Electronic Reading Devices for Everyone!

Hey Group!

This week, I read the article entitled, “Digital Libraries: Shifting the Landscape,” by Gen Bull and Marth Sites.  As the title implies, the article talks about replacing physical books with digital ones.  In my opinion, I think that making the shift to electronic books presents many opportunities and advantages. 

A main electronic reader that the article mentions is the Kindle, which is becoming increasingly more popular.  It still has imperfections and, “it is best suited for linear content that does not require the user to move quickly from one section to another,” but it gets the job done.  Nielsen states that two major benefits of the Kindle are its, “equal-to-print readability and multi-device integration.”  Therefore, it is just as easy and clear to read text from a Kindle as it is to read text from a physical book, and it allows an individual to read the same book from many different platforms.  For example, a person can start reading a book on their Kindle, then switch to their iPhone if they are out and about, and then later switch back to their Kindle.  I think this is wonderful because often times people want to read, but do not want to brink their book with them everywhere they go, since they tend to be big and bulky at times.  This way, with an electronic device, a person can store their book in their back pocket!  Another benefit to the Kindle is that it, “includes a built-in-text-to-speech option that will recite any book aloud.”  This is a great option for individuals who are visually impaired or who are auditory learners.

School would be drastically different if every student had a Kindle.  Say goodbye to textbook fees!  With the Kindle, students wouldn’t have to worry about their textbook being outdated as soon as it gets published.  They also wouldn’t have to be concerned about what they should do with it when the semester ends.  In my case, I normally sell it back and get about $5.00 for it, when I originally paid $100.00 for it, just to get a semester’s use out of it.  It’s ridiculous!  If I decide not to sell it back, then it ends up just taking up space, as it collects dust in my garage somewhere.  Kindles are also environmentally friendly as they do not require printing paper. 

The article mentions that the University of Virginia is the first school of education to make this digital transition as they are removing all 50,000 physical books from their library and replacing them with electronic ones.  The article also talks about how, “It will become increasingly easier to move between physical and electronic formats- scanning a physical book to create a digital copy or using print-on-demand services to go from electronic to a physical book.”  Another great advantage for converting over to digital books, is that it frees up space in libraries, where physical books usually sit, for things such as, “collaborative knowledge creation and learning.”  With all of this being said, I believe that it will be more beneficial than not to convert to digital readers.  Although they still need improvements, I think that they are our future, and I also think that they provide many great advantages that traditional, physical books simply cannot!

-Madison Pelzel