Dillon Deliberating

Liking e-books does not mean not going down to your local library.  If you have a an e-book reader  then get yourself down to your local library. Hopefully many other libraries will follow the example of Sutton Library who held a drop in session aimed at getting you clued up on how to download e-books.  Armed with my I-pad and help from Jacquie the e-libarian I downloaded some books from the e-library.  

One of which I am happy to say was an audio book of Chuck Palahniuk’s ‘Tell All’.  This is playing away as I write and the voice is not that of a self service check out. The book is read out to the standards that would make BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime feel a tad envious.  

Libraries have always been at the forefront of my mind from an early age.  My first library was in Coolock, Dublin. Going from green tickets for junior membership all the way up to blue for adult was a major achievement.  Adulthood starts with many things but entry into the adult library is still special.  So fast forward to 2011 I am now entering the e-library.  Of course this does not mean sittting at home just downloading books from the online catalogue. Absolutely not, I will be visiting my local library not only for the odd paperback but more importantly for expert advice on e-books, e-readers and all things digital around books.  

This is the future of the library, a place to interact with books, magazines, journals whether they are in physical or digital form.  The 21st century e-librarian is their to navigate you through the twists and turns of what is the beginning of a reading revolution.  As with all revolutions the situation on the ground is complicated like for example wading through different e-publishing formats, getting answers to questions like why is Kindle not allowing e-book lending in libraries using the e-book lender of choice OverDrive?  Though OverDrive and Amazon are making progress in the U.S,  hopefully some good news soon. Has anybody got an update on how that is going?

Anyway stemming from the first e-book drop in session I would urge Sutton Library and others in the UK to immediately set up E-Book Clubs.

Why?

• Gets people into the Library:  An E-book club could meet once a month. People could bring along e-book readers and chat about books they have downloaded recently either from the local E-Library service or from Amazon.  

• Knowledge Sharing:  The E-book club could be a place to exchange hints and tips and this could be supplemented by the presence of an e-librarian.  

• Top authors could visit: Corey Doctrow might come along and read from one of his e-books, I am sure he would waive his fee?

• Wi-fi:  More libraries have wi-fi so what better club to visit and download an e-book from your local libraries e-book catalogue.

• Focus Group:  By having an E-Book club libraries have a ready assembled focus group to make suggestions on how their e-library should develop.

So what I have learnt from the session? 

First, that the E-library provided by @SuttonLibraries  is not stuffed with dud books but has some well known books as well.   Two I spotted were; The Corrections and Freedom from Jonathan Franzen 

Secondly that OverDrive the service used to deliver e-lending to libraries is quite a neat application. Having dowloaded it to my I-pad it looks good, is easy to use and you can add not just your local library e-book service but others too.  Beyond the shores of Sutton, San Francisco Public Library are avid users and have produced a guide to E-lending and OverDrive that is well worth reading. 

Finally I learned that though I know the bare bones about the whole business of e-books, e-libraries and how to borrow e-books. Why do all the swatting up when you can pop down to your local library and ask the experts, your local librarians.  So welcome to the E-book club, long may it last.