What do you think of PsycBooks?
I liked it. Since I wasn't looking for anything in particular I poked around in the browsing featured. I liked the terminology finder and the nav bar choices for narrowing down topics.
Are e-books the wave of the future? An aesthetically-challenged plot to empty your wallet? A wild west frontier?
Yes, all of the above. I think e-publishing is the overall wave of the future and e-books are simply a part of that. As for the "empty your wallet" part - I remember reading somewhere that half the books purchase each year are never read. People buy books and get the feeling that they then somehow own the knowledge that's in them, even if they have no idea what that knowledge actually says. Buying e-book downloads is even easier and I suspect far more than half of the those purchases are going unread.
Are e-books popular with your students?
They are once they've been introduced to them. Students still think of the library primarily as a place to get hard copy material, and seem to be surprised when we show them the e-books collections. But they do use them once they know they're there. I think out most popular collection is Safari, great for looking up technical information.
Do you own a dedicated e-book reader such as the Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook? If so, what do you think of it?
I don't own one myself, yet. I have several friends who have and love them and I suspect I'll be getting one in the foreseeable future. I'm envisioning e-readers becoming the new format for daily newspapers and magazines. Publishing them for free online hasn't worked very well, at least not for the publishers' bottom lines. But a modest subscription fee to allow one to read the morning paper while sitting on the couch with your coffee might just do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment