U.S. News &
World
Report Article
on
TeleRead
TeleRead
in the
Washington Post
TeleRead and the Pineallas Park Public
Library
E-Books Already in Some
Libraries
By David Rothman (rothman@clark.net)
Some libraries in the States are already buying electronic books and lending Rocket eBooks and similar machines for patrons to use at home. It's just as we anticipated years ago. Chris Rippel of the Central Kansas Library System has assembled links to the libraries' Web sites and to articles on the pros and cons of e-books for libraries.
Keep in mind that TeleRead would address many of the negatives. It would, for example, increase the range of titles available and fairly compensate writers and publishers from a National Digital Library Fund. What's more, TeleRead would increase the demand for small, light-weight, tablet-style computers with sharp-screens, thereby making it easier to drive down the cost through mass production. TeleRead would hasten the day when everyone could afford the right hardware without its having to come from local libraries.
Not that TeleRead is anti-local library. Just the opposite. Librarians would be spending less time as clerks and more time as organizers and evaluators of content and as mentors to schoolchildren and other library users.
Rothman is national coordinator of TeleRead and a long-time advocate of electronic books and a well-stocked national digital library.