In this post on ebooks for students, I was responding to the great Jacquie Henry's post on ebooks for students. Here is her thoughtful response.
When I wrote my ebook post - I was thinking mostly in terms of non-fiction books, not text books. I have a library full of great non-fiction that our kids ignore for the most part. If our non-fiction books were in ebook format, and as easy to use as a web site - they might have a chance with the net generation. If they were in ebook format and searchable via the computer, I wouldn't have a student coming the the desk saying - "you don't have any books on "Albrecht Durer". We actually DO have MANY books with lengthy chapters on Albrecht, which is what this student really needed. What if the catalog could have led that student to the books and allowed him to look at the various chapters and then decide which one of our many books about Renaissance artists he wanted to take out? That would be great.
As for novels...I have a lot of avid readers and they want no part of ebooks. However, I also have several friends with Kindles who love it, and now tend to avoid print books. To each his own. I've tried both and still prefer a real book. That said, I need to really know where my kids are if I am going to provide them with resources they will USE.
As for textbooks - they are just plain boring. Not sure if ebooks can help with that. The content is the same - whether read in ebook or print form. Still - maybe some clickable pictures that would bring up a video, along with a "read to" feature might help the net gen or struggling readers trudge through the material with a little less pain.
As for novels...I have a lot of avid readers and they want no part of ebooks. However, I also have several friends with Kindles who love it, and now tend to avoid print books. To each his own. I've tried both and still prefer a real book. That said, I need to really know where my kids are if I am going to provide them with resources they will USE.
As for textbooks - they are just plain boring. Not sure if ebooks can help with that. The content is the same - whether read in ebook or print form. Still - maybe some clickable pictures that would bring up a video, along with a "read to" feature might help the net gen or struggling readers trudge through the material with a little less pain.
She's been adding articles like the ones mentioned to a list she calls The Future of Reading. Do check it out.
Her comments on the catalog go along with this post, Catalog Companies - Can You Hear Me Now? which describes a kind of Net Generation library catalog with features she'd like to see. They definitely need to step up the searching in this Google Era, but I don't know about printing chapters. Seeing excerpts a la Google Books would be a great feature though.
What do you think?
