When it comes to ereaders , I can honestly say that I do not want one. I like to physically hold a book in my hands when I am reading it. Call me crazy, but I even love the smell of books!! I have enough technology in my life and too much "screen time" as it is!! I am also not ashamed of what I read. Yes, I jumped on the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon and even checked that out from the library that I work. No shame here!!
Having said that, I do see the appeal or ebooks. Ereaders allow you to physically have with you hundreds of books at all times. Obviously that is not possible with physical books. I can not carry more than 15 or so hardcover books at a time and they do take up a lot of space. So yes, an ereader can be handy, especially if you are traveling. Ebooks are also cheaper than the physical counter parts so that can be a huge draw. I do understand that some people will want to be secretive about what they are reading. I know a young lady who is in the process of divorcing her abusive husband. In a situation like hers, you would not want to have a physical book about divorce or custody laying around.
I was surprised to read in out Power Point this week that Ebook sales have increased by 117%. It is shocking because at my branch our circulation is on the rise. However, we do receive questions on a daily basis about how to use library services on ereaders. I borrowed a Kindle Fire from my branch to take home and play with so that I would understand what patrons were asking. Unfortunately, I became so frustrated that I wanted to throw the darn thing across the room. I will definitely need to become more comfortable with it so that I can assist the patrons with theirs!!
Ebooks can be more convenient but patrons do not seem to understand that there still may be a waiting list for a popular book. They assume that if the book is an Ebook, that it is readily available. Other than that, I have not heard any complaints about Ebooks at my branch.
I personally have never listened to ab audiobook but know from working in circulation that they are extremely popular. The problem with audiobooks is that there are so many CDs to keep track of and there is the possibility that the CDs will become scratched. We have had quite a few complaints about scratched discs in the middle of the book. That would be frustrating!!
Amanda, I can empathize with your feelings toward ebooks. I prefer having the book in my hands, but I've started to accept that ebooks are here to stay. I even broke down and got a Kindle Fire HDX on Black Friday, and though I mostly use it as a tablet for work, I still check out ebooks through Overdrive (which was surprisingly easy to get used to on the Fire). But last fall I checked out both a Nook and a regular Kindle from the library to play around with, and I could not figure out how to check out ebooks from the library on those - I guess I'm just to used to Apple products and their apps, but at least they actually helped me learn the Fire fairly quickly.
ReplyDeleteI have also read a few news articles from the last few months saying that ebook sales are actually starting to level off, and that hardbacks are starting to regain some ground. This gives me hope that the two formats will still be heavily used in the future!