I love the color display of the Fire and I don’t find the 7 inch screen to be too small for web browsing, especially in the horizontal position.  Unfortunately, I kept turning off the device when I held my hands on the sides while in that position.  The on/off button is situated at the bottom of the tablet when in the vertical position, but ends up under your hand if you hold it horizonally.  I had to be very careful where I placed my fingers.  I also found the Fire to be quite heavy for something that small.  It weighs 14.6 ounces, which is certainly less than the iPad’s 1.3 lbs, but the iPad is much larger so that the weight is distributed.

I think my favorite aspect of the Kindle Fire is that you can search for OverDrive books on our consortium’s web site and them download them onto the ereader without using a computer.  This makes it convenient when traveling or out of the reach of your desktop.  In this respect, it’s very much like the iPads and smart phones except that you don’t need to download an “app” from the Apple App Store or Droid Marketplace.  I was able to work from our Library’s mobile web page and complete the entire process using our OverDrive page to check out the ebook and complete the download through Amazon.  While I see this as a huge advantage, it’s another method of downloading using an ereader for our staff to try to remember.  (Let’s see, there are now FOUR different procedures for our eight different ereaders.)  Once my ebook was downloaded via wifi, all I had to do was “sync” my Fire and it appeared.  The same Kindle ereader display appeared and changing font sizes, adjusting brightness was easy to do.

For all of the hype in the television ads about the advantage of e-ink on Kindles over the glare of backlit screens on other tablets, Amazon now has that same glare problem with the Fire.  Personally, I’ve never had a problem reading a book on my iPad or Nook Color, so this screen didn’t bother me at all.  I just think it’s funny that Amazon is now touting the screen on the Fire after past months of pushing the e-ink.  The Fire also has the same shorter battery life of the Nook Color and other color tablets – about 8 hours of reading with wifi disabled.   On the plus side, no external light source is needed for reading in bed at night!

I understand that one of the best features of the Fire is the ability to view videos but I chose not to take advantage of this, so I can’t review the quality.  It also has a built-in Facebook app, but again, I didn’t use it.  I found browsing the web to be a good experience in full color.

Overall, I liked the ereading experience on the Fire, but found the interface on the device itself to be confusing.  After returning ebooks early, and deleting them on my Amazon account, they still show up on my Fire screen.  There is no user-friendly, intuitive way to make them go away.  The worst part for me is that they show up in the flowing display along with icons for games, comics, Facebook and other items.  Call me old-fashioned, but I like the static icons displayed in an orderly way on my iPad!

Bottom line – Kindle Fire, I wanted to love you, especially with your pricetag, but I’ll stick to reading ebooks on my Nook Color and the Kindle app on my iPad.  Sorry!!

One of the great things about giving talks to various groups is that I get out of the “public library world” and learn how others are using e-book technology in their professions.  My interaction with school media specialists online at the E-Book Summit as well as in person at the two talks made me realize how far apart our worlds are at this moment.  K-12 schools see a vastly different use for e-readers in their classrooms, promoting them as learning aids for special needs students and those who may be reading on a lower level than their classmates.  I had never realized how the very nature of an e-reader gives the student a level of privacy so that others don’t have to see that he or she might be reading a 3rd grade level book while in the 5th grade.  Media specialists also shared with me how color displays (on the Nook Color) made reading easier for dyslexic students in their classes.   I came away from my presentations feeling that I was the one who had really gone to learn about e-books rather than me being the one imparting the information.

Although I can see a lower level of e-book/e-reader usage in the educational institutions than in the public sector, everyone I met either virtually or in person knows that this technology will have a profound influence on teaching techniques and information delivery in the upcoming years.  Already e-reader vendors (Barnes & Noble in particular) are reaching out to educators in large school districts touting their various products.  Based on the popularity of the Nook Color in the schools around here, I’m not at all surprised at Amazon Kindle’s new release of the Kindle Fire.  This is a huge potential market! 

As I slowly digest all of the notes I took at the virtual Summit, and think about the exchanges I had with my fellow librarians over these past weeks, I know I’ll be more aware of the expanding role of e-books not only in my public library world, but also in the various schools around my state.

The reason for the trip was the annual Mr. Olympia Expo and competition at the Las Vegas Convention Center and my son asked us to go along with him. I must admit, being a “well-rounded” person, I was a bit embarrassed to be seen in a sea of bronzed, muscular young people, but how could I refuse!  Once I got there, I tried my best to act like I actually knew something about the nutritional “supplements” that the young beauties were handing to me as freebies, but I was pretty clueless.  My attention was drawn instead to the technology employed by the various nutrition companies to garner prospective buyers.  Rather than have potential customers fill out paper forms, I saw dozens of iPads and other mobile devices in use for gathering email addresses. In order to obtain a free tee-shirt, nutritional sample or supplement shaker, each person first had to input information including name and email.  Thankfully, I have three or four different addreses, so I used the one I created just for marketing spam.  At one booth, I felt rather insulted when a barely 20-ish woman asked me if I knew how to use an iPad. When I replied that indeed I did, she looked at me and said “Well, good for you!”  Was it because I’m over 60 that I got that response? Who knows, but I then explained to her that I owned not one but two different iPads and used them regularly.

At another vendor station I whipped out my iPhone and used my QR scanner to “like” the company on Facebook and thus claim my shaker bottle.  A young woman nearby watched me intently and then proceeded to use her phone to take a photo of the QR code. I quietly explained to her that it really wasn’t going to work unless she had a scanner app loaded on her device. It took the salesman working at the booth to back me up before she looked convinced that I knew what I was talking about.

Both of these incidents made me feel both sad and a bit angry at the same time. Just because I’m a woman of a certain age, am I assumed to be computer illiterate? Stepping back, I then examined my own attitude in arranging our Library’s computer training classes for patrons. I schedule our computer basics classes during the daytime for the convenience of seniors who don’t like to drive at night and then run the Excel classes in the evening for the younger, working patrons.  Perhaps I’m guilty of the same attitudes that I dislike in others!  Along with gaining a small amount of  knowledge regarding bodybuilding this past weekend, I came back home with a new eye to scheduling our computer literacy classes at the Library.  Now it’s back to work…

Looking back, this was a great learning experience. I continue to ask myself whether we should have chosen Drupal rather than Joomla, but at the time, I was told that Joomla had a shorter learning curve and I wanted it to be easy for the staff to use. So far, this has proved to be true. Librarian participation is high, at least for the time being. The true proof will be down the road when the novelty has worn off and the routine kicks in.

If you’re curious to see our “new and improved” look, find us at http://plymouthlibrary.org

What have I learned from this project? First of all, I regret the months I when I didn’t spend any time at all with Joomla. Other projects were deemed more urgent at the time, and personal obligations during a family illness caused me to lose focus.  By the time I resumed work on the site, I had forgotten much of what I thought I knew about how Joomla works. I started the learning process over at least twice – and this wasted precious time. Our original plan for the web site was to involve a large group of individuals who would bring their concepts to the table and reach  consensus through discussion. What resulted was six months of stalemate, getting bogged down in such matters as where to place the “contact us” button on the page. We stopped the meetings and the three of us directly involved in the daily work met with the  administration to show progress every few months. Although this enabled us to get more done, we are now in the process of “tweaking” pages for those librarians in charge of their content who didn’t have a voice in the design. (This might fit under the “better to ask forgiveness than permission” saying.) Most of the changes involve cosmetic elements, but they are still time-consuming when there is a looming deadline.

Is there anything positive that came out of the past year’s efforts? I guess I’ve proved to myself that I am still able to learn new skills at age 64 – and that was always a worry for me. I’ve also come to appreciate the skills that the new crop of library science (oops, information science) students are mastering these days in their classes. Finally, I’ve been forced to cede total control as webmaster. The Library web page has been my project for almost fifteen years and you start to assume ownership at some point. Sharing can be painful, but I see it as a necessary step forward. We have a wonderful, gifted staff that will take our site in new directions to benefit those we serve, and I’ll enjoy reading their postings.

Front Line Tech Support is for stand-alone libraries only at this time.
Live chat may be considered at a later time.

OverDrive Training Month – Sept 12-Oct 7 – - Register now since spaces fill fast.  Please encourage your staff to get involved in this great training opportunity.

Install the OverDrive Dashboard so you can review circulation and collection data.  See what’s working and what is not working.

Share what you’ve learned at Digipalooza with other members of your staff/consortium.

Within the next 3-6 months – OverDrive WIN program and more maximum access programs available.  More suppliers will be coming soon.

One Year from Now -
Monitor & adjust budgets for demand
Users will have access to more titles and libraries will maintain control over circulation.
Potential new funds for eBooks
Shift more budget from print.
Spend for demand
Consider additional formats:  music and video

Stay connected with OverDrive:
Visit the training center – http://overdrive.com/trainingcenter/
Marketing kits – http://overdrive.com/resources/partnerservices/marketingoutreach/
Contact the team anytime – http://overdrive.com/Contact/

Homework for OverDrive Team - from Amy Pawlowski (Cleveland Public)
Find a neater way to save searches in ordering.
Have a search for publishers in ordering
Have a breakdown for mobile with app breakdown by device
Have a download station for e-books !!
Be able to renew titles if no waiting list
Webmaster tools – xml feeds
One piece of software for ebooks and one for audiobooks
Ability to weed collection
Mobile searching could be better.
Better catalog integration
Better marketing tools in electronic format.
Librarians have access to patron’s library card number.
Sales rank for books by how many other libraries have already purchased.

Steve Potash Predicts the Digital Future

Steve Potash’s Crystal Ball

4 Categories of change:

1.  Streaming – now we’re known as a downloading library but with the Kindle addition, there will be more streaming for ebooks.  This is expose thousand of interactive and educational products.

2.  E-Books EVERYWHERE – we’re now very device-centric.  There are already 85 devices for ebook reading, but this is a fraction of what is coming.  (web browsers on microwaves and fridges ??)  Now working directly with Adobe to not have patrons have to authorize their device before downloading.  Perhaps OverDrive can work behind the scenes to provide this authorization seamlessly without patrons even realizing it.  (New download stations being tested are all touchscreen.)
This will also mean a higher quality of e-book.  EPUB-3 standard coming out soon.  More robust content will follow this release.

3.  Make Libraries the premium destination for copyrighted digital media.  

4.  Unknown Explosion in Web Traffic -  The spike we saw in January is but a fraction of what is coming.  This may stress out our computer systems, library support staff, demand for library cards etc.  Let’s prepare for 100x times the previous traffic !!  80% of browsers on our digital catalog never check out books – just looking.  This may change soon.  Our libraries need to prepare for this coming explosion!!

Jasmine Posey – Greenwich Library - in Connecticut – Their experiences with Educating their users! 

Last summer she did some soul searching to find out why their digital audiobook program was not going as well as their traditional audiobooks. She decided that it was HER attitude and so she decided to embrace the digital technology.  She started with patron and staff straining.  Apple Store came into their library and they brought iPads out for patrons to demonstrate.  They also partnered with Barnes & Noble to do training.  Staff can come in ON LIBRARY TIME to get help with their e-readers, individually or in a class.  OverDrive Staff Training in September became mandatory for ALL staff members.  Patron training became seasonal rather than monthly.  Attendance improved with this new schedule.

In the winter, staff members who owned different devices brought them into the training lab ON LIBRARY TIME and demonstrated them to patrons.  These sessions are advertised in a variety of media.

By spring, staff members realized that format didn’t matter to patrons as long as they could read the book.

When the presenter changed her attitude, use of e-books began to rise dramatically.  By embracing this technology on a staff-wide level, buy-in increased and key librarians actually got their own iPad to own.  None of them have to share it – theirs to keep as long as they are employees of the library.  They will start circulating e-readers to their staff shortly.

One program – “Help, My Phone is Smarter Than Me” was established due to the popularity of mobile apps for OverDrive.   These activities, along with a positive push for staff training has made a huge difference at this Library!

Ben Alcorn from OverDrive spoke on more access to content – new improvements coming in Content Reserve!

OverDrive WIN will include:
1.  Enhanced searching – better returns
2.  BISAC subject headings for collection development – better results
3.  Marketplace skins for different countries and platforms – can be regional or age levels
4.  Patron Driven Acquisitions
5.  Format Consolidation
6.  Multiple cart support – you can have more than one cart open in Marketplace.
7.  Advantage reporting – already rolled out.
8.  Advanced Download Standing Order Plans
9.  Smart List ordering

In streamlining the content selection, you’ll now choose a title rather than look at format first.
Patron Driven Acquisition – Recommend to Library – - Let your patrons tell you titles they would like to see added to the collection.  You have control over whether or not to purchase it.  Also has an option to let patron actually decide to add it to your collection if you set up a default budget.

More maximum access with ebooks from Lonely Planet and other companies.
Max access with Disney Digital Books already going.

DRM-free eBooks – 1500 titles from O’Reilly, Carina Press and other publishing companies from around the world.

Simon Miller from OverDrive  focused on the streamlined user experience in OverDrive WIN.
1.  Innovation in browsing
2.  Format Options – no more format confusion – Patrons use a simple wizard to connect them to content more quickly.  They are then asked which brand device they are using.  From there, they see the content appropriate to their device.
3.  Kindle  - Existing ebooks in your collection will be available for use on all Kindle reading apps and devices.  Will benefit from Amazon’s Whisper sync technology as far as notes and bookmarks.  When you go to download, you’ll see “Get for Kindle” an you’ll be taken to the Kindle site but it will be coming from your library website.
4.  Thousands of eBooks offer DRM-free samples (about 10% of the book) and patrons can then preview or place a hold on that title.  This helps with unwanted checkouts.
5.  Site enhancements from top to bottom.  Quicker to navigate, better presentation of content.
6.  Enhanced Quick Search .  Will correct spelling to improve search result relevancy.
7.  ”Remember me on this device” option on mobile devices.  Desktop versions will be coming soon.
8.  New Help Resources – all new articles with step by step instructions, ability to share via social networks or email.
9.  Update on accessibility – Adobe Digital Editions 1.8 out in Beta – supports voice reading software and well as high contrast option.    labs.adobe.com/downloads/digitaleditions1-8.htm
10.  WIN Catalog – features all front, mid and backlist.  All listed with samples and supports patron driven acquisition.  If you decide to purchase a suggestion, they will then get an email and get first on the list.

What is available now?  
Remember Me feature
Enhanced Quick Search at a small number of libraries.
Disney Max Access

Coming Soon:
“Read on Kindle” support
Format consolidation – now one record with two formats, rather than two separate units listed.
Streamlined browsing
Patron driven acquisition.

Going Mobile – Device compatibility with eBook readers and other devices.

Brief history –

Mobile sites launched in 2008 when iPod compatibility came in.
EPUB books in 2010 for mobile devices

OverDrive IT still get a lot of help requests in downloading audiobooks to iPod devices, especially WMA format items.  This can be a somewhat confusing process for many of our patrons since you are dealing with both the iTunes window and the OverDrive Media Console window.  Megan did a quick, live demo for all of us.  She then demonstrated the much easier process of downloading an ebook (EPUB) to a Nook Color using Adobe Digital Editions. Other than first authorizing the ADE software, this is fast and easy.

Today’s trends in 2011 – First quarter in 2011 – smartphones: 54% of all mobile phone sales in the US.  Over 70% of the world owns a mobile phone.  This has surpassed last year’s estimate for total year already!  Average number of apps on a smartphone is 27.

Megan then demonstrated how to install the OverDrive Media Console Mobile App on her iPhone. Remember, you must also first authorize the Adobe Digital Editions software on your mobile device before you download for the first time.

One new feature on the Mobile App is the “Early Return” feature for eBooks so you can have availability to additional selections.  Other features added by popular demand include:  Remembers library card numbers, Night and sepia modes, Sleep timer, Orientation Lock, and ebook support!!

OverDrive Media Console installs in 2010 – 71% on Windows computers , 11% on Mac and 18% on Mobile devices.  In 2011, Mobile has jumped up to 46% already!

Coming Soon — Help 2.0 with revamped help pages.

For Library Staff – Check out The Learning Center which provides course materials & Handouts – print them!  Donna from King County Library System told us about the e-reader guides their library provides for staff and patrons.  They started with small print cards – one for each type of device – that briefly gives specific help, but then leads them to more detailed  online guides.  They offer both video and text help.  Web page also links to reviews of e-readers and compatibility information.

On the Horizon:  Early return of MP3 audiobooks, Nook Color App, GPS locator for “Get Books”, Dictionary support, “Renew” a title, Browse, check out, and download in app, and Auto “Activation”  All I can say is WOW!!

Kindle coming soon- works with existing collection.