Hey everyone, welcome to the first instalment of the 'eReader podcast series' where each week we will be highlighting for you various facts about the range of eReaders available to us here in New Zealand. Todays cast focuses on the Kobo eReader which is available at Whitcoulls outlets nationwide. Interesting facts and points are raised about this device in todays discussion.
I welcome your comments about todays podcast and I would appreciate any suggestions you may have on what eReader you would like to be discussed next or who you would like me to guest interview to gain more of a specialised insight into eReader technology.
eReader Podcast Series (1) by wabba13
The background sound loop on the podcast was provided courtesy of Derek Miller and you can check out more of his instrumental music and tracks here .
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
New Blog Feature : Digital NZ Widget
As you can see (to your right of the page) that this blog now has its own customised widget (or gadget) created to search for all sorts of things to do with New Zealand music concerts. This search based tool is linked to the Digital NZ database which offers various digitised NZ resources.
This search tool is for all of you who enjoy New Zealand music and like to attend concerts or to read up about them after they have happened. It is also for a wider audience who like to read and look at images of kiwi musicians performing as many of the results take you to various artists Flickr pages. The tool provides you with images, videos and articles about past concerts that you many have attended or didn’t get the chance to so you can pretend to live in the moment.
Three keywords were used in the search tool there are the basic 'New Zealand (and) Music (and) Concerts'. I didn’t limit the search results to any specific resources as I thought that you who will use this tool would be interested in numerous multimedia elements through to magazine and newspaper articles on your favourite kiwi band.
This search tool is for all of you who enjoy New Zealand music and like to attend concerts or to read up about them after they have happened. It is also for a wider audience who like to read and look at images of kiwi musicians performing as many of the results take you to various artists Flickr pages. The tool provides you with images, videos and articles about past concerts that you many have attended or didn’t get the chance to so you can pretend to live in the moment.
Three keywords were used in the search tool there are the basic 'New Zealand (and) Music (and) Concerts'. I didn’t limit the search results to any specific resources as I thought that you who will use this tool would be interested in numerous multimedia elements through to magazine and newspaper articles on your favourite kiwi band.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
eReaders in Libraries - My Presentation
I discovered whilst doing my environmental scan on eReaders and eBook technologies that there has been a lot of discussion on the topic of public libraries and how they should or should not implement eReader devices into their workplaces. In this presentation I briefly highlight some of the main discussion points that are currently being brought to our attention in the online articles and discussion boards. There is also a few slides explaining what are eReaders and my opinion on the best for our public libraries. Throughout the presentation I have linked some key words to the actual articles I found whilst completing my scan.
As the topic is largely written about in various platforms I have tried to focus mainly on how this type of technology can be added into the public library environment and the questions that may arise from this.
Feel free to leave any comments.
As the topic is largely written about in various platforms I have tried to focus mainly on how this type of technology can be added into the public library environment and the questions that may arise from this.
Feel free to leave any comments.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Implementing eBook technologies into our local libraries
Ebooks are slowly becoming the future of reading culture in New Zealand especially since the introduction of 3 popular ereaders has emerged. These include the Kobo which is produced by Whitcoulls, the Kindle for Amazon and the iPad by Apple.
One of the questions that we as librarians are asking is how will this affect our practice and career in the information service in the near future? There are many other questions we are asking ourselves and of the technology including how is it successfully going to be implemented into libraries? Whilst researching this very topic for a #Info task I came across an article about a public library in Canada providing an eBook service where they loan out the ereader device to their patrons with books already preloaded onto it. Just like a book in the collection the patron of the library would only have access to the device for a limited time before having to return it just like you would a physical book otherwise the customer would be accruing hefty fines. If you would like to read more about west Vancouver library and the services they offer check out the full article.
The library in Canada is just one example of a library embracing this latest technological trend. Here in New Zealand there is a lot of discussion surrounding the issue if our libraries should have eBooks or not at all. In my own opinion I think if we want our libraries to get with the times and keep up with the new trends is to incorporate eBooks in a way that best suits the information service. Libraries should do trial runs with various programmes and learn about ways of issuing and keeping track of the content / material. In Taylor's blog he raises advantages and disadvantages of incorporating eBooks into libraries. One problem that he discussed that stood out to me was when a borrower has a particular eBook out how does another person ‘get it out’? Can multiple patrons have the same eBook out at the same time or is it like a physical object and only one person can use there product at one time.
From reading this I came to the conclusion that it is important to conduct your own trials to see what is going to best suit your library when it comes to loaning out eBooks and how you are going to manage them. This new technology is here to stay and us as librarians should embrace it with open arms fully understanding that we will have to go through trials and various strategies to find the best case for our own information environment.
One of the questions that we as librarians are asking is how will this affect our practice and career in the information service in the near future? There are many other questions we are asking ourselves and of the technology including how is it successfully going to be implemented into libraries? Whilst researching this very topic for a #Info task I came across an article about a public library in Canada providing an eBook service where they loan out the ereader device to their patrons with books already preloaded onto it. Just like a book in the collection the patron of the library would only have access to the device for a limited time before having to return it just like you would a physical book otherwise the customer would be accruing hefty fines. If you would like to read more about west Vancouver library and the services they offer check out the full article.
The library in Canada is just one example of a library embracing this latest technological trend. Here in New Zealand there is a lot of discussion surrounding the issue if our libraries should have eBooks or not at all. In my own opinion I think if we want our libraries to get with the times and keep up with the new trends is to incorporate eBooks in a way that best suits the information service. Libraries should do trial runs with various programmes and learn about ways of issuing and keeping track of the content / material. In Taylor's blog he raises advantages and disadvantages of incorporating eBooks into libraries. One problem that he discussed that stood out to me was when a borrower has a particular eBook out how does another person ‘get it out’? Can multiple patrons have the same eBook out at the same time or is it like a physical object and only one person can use there product at one time.
From reading this I came to the conclusion that it is important to conduct your own trials to see what is going to best suit your library when it comes to loaning out eBooks and how you are going to manage them. This new technology is here to stay and us as librarians should embrace it with open arms fully understanding that we will have to go through trials and various strategies to find the best case for our own information environment.
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