if your school library could work with R.E.A.D.S., so your kids could "check out" items from your website rather you having to purchase them. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much children and young adult material there is on R.E.A.D.S.

   I looked up one of your public libraries and they do have some downloadable content here, but I don't know what kind of program they are using to license it.

[Laurie Scriven]

Thank you.  We have access to many titles through the Cuyahoga County Public Library system.  However, they have a 3 week borrowing time and the books we want would be used in classes for longer periods of time than that.

We have since found how to load the many free books available online into our readers and are using them, so far.  We are working on a way to purchase titles.

I appreciate your input.