Patrons frequently ask me how they can hook their kids on books. This makes me thrilled, because if books are your crack then I want to be your dealer! (Drug metaphors work quite well in the literary world. Don’t ask.) Depending on the situation I usually recommend one or more of these resources to feedContinue reading “want kids to love reading? places to start”
Category Archives: reading
More Questions Than Answers: Month 3 of the Year of the E-book
First, a blog post got passed around on Twitter. Then the NYT picked up on it, and the following week this video was posted to YouTube: (better version of this from Penguin’s Digital unit) Got your mind properly blown yet? (Yes? Good.) This is just the start of what promises to be a really ground-breakingContinue reading “More Questions Than Answers: Month 3 of the Year of the E-book”
Even more e-readers, and mobile thoughts
At our annual Staff Day extravaganza on Columbus Day, Columbus Metropolitan Library‘s director Patrick Losinski gave a nice keynote about today’s library challenges and opportunities. His library concentrates on three key constituencies: young minds, power users, and virtual users. I think these are three sets of people you’d do well to make your primary serviceContinue reading “Even more e-readers, and mobile thoughts”
The coming explosion!
Since my last rather ranty post about e-readers & such electronic devices, the field has gotten crowded with competitors and announcements. 2010 is totally going to be the year of the e-reader! Time previews some of the new devices Barnes & Noble will have their own reader for customers Amazon answers with a price cutContinue reading “The coming explosion!”
I’m gonna tweet ur old-skool stuff!
One of the newest trends I’ve been following? Republishing older, public-domain works in installments online. This definitely proves that everything old can be new again! Ranging from the revered and famous to the unknown and pedestrian, people are rediscovering the pleasures of slowly getting a story in bite-sized chunks. Check them out below: John QuincyContinue reading “I’m gonna tweet ur old-skool stuff!”
I downloaded a book (and I liked it… sort of)
I felt as though, after my last post, I should play more with electronic books so that I can speak from a position of experience. So, I fired up my Kindle app on my iPhone – downloaded only because it was free – and flipped through my purchases, such as they were. I had onlyContinue reading “I downloaded a book (and I liked it… sort of)”
Just call it my Babel wish…
I spent an hour with a patron the other day trying to figure out why, suddenly, her MP3 player refused to let her listen to audiobooks from one of our vendors. It worked before… and now, it wouldn’t. She just wanted to lend it to her students, and let them listen. It turns out thatContinue reading “Just call it my Babel wish…”
Relax. It’s just a book.
It’s summer, so you know what that means at the public library… a deluge of kids and parents looking for books! It’s great to see so many people who encourage youth to participate in summer reading. But why is finding the “right” book so difficult? While there are a lot of kids who sit inContinue reading “Relax. It’s just a book.”