The New Digital Divide

I’ve noticed, as I am sure other librarians have, an influx of people searching online for jobs and struggling. Not with finding employment, but with the computer. Many do not have email accounts, or if they do they cannot remember their login credentials. It creates a whole extra hurdle to what already is a difficult……

It’s a Service Issue

I know I have been a little distracted by video games lately, in particular retro video games. In truth I have been indulging my nostalgia a little more than the law allows. Get me an eye patch and a Parrot named Mr. Stubbs because I’ve been trolled the deep waters of a pirate life. To……

E-book Price Gouging

After my last post on e-books looking at the no to low end I thought this post which I am borrowing from American Libraries Magazine, The Visible Hand of the Market?, might complement it. Libraries would love to provide their patrons with all the digital content their devices could contain. Sadly that is just not in their hands. To counter that,……

E-booking on the Cheap

The other day I came across a review for J.K. Rowling’s new work, Casual Vacancy, interested I clicked on over to Amazon to see about getting a copy. Well any thought of that happening went away when I saw the price. Really, J.K. now I know you’ve been hitting the butter beer hard. $17.99 (update:……

I am Not a Number…

You may already know that I am a librarian, but I am also a certain type of librarian. I spend most of my day cataloging state publications for the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records. I went into, what we in the biz call, Technical Services, because I like organizing information. A big part of……

I Have Given up on Library E-Books

Since buying my smart phone two years ago I have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of reading I do. The convenience of e-readers on a device that’s always in my pocket has given me more opportunities to read. Alas this happened just as e-book prices began thier trek north, so my new pastime has become a costly……

The Big Three E-book Issues

I came across this article in my Twitter feed this morning. All three of these issues will impact our digital reading future. Some questions that I have are, will the market stabilize around one platform? Will e-books ever have a price that represents their value and yet remain profitable? Will you be able to get……

I Never Promised You an E-book

The big news this past week in library-land is the price hike Random House initiated for e-books sold to libraries. For those keeping score Random House was one of the few publishers still selling e-books to libraries. Though I imagine tripling the price will leave fewer libraries with the coin to buy from them. Truth……

Buying a Tablet

I wanted to share a post I wrote for the MCLC TechTalk blog on purchasing my Toshiba Thrive Tablet. Since getting an iPad I have been using a tablet to write on and found it more convenient and comfortable than my lap top. I knew I wanted one for myself but the price of the iPads kept……

Why Your Kindle Isn’t Welcome at the Library

I saw this post on the Librarian in Black Sarah Houghton’s blog and found it interesting and worth sharing here. The frustration felt by many librarians must be extraordinary as more and more patrons come in asking why they can’t borrow the latest books for their readers. Libraries would love to serve their Kindle and……