Never mind legal issues of the Kindle for most libraries: How about the financial ones?
Moderator’s note: Rochelle is, er, right on the money. Even with cheaper gizmos in use, such as the $200 OLPC XO, a library’s role should be to encourage use of book-friendly hardware—not provide everyone with it! - David Rothman.
(Screeching brakes) Whoa. Wait a minute. Stepping back from my Kindle krush and putting aside the question of whether or not it’s legal for libraries to loan them, I considered the Kindle issue through the eyes of a public library manager who has to make decisions about how to get the most out of a budget. Duh! It’s a no brainer.
There is no way I could justify deploying Kindles, given the present model. The machine itself is 400 bucks and can hold up to 200 titles. Let’s say that the average price of a Kindle title is 10 bucks. That all adds up to almost $2500 tied up in a resource that can only be used by one person at a time.
Kindle vs. other purchases
For that much money, I could buy more than 100 titles for check-out, a few reference sets, a year’s access to a database, a bunch of CDs, audio books, or DVDs, a couple of display units, some comfy furniture, conference registration plus travel and lodging for a couple staff members, a contract with a coffee vendor, honorarium for program speakers….
How does it make any sort of sense for a library to loan out a $2500 resource to be used by one person at a time for 2-4 weeks? That’s the equivalent of allowing only one person at a time access to Ancestry online for two weeks. Or to check out the entire World Book set. Those ideas sound outrageous. Because they are. It would demonstrate impeachment-level poor stewardship.
Even if the price were to come down drastically, it would still be an irresponsible allocation. Now, if Amazon or someone could come up with an affordable e-reader with the same functionality as Kindle, that patrons would want to buy, along with becoming a vendor of affordable, multi-format e-books that libraries could offer to patrons for easy downloading, that’d be something to text home about.
Educate me if I’m wrong
If there are practical reasons why loaning Kindles is a good thing for libraries to do (outside of trying to prove our out-of-the-boxiness), please educate me.
More from moderator: Yes, I remain in favor of giving e-book-fit machines to low-income people in many situations. As for schools, E could be more economical than P—given the rapidity with which textbooks become obsolete. Interactivity is another argument. With libraries and schools serving as seed markets, we might more quickly see the day of the $50 e-book-capable laptop. It will come in time anyway. But kids from cash-strapped families need the machines now. - D.R.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Hmph. A *small local branch* of the NYPL has *two laptops*. No, they can’t be taken out. But they supplement the three *wired PCs* used for Net access. The can’t fit in more PCs, so they went that route.
Lend out Kindles or Sony Readers? I’m with David: Let’s get the damned things down to $50. Most everyone will buy their own.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Fill them up with classics from the public domain plus creative commons licensed works.
Still, too flimsy for public library use. I’d recommend the xo, if the library can figure out how to load it up with the same titles.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:10 am
Mary: Excellent content idea if the classics are well promoted. Of course, I’d argue for a less expensive platform such as the XO or even the Sony Reader. Thanks. David
January 31st, 2008 at 11:57 am
I know that you are a big fan of the classics, David, but having worked in a public library for 12 years, I can say with confidence that even heavy promotion is not going to make the classics a big part of our business. People want current, hot stuff. For instance, I had to wait 3 months to get Nikki Sixx’s Heroin Diaries. There are a lot of us low-brow gizmo-lovers out there.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Rochelle, you’re absolutely right about the (lack of) demand for the classics. But hey, promo is worth trying if expectations are kept low enough. That said, I know where you’re coming from. E-files of best-sellers, readable on many machines, could save libraries a ton of money and result in better patron service. Big thanks! David (who reads his share of low-brow)