Finding Middle Ground

In any good argument, there exist two sides both vehemently sure that the other is absolutely, 100% wrong.  Classic examples include Britain versus France, Mac versus PC, and marshmallow versus pecan toppings.  In the past two years or so, a new argument has emerged and both sides are waging a fierce war.  I’m talking about ereaders. 

The two camps, the ereader-lovers and the ereader-haters, both make excellent points.  Ereaders provide portability (who wouldn’t want to download a new book minutes before a long flight?), flexibility (the idea of bringing along a whole bookshelf of books in one small, lightweight device is thrilling to an avid reader), and a whole new set of books designed only for an ereader. 

The haters are screaming about losing the physical book and its history, losing the smell and feel of a book in your hands, and losing the physical library or the physical bookshelf which gives so many people (myself included) happy, tingly feelings.

Clearly, the battle lines have been drawn.

Where am I amidst this passionate book lovers’ war?  I’m searching for middle ground.

I love books.  For my upcoming birthday (yikes…), my best friend made me a beautiful bookmark that proclaims me to be a bibliophile.  I accept that title proudly.  Not only am I a lover of books, I am a collector of books.  My favorite quote by Erasmus sums up my devotion: “When I have a little money I buy books…if any left over, I buy food and clothes”.  I fit this description perfectly; I bet if I added up the amount of money I’ve spent this year at Barnes and Noble and Amazon, on shipping for PaperBackSwap (got to ship books to get credits!), and at the used bookstore, it would be quite a bit more than what I spent on clothes.  I have three bookcases full of books; romances, general fiction, cookbooks, childhood books, I make no distinction in  the type of book I choose to save and what I sell or trade.  The only requirement to land it on my keeper shelf (er...shelves) is that I have or will read it at least twice. 

My book hoarding tendencies make ebooks very appealing.  One, ebooks tend to be cheaper (on some things, not everything) so I wouldn’t be spending as much as I do know.  Two, I love the idea of being able to download a book right then, right when I find it.  I hate reading a review at work, then either having to check to see if the library has it and put it on reserve, order it from PaperBackSwap, or try to find it at a real bookstore (I use online book shopping as a last resort).  It takes some work and if it’s something new, I’m pretty much guaranteed to only be able to buy it so why not by it ebook form?  And three, there are some really good books (especially romances) out there only being published as ebooks.  I would very much like to read them on something other than my computer or my phone. 

So, overall, ebooks seem like a great option for someone like me.  I should very firmly be on ebook-loving side of the war, right.  WRONG!

I’m still somewhere in the middle, probably screaming for someone to come rescue me at this point.

Why am I still in the middle?  Because some books are not meant to be read as an ebook.  Sometimes it is necessary (at least for this book hoarder) to have a copy (preferably a hardback copy, complete with dust jacket, if it comes that way) on the bookshelf.  Many books have sensory memories for me, and I wouldn’t trade the smell and feel of Deathly Hallows in my hands for anything.  I have certain books that I will never buy for my ereader.  Nora Roberts, certain Loretta Chase books, any YA fantasy series that requires me to read every book, in order, at least once a year (Harry Potter, Twilight, Narnia, The Hunger Games, you get the picture), and anything that continues or completes a series that I already have in print. 

Just because I'll soon be joining those with ereaders doesn’t mean I’ll be giving up the library.  I still plan to check out physical books, especially those that I want to read but have no intentions of ever reading again, and with the right ereader, I can also check out ebooks, which I find incredibly appealing. 

So here I am, firmly in the middle.  With the ereader Santa is bringing me for Christmas, I will be happily buying new books, but I will never forgo my lovely library and my much loved print books.  Sometimes a girl just needs a book to hold to make it all better.  :)

What camp are you in?  Or are you in the middle like me?

eBooks: Love 'Em or Leave 'Em?

For the past two months I've been working part-time in a small hospital library.  The library is moving to a newer (albeit much smaller) location, and I was hired on to help with the move.  The library is without a full-time librarian, so I'm helping fill that role along with the current library assistant, another girl who was hired on with me, and the library consultant.  A big part of the job was weeding the current collection in order to fit the smaller size.  After talking to some of the library patrons (almost exclusively residents) we decided to leave all the books as they were and just weed the journal collection.  The doctors shared that they were more likely to use the books to refresh their memories than to use the journals.  Many of our residents are fresh out of medical school, so I can see where books, especially surgical textbooks (we have a lot of surgical residents), would come in handy.  Many of them also expressed the desire to see more ebooks.  

We've begun some initial research on ebook packages, but have yet to find exactly what we need.  All of this has got me thinking about the usefulness of ebooks, especially in a medical and/or research library.  Because of licensing, the ebooks would only be able to be used on the four library desktops.  More than likely, it will be out of our budget to purchase remote user access, so we will have to limit access just to the four public computers.  How many doctors are going to come in, sit at a computer, and read an ebook?  I can't foresee that happening all that much.  Because we don't have remote access to most of our electronic resources, many patrons rely on the library staff to find their articles and email them, so that they can read them on their own time, not in the library.  We definitely have a barrier, but not one I see changing anytime soon.

My university (where I did my undergrad and graduate degrees) had a large library of ebooks, but I never used them.  Why?  Because they had to be read from a computer.  Sure, they are searchable, and often interactive, but I don't find that any different from using a table of contents or an index to find what I need.  I dislike reading on the computer screen; I prefer to print out my research or use a book.  I like to be able to take my research wherever, and read it when I have a few free moments. Ebooks do not offer that kind of flexiblity.

Let me take a minute to clarify.  I'm not talking about the kind of books you can download on an ereader (like a Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc).  Some textbooks and reference tools are available this way, but there aren't enough to warrant purchasing the rights so that they can be downloaded as needed.  Many of our doctors have iPhones and iPod Touches and would love to be able to get medical books that way, but for the time being, that is out of the question.  I would love to see this happen in the future though.  The kind of ebooks we are thinking of purchasing would be the kind that have to be read on a computer.  I don't really see our library patrons using these.  Maybe if we were able to get the remote access rights, but without that, I think it would be a waste.

What do you think?  Are ebooks the way to go?  Does anyone have any experience with purchasing ebooks for small, special libraries? I would love to hear from you!