Vatican Publishes eBook Series

By Dianna Dilworth 

An institution as old as Gutenberg’s printing press is getting into the latest trend in publishing, eBooks.

The Catholic Church is making its first move into digital publishing by releasing a new series of eBooks in Apple’s App Store. The books were created using Apple’s Fixed Layout format.

AppNewser has more: “The Vatican eBooks, which were formatted by Aptara, are an illustrated series of Pope Benedict’s weekly addresses from March 2006 to the present day. There are 13 eBooks in the series, each focusing on a prominent figure in the Church’s history.”

Father Giuseppe Costa, CEO of Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Publishing Company of the Vatican, had this to say about the new technology: “Every new communication technology is important to the Church’s missionary activity. Aptara made our first foray into eBooks smooth and successful. We couldn’t be more thrilled with the quality of the series, in fact the eBook version gives new life to the texts’ magnificent imagery.”

Why e-readers could lead to the death of literature

By Cassie Byrnes
That private moment between you and your ebook whether it is in bed, at the beach, on the train or even on the toilet is no longer solitary. It has become quite public.

Fifty Shades of Grey: grey sneakers, grey laptop, grey pants…

It is being shared with authors, publishers, advertisers and multinational companies.

They know what you’re reading, when you’re reading it and what quotes you happen to highlight. Even the battery life is accessible information. Previously publishers and authors were not privy to our intimate reading habits. Books were the last frontier left to conquer by advertisers. Now they know everything. They know your reading habits better than you do.

Many readers are surprised when learning that their e-readers are actually reading them. There has been recent outrage in the UK and US about this breach in privacy. Many have taken to Twitter to voice their frustrations.

It is not surprising e-readers have this function in this day and age. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is keeping an eye on e-reader privacy.

So how will all this information be used?

We are all creatures of habit. Statisticians are able to read our personal algorithms without us even knowing. They are cracking our habit codes and selling the secrets to advertising companies.

A New York Times article How Companies Learn Your Secrets explored how statisticians are able to decipher our buying habits to create flawless advertising strategies. Statistician Andrew Pole was employed by Target to find out if female customers were pregnant, based purely on their purchasing habits.

Pole was so successful that he was able to figure out when a woman was in her second trimester. By deciphering what items women bought and when they bought it, Pole was able to send them timely advertising material full of bottles, bibs and baby formula. Kaching!

The same now is happening with our e-readers. When the information is sent back to e-book publishing headquarters, they use it to create individually targeted and strategic advertising campaigns to sell books.

No one is saying that direct marketing is an inherently wonderful thing. But if advertisers are able to give us a gentle nudge about a product which directly suits our interests, or which closely replicates a product we’ve already bought, that’s hardly the most invasive thing in the world.

The concern is if increasing numbers of books pop up on shelves as a result of market research, rather than author inspiration. With the information collected from e-readers, publishers will encourage authors to write books based on profit.

Take a romance novel. Publishers will know the precise moment when boy meets girl, when boy should tie girl up, when boy should whip girl and when girl should fall in love with her tycoon boyfriend. It all sounds very familiar.

While Kurt Vonnegut explains that all stories follow this shape, the danger in this information being used to actually write novels is that they are at risk of becoming cold and formulaic.

Look at the recent success of The Hunger Games and Fifty Shades of Grey. E-reader publishers know that the average person read 57 pages per hour and took seven hours to finish the final book in the Hunger Games series. 

Amazon Kindle is able to see what passages readers like. The most highlighted passage of all time is: “Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them”. This comes from the second Hunger Games book and was highlighted by 17,784 people. The second is Jane Austen’s famous opening line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

Of the top 50 highlighted passages 27 of those belong to The Hunger Games. Those young adults have a lot to answer for.

It seems people are forgetting something… Cue Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita or even Kurt Vonnegut’sSlaughterhouse 5. If publishers will only encourage authors to write what sells, they will not facilitate creativity or encourage good writing. Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L James is a terrible wordsmith, yet she is a successful author.

If the success of books such as the Harry Potter series, Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Fifty Shades of Grey are anything for e-reader publishers to go buy, fantasy and bondage are cash cows. So brace yourselves for a new series of books about magical beings entering into BDSM relationships.

5 Predictions for the Future of Wi-Fi and Mobile

By Stuart Taylor (of Cisco)

Wi-Fi has truly come of age as a viable means to connect mobile devices to the Internet. The past four blogs in this series have highlighted some of the key findings of a recent survey of U.S. mobile users by Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). Our survey uncovered some startling revelations about what consumers are doing on their mobile devices, how and where they are using them, and how they are connecting them to the Internet.

The majority of devices are now Wi-Fi-enabled, and the fastest-growing category is “nomadic” devices such as tablets and eReaders. We now need to speak of the “mobile home,” as the home is by far the most popular location for consumers to use their mobile devices. Surprisingly, Wi-Fi is the network connection of choice for most consumers for all of their devices, but they would like to see Wi-Fi more seamlessly integrated with mobile networks. When they are not at home, mobile users are increasingly expecting public hotspots to provide Wi-Fi connectivity to these devices. While service providers are beginning to realize that they need to deploy Wi-Fi networks, our research clearly shows that there are viable monetization opportunities in mobile data off-load, customer retention, and new and innovative business models.

While it is never easy to foresee the future, here are five predictions for key changes in the mobile industry over the next two years as an outcome of the Cisco IBSG research:

1. Mobile will become one of the primary ways people access entertainment.

Within the next two years:

• 75 percent of mobile users will access social networks
• More than 50 percent of mobile users will watch streamed and recorded videos
• Up to 50 percent of mobile users will read eBooks

2. Home will continue to dominate other locations for mobile device usage.

In the next two years, more than 50 percent of all mobile device usage will occur in the home.

3. Devices will also get “out of the house,” with increased usage in public spaces.

In the next two years, 15 percent of all mobile device usage will occur in retail and public locations.

4. Wi-Fi will become the predominant access technology for smartphones.

Within the next two years:

• More than 75 percent of smartphones will regularly use Wi-Fi
• Smartphone owners will use Wi-Fi almost 50 percent of the time to connect to the Internet

5. While smartphone penetration will continue to increase, much of the growth of mobile devices will  come from nomadic devices.

In the next two years:

• 25 percent of consumers will have eReaders
• 33 percent will have tablets

Cisco IBSG conducted its online survey of 1,079 U.S mobile users in March 2012. The study was also undertaken in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom

With eBooks Indian publishers turn new page

Archana Khare Ghose

In 2011, well-known bookshop Borders closed its last New York store. By the end of the month, this chain of bookstores with 226 outlets in the US had shut shop. That itself was indicative of the churning in the publishing industry of the world's largest books market, the US. Sale of printed books was declining and those of eBooks rising. It's the same story elsewhere in the West, where this industry is seeing a growth in eBooks. However, India is yet to see a similar impact.

But change may be imminent. According to a FICCI report, India has an estimated 600 million book readers and, with Penguin, the country's largest English publisher, releasing 250 new titles from the last week of June, eBooks seem to have finally found a foothold. The books include 'The Book of Buddha', 'Dreams in Prussian Blue', 'Farewell Song' and 'Ideas of a Nation: Subhash Chandra Bose'.

HarperCollins too should be ready to announce its e-titles in a month's time, while ACK Media, publishers of 'Amar Chitra Katha' among other popular titles, have gone on record saying they would launch eBooks this year. They, however, declined to be a part of this story.

"The driver for the eBooks market is the usage of computers, internet and mobile phones. And India is not just a rapidly growing market for new technology, but technology itself has evolved enough for comfortable reading on various devices," says Ananth Padmanabhan, VP (sales), Penguin India.

According to the latest World Bank report, India has 70 mobile subscriptions per 100 people with one of the highest average mobile data speeds. Padmanabhan says the bigger challenge, however, is to see how many e-readers the country can have.

India doesn't have a mass-scale reading tradition. According to FICCI's report, India has a low per capita expenditure on books per annum — Rs 80 as compared to Rs 4,000 in the UK.

However, Lipika Bhushan, head (marketing), HarperCollins, says that the figure for users of various e-devices is constantly growing. "Most of these are young Indians who are very active online. Though no publisher can say with surety what impact these figures will have on the eBooks market, a change will positively come."

Rahul Srivastava, director (sales & marketing), Simon & Schuster India, says, "According to a survey conducted this year among 10 countries, nowhere have more people bought and downloaded eBooks than in India, where 24% have tried at least one."

This is also that chunk of readership which has made genres like metro reads and college romances popular, adds Bhushan. "About 5-7 years ago, a bestseller would be sold in the range of 3,000-5,000, but now 50,000 is nothing." Padmanabhan concurs, "About a decade back, Penguin bestsellers sold 10,000-15,000 copies; today, that figure stands at half-a-million."

The biggest push for eBooks comes from the growth of online shopping.

Flipkart, the largest online bookstore in India, was established in 2007 and broke even in March 2008. According to FICCI, Flipkart claims to have at least 100% growth every quarter since its founding. Flipkart CEO Sachin Bansal in a report on book piracy mentioned that the estimated size of the online book market here stood at Rs 1 billion in 2011.

The figures for book publishing in India are no less impressive — it's estimated to have an annual turnover of $1 billion, making it the the seventh largest book publisher in the world and the third largest market for English books. No wonder Bhushan says that the eBooks market in India is an addition to the physical books market and not an alternative — precisely why publishers are cautious about pricing.

While in the West an eBook may come for one-tenth of the price of an actual book, in India that would mean the industry hurting its own hand as it has one of the cheapest prices for books.

But that is an issue that is likely to be sorted out soon. And publishers' optimism about a healthy eBooks market in India in the next five years may not be misplaced.

E-Readers Vs Paper Books For Children

by Karen Carbaugh

Getting lost in a book is one of my great childhood memories.  I remember being so proud of my Baby Sitters Club and R.L Stine collection that I had so neatly shelved in my bedroom.
But with all the e-readers today, are paper books going out of style?
Since I recently received an iPad, I’ve been reading a lot of e-books. And my two boys, who are ages 6 and 3, love to get their hands on it. So I decided to compare the two to see if I could decide if there are benefits to electronic books, particularly with children’s material.

From my experience, here are the pros and cons.
E-Reader Pros

• Dictionary – This is very handy. If my boys come across a new word, all we need to do is tap the dictionary icon for the definition.  This is a fun way for the kids to discover new words and meanings.  And I am elated when they use those new words!
• Space saver – E-books don’t take up any extra space.
• Fun – My boys love to take turns turning the pages with the touch screen.
• More versatility – In addition to e-books, my boys love to play games and use interactive apps.  Their favorites are Angry Birds and Snoopy’s Fair, but I prefer they practice more educational games.

E-Reader Cons

• Cost – An e-reader device can be pricey as well as the purchase of e-books. (However, you can check out e-books for free through the public library.)
• Not shareable – E-books can’t be sold, traded or loaned to others.
• Battery life – Some devices run through their batteries quickly.
• Distractions – There may be too many distractions with e-readers.  Children may be tempted to touch on other things within the e-book.

Aside from my list of pros and cons, research has shown that traditional books are best for young children because they allow them to maintain focus on literacy skills.  Paper books are also great for teaching young children how to handle the pages and have fun with interactive books such as pop-up books and lift-the-flap books.
Studies have also shown the advantages of e-readers, particularly in helping older children maintain their excitement for books. And if that motivates my children to want to read or have more stories read to them, then so be it.
But there is nothing like having a great paperback or board book to cozy up with every night.  These will fill the shelves in my boys’ rooms for many years.  And some old favorites will be packed up and stored for memories and grandchildren.  Just can’t do that with an e-reader.

Pros and cons of e-readers vs. textbooks

By Cynthia Boris

When you compare the size and weight of a dozen textbooks to the size and weight of an e-reader with the same textbooks loaded onto it, there's no denying that the e-reader wins. But when you add in cost and usability, the portable e-reader may not be the best choice after all. Here's a run-down on the pros and cons of swapping textbooks for digital versions.

1. Ease of use

In 2011, Alex Thayer of the University of Washington conducted a study on e-reader use for academic purposes. Each student was given a Kindle DX loaded with books in the fall; by spring, just under 40% of them had stopped using the reader. Why? Usability issues. 

Though the Kindle does allow you to annotate some books as you read, 75% of students in the study still used paper to take notes. The students also found it difficult to locate information in the text while taking tests or writing papers. Part of the problem, says Thayer, is that e-readers don't allow for "cognitive mapping," the process of using cues to remember where you saw the information in the first place. Navigation and search functions are also notoriously poor on most e-readers. 

Thayer concluded that e-readers aren't built for academic reading, but many of the issues students encountered could be solved by switching to a tablet, such as an iPad. Since tablets more closely replicate the experience of using a computer, you can search, take notes, and even pick up page cues while reading a textbook.

2. Textbook availability

It doesn't matter if you're studying art history, nursing, or political science — there's an e-textbook out there to suit your needs. Amazon has a huge selection of books available for download to a Kindle or Kindle app on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. You can buy the text outright or, in some cases, rent the book for the semester. 

Apple also sells textbooks for iPad via iBooks 2. Books for high school students begin at $14.99, but don't forget that an iPad 2 costs at least $399 and the new iPad starts at $499. 

Chegg rents e-textbooks as well, but unlike Amazon's books, they're not downloadable. Because it only rents, Chegg streams the books, so you have to have an active internet connection in order to access a text. This means you can't use an e-reader, but you can use a tablet or a desktop or laptop computer. 

The best thing about downloading a textbook is that you don't have to stand in line at the university bookstore or wait for a package to arrive in the mail. When you purchase an e-textbook, the file is accessible within minutes, so it’s perfect for those who leave class prep to the last minute. 

If you’re an English Lit major, bookmark Project Gutenberg. This online digital library has links to all of the classics, completely free of charge. 

3. Portability

Portability is the one area where the e-readers and tablets really shine. Studies show that carrying a heavy backpack can cause serious damage to the spine, but textbooks still continue to rise in size. It's gotten so bad that two states have already passed legislation regarding maximum textbook weights by grade. 

Then there's the issue of bulk. You can easily load a whole semester's worth of textbooks onto an e-reader — but try doing that with a backpack. 

E-readers like the Kindle can hold up to 3,500 books yet weigh less than a single paperback book. Tablets weigh approximately one and a half pounds, but Calculus: Early Transcendentals weighs more than 5. Unless you're taking weight training as your P.E. requirement, you're better off lightening the load. 

4. Cost

A typical college textbook costs anywhere between $40 to $200. Multiply that by the number of classes in a semester, and books can be a real budget buster. You'd think that an e-book version of a hefty text would be a big cost saver, but it's not always true. Fundamentals of Forensic Science by Max M. Houck and Jay A. Siegl sells for roughly $83.95. The Kindle price is $70.53 to buy or $32.74 to rent for four months. The e-book still sounds like a good deal — except that you can sell the print version back to Amazon for $40.68 credit. You can also rent a print copy of this same book for 125 days. 

If you have to factor in the cost of buying a new e-reader or tablet, it could take a year of schooling before it pays for itself. 

E-reader or print?

Buying e-versions of textbooks will save you some money on the cost of your books, and you won't strain your back carrying them to class. But using an e-reader isn't always the best choice. If the text is going to be used as your main reference for a semester or more, you'll find the print version is easier to search and annotate. What you'll gain in ease of use might make it worth the extra money and weight. 

The biggest con could be the process of reading electronically itself. As the University of Washington study seems to indicate, reading a print textbook may lead to better recall of the material when it's time to take the exam. 

Library offering eBook download training Saturday

Ohio, USA

Remarkeble news: 

As part of its ongoing effort to both inform and educate the public about free downloading services from the Tuscarawas County Public Library System’s digital catalog, the library will be holding an eBook/eReader Open House at its main library.

The open house will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday. No registration is required.

At the beginning of each hour of the open house, a brief video demonstrating a library eBook download to various devices will be shown. Staff will then be on hand afterwards to answer questions, and to provide download tips and assistance for anyone who has their eReader device with them at the event.

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center and released in June, eBooks more than doubled in popularity in 2011, outselling hardcover books in adult fiction for the first time (Reuters). Still, 58 percent of those who have library cards and 53 percent of people who own eReaders aren’t aware that they can find and check out free eBooks from public libraries.

“We have been pleased to provide eBook/eReader workshops, one-on-one appointments, and instructional downloading handouts at each of our five locations,” said Reference Assistant Virginia Wright. “This open house is just another way for us to help people feel comfortable and confident with this relatively new service.”

We, from Read-an-ebook.com are enthousiastic about this and hope more libraries follow this initiative.

E-readers can replace real books, but there are drawbacks

By Kelly Merrit

You see them on planes and at coffee shops. They're wrapped safely in designer covers and leather binders. In restaurants and bars, even at dog parks and in the carpool line, people are engrossed in them. Electronic readers have revolutionized the way we consume literature. Fact tank Pew Research Center revealed in its e-reader and tablet study earlier this year the growth of e-book readers nearly doubled this past holiday season. E-books have begun to outsell printed books.

Now that e-books are a staple part of our lives, has time revealed that e-readers could negatively impact our eyesight? Those of us who worried that too much e-reading would result in the need for reading glasses or other eye-related problems can rest easy.

"No direct ocular harm has been found, even in patients," said Kimberly Feder, OD of Florida Eye Health in Naples (USA).

There is one exception to the rule. Feder cautions patients with clinically diagnosed dry eye that over-usage of e-readers can exacerbate such issues.

PROTECT YOUR EYES

"One drawback to the electronic reader is that in an eye clinically diagnosed with dry eye syndrome, symptoms of the condition may worsen," she said. "Tear substitutes should be used generously if reading for more than one hour."

Feder said there is actually a major clinical benefit to reading an electronic book.

"The font or letter size and illumination can be increased, which may make the words more legible to readers with limited vision due to eye diseases," she said.

However, using larger text size also has its limits.

"If the print is too large, it may be difficult to finish the word with limits in eye movement and screen width — imagine starting a word with multiple syllables and seeing only a portion of it," she cautions.

It may take time to adjust text for optimal reading and it is an extremely custom process. Feder said regardless of which type of e-reader a consumer uses, there is such a thing as good visual hygiene.

"When reading any type of material in any type of medium, good technique is to hold the material equal distance, at least 16 inches from your eyes," she said. "Any prolonged activity without interruption can lead to a sensation of strain, so a good rule for timing is every 20 minutes of visual activity should be broken up by a 20-second visual break where you look at something at least 20 feet away."

Lighting is also a key issue in good visual hygiene. Between e-readers, there is little if any difference in impact on the eye between e-paper or backlit types of e-readers. Feder concedes literature doesn't champion either over the other.

What is important, she said, is to always read with additional moderate ambient illumination in the room wherever you are reading.

"The e-paper books seem to do better in brighter environmental conditions, while the LCD books fare better in limited illuminations, and the opposite holds true for both," she said. "Considering your reading chair's environment first may help you make your decision between the two."

The last thing to consider with regard to going easy on the eyes is the level of contrast in the medium itself. High contrast allows for better viewing.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK

Read up on what's available, and don't discount little-known technology sites or devices that may satisfy two needs at once, such the tablets on the market now. Columbia University (New York City, USA) applied physics graduate Casey Johnston heralded Google's new $200 Nexus 7 tablet as "divine intervention" on Ars Technica, the "alpha geek" technology website. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime was named The Tech Report newsletter Editor's Choice. Both of these tablets that double as e-readers receive far less hoopla than iPad or Kindle, for example.

For seniors, there's even a specialized e-reader resource. The website Elder Gadget is jam-packed with reviews on all things electronic. The site maintains a dedicated section on current e-readers that seniors can keep checking for the latest products. Spotlight reviews and special offers flank basic information that speaks to what seniors might like. Reviewers cover manufacturers, screen resolution, text formatting, price and weight among other differences in hardware. 

E-READER EYE HEALTH

For dry eyes: Administer a generous dose of tear substitutes when reading for more than one hour at a time.

Find the right size and contrast: Increase text size only to the point that reading is comfortable – text that’s too large makes it difficult to finish the word with limits in eye movement and screen width. Carefully customize your screen for brightness and contrast before you begin reading at length.

Think "book": Hold your e-reader at the same level you would a book at least 40 centimeters (about 16 inches) from the eyes when reading.

Practice 20/20/20: Break up every twenty minutes of reading with a 20-second visual break. During visual breaks, look at something at least 20 feet away.

Keep the lights on: Experts say to read with moderate ambient light wherever you are reading.

Credant Survey Finds Travelers Left Behind More Than 8,000 Mobile Devices at Top U.S. Airports

Original Research Highlights Growing Trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Security Issues
Credant Technologies, the trusted expert in data protection, today announced the results of their second survey of top airports in the United States. In the last year, travelers left behind 8,016 mobile devices at seven of the largest airports in the USA, including: Chicago O’Hare, Denver International, San Francisco International, Charlotte Douglas, Miami International, Orlando International and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Credant’s research found that of the seven airports surveyed, only one reported that they transfer their mobile devices over to the authorities.


Credant’s research found that the following types of devices were left behind:
Smartphones and tablets: 3,444 (43.0%)
Laptops: 3,576 (44.6%)
USB drives: 996 (12.4%)


Interestingly, in February 2012, Javelin Research, found that 62 percent of smartphone users do not employ a password on their device, opening up the risk of a serious data breach – which can cause embarrassing headlines and massive fines. The consequences of leaving behind these devices is difficult to quantify, but people traveling for business or pleasure are likely to access their company’s corporate network, favorite website or online merchant, resulting in sensitive information residing on endpoint devices. If unauthorized individuals can obtain one or more of the devices left behind at an airport, and the device is not encrypted, the consequences could be severe.


“These research findings are a wake-up call for CSOs and security managers across all enterprise organizations and SMBs,” said Bob Heard, founder and CEO of Credant Technologies. “With widespread BYOD adoption, companies must be vigilant in securing data wherever it resides. Be it a USB drive, a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone, unsecured data puts companies at risk – making it critical to encrypt data both at rest and in motion.”


Other Notable Research Points
Five of seven airports responded that the most common place mobile devices are left behind is at the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) checkpoints.
Two of seven answered that they found most missing devices in restrooms.
Six of seven airports replied that their mobile devices were donated to charity or transferred to another location.


Only one airport indicated they brought their missing devices to the authorities or to police.
Airports also responded that some of the more interesting items left behind this year included tires and microwave ovens.
While the survey reveals more than half of lost devices are reclaimed by the owner, hundreds of devices will make their way to new owners, putting personal and enterprise data at serious risk indefinitely.


Moving Forward: How Can I Protect Myself?
“The moment you lose your mobile device, call the airport’s lost and found department,” said Darren Shimkus, senior vice president of marketing, Credant Technologies. “You may be pleasantly surprised that they have your device. I’d also recommend the following precautions:
* Ensure that any device you use to store corporate data is protected, especially things like smartphones and removable media
* Use a strong password on your smartphone – simple passwords like “1234” are not adequate data protection
* If you need to share information or back it up, ask your IT organization if they can help you keep it secure – working with them may save a lot of trouble later on.”

E-Books Edge Ahead Of Paperbacks On UK Holidays

by P.A.

People are putting paperbacks aside on holiday and reaching for e-books instead, according to a survey.

E-reading devices such as the Kindle are now the preferred way to get stuck into a good novel while on a break, the poll by travel agency sunshine.co.uk found.

A total of 1,928 UK adults who had been abroad on holiday in the last 12 months were surveyed.

Of those who had read while away, 51% had used an e-reader while 49% had opted for a traditional book.

E-readers were most popular among those aged 40 or more, with only 11% of 18-25-year-olds using them.

Of those who used an e-reader, 44% said it was easier to hold while 29% said it was easier to see in the sun.

Of those sticking with traditional books, 24% felt e-readers were too expensive while 46% said they "simply preferred books".

What will you be reading this summer? A traditional paperback or ebooks?

Library boss has earned peace, quiet and excitement

by Paula Arab

As someone who was constantly shushed in the library growing up, it's surprising how much I miss the silence. The main floor of the Calgary Public Library (Canada) is now a hub of noise, computer activity, beeping phones and student groups, working collaboratively on projects. The library even has a coffee shop, which would have come in handy during those all-nighters we used to pull, but then I was never one who could study in public places, unless of course, it was the library.

With eReader in toe, I visited the Central Library this week to interview CEO Gerry Meek, who is turning the page, as it were, on his 39-year career as a librarian. Meek, who has been in charge of the Calgary Public Library for 21 of those years, is retiring. He has seen a world of change since his first job as a library assistant at the public library in Owen Sound, Ont., back in 1973, but leaves before the last chapter is written on Calgary's new central branch, being built in the East Village.

Today's library layout is dramatically different. The main floor of the Central Library looks like a busy Walmart, with cashier-style checkout counters and people running around like harried shoppers. Gone are service desks, which once dominated every floor. Now, there are work stations with computers and other latest-and-greatest technological gadgets. Librarians are more mobile and wander around the library offering help. Back then, much emphasis was put on classification theory and the cataloguing of physical books, periodicals and other items, all done manually and at each location. Today, it's digital and centralized. Far more effort is spent on engaging the community, and building a place of inspiration, where people want to come to create and innovate. The modern-day library, says Meek, is an incubator for ideas. It offers a gamut of programs to meet the needs of modern-day Calgary. There's something for everyone, like movie nights for teens, or how to make plush toys in an environmentally conscious way, targeting the nine to 12-year-old set. It's also provided vital settlement services for new immigrants, offering literacy programs that teach everything from language skills to financial, digital and health literacy.

One of the greatest changes Meek has seen is the impact of technology, and the rise of the digital age. We are in the midst of transitioning from the old world of shushing librarians and hardcovered first editions, to the new world order of eBooks, that automatically disappear when they come due. Thus a new generation of kids will never feel the consequences of late-book fees, life's first hard lesson for most of us of a certain age.

"When we look at the future ... we are seeing massive sea changes in the way books are being manufactured, produced and distributed. There's not a good model, yet, for public libraries to participate in that eBook world," says Meek, who plans on having the time now to write his own novel, set in Hamilton's coke ovens during the 1950s.

To be sure, the eBook hasn't been written on what the future looks like, or even the new Central Library, still being designed for the East Village. The fundamentals of libraries, though, are thankfully universal.

"At the heart of libraries are still people," says Meek. "It's the most public of all public institutions and it's where everyone is special. No matter what stage of life you are at, the library still has something to offer you, and it's where everybody is a somebody."

Judging from the latest statistics, there's no shortage of library VIPs in Calgary.

This city has the second busiest library system in the country, even though it is only the fifth largest city in Canada. About every other Calgarian is a card-carrying library member, with 572,702 current memberships issued at 18 branches.

And much to my delight, quiet seems to be making a comeback. The Academica Group, which issues daily reports on university and college trends across North America, summed up an article this week in The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Library quiet is making a comeback in part because students themselves are asking for it; they are often the first to bring up noise issues in the library, to ask for more quiet spots, and to police those spaces themselves."

Meek concurs, and says there are many quiet study areas being built in the new branches. "People come to the library looking for different things. Some are looking for that social experience. Others are looking for that quiet space for reflection and contemplation."

Libraries will survive well into the future, as long as they figure out how to balance the buzz, with our need for silence among the noise.

No one understands that better than Meek, who for two decades served Calgarians well. He provided the leadership that ensured our public library evolved to meet society's changing needs, while continuing to be a great public institution.

Meek now plans on doing some teaching and hopes to find board work in the nonprofit sector. On behalf of all Calgarians, I wish Meek the perfect balance of engaging activity and peace and solitude in retirement, as he writes the next exciting chapter of his life.

Dutch eBooks Gaining Momentum in 2012

By Michael Kozlowski

eBook sales in the Netherlands is picking up and gaining momentum in the first half of 2012.  Over 600,000 eBooks have been sold this year from a pool of only 16,000 titles.  Industry analysts predict that the entire digital market constitutes 3% of the entire publishing segment and should increase to over 7% by the end of the year.

One of the main factors that have stimulated the growth of digital eBooks in the Netherlands is due to Kobo and Apple.  Kobo had made agreements to sell their e-readers and books via Libris and BLZ. Rumors are swirling that Google, Barnes and Noble and Amazon are launching their brands later this year.

Enhanced ebooks are bad for children finds American study

All-singing, all-dancing ebook versions of children's stories might encourage kids to pick up a book, but they don't help with literacy, according to a new study.

Researchers at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center in New York worked with 32 pairs of parents and their three to six-year-old children for the small study, Print Books vs Ebooks, which gave each family a print book and either a basic ebook or an enhanced ebook version of the same title. Enhanced ebooks were found to distract children from the story, and their bells and whistles prevented children from remembering as many narrative details.

The news follows Gruffalo author and children's laureate Julia Donaldson's revelation last year that she had vetoed an ebook edition of the bestselling picture book. "The publishers showed me an ebook of Alice in Wonderland. They said, 'Look, you can press buttons and do this and that,' and they showed me the page where Alice's neck gets longer. There's a button the child can press to make the neck stretch, and I thought, well, if the child's doing that, they are not going to be listening or reading, 'I wish my cat Dinah was here' or whatever it says in the text – they're just going to be fiddling with this wretched button," she said at the time.

"The enhanced ebook prompted more non-content related actions (eg behaviour or device-focused talk, pushing hands away) from children and parents than the print books," found Cynthia Chiong, Jinny Ree, Lori Takeuchi and Ingrid Erickson in their study. "The enhanced ebook was less effective than the print and basic ebook in supporting the benefits of co-reading because it prompted more non-content related interactions. When adults prompt children with questions pertaining to the text, label objects, and encourage them to discuss the book contents in terms of their own experiences and curiosities, this elicits increased verbalisation by the child and can lead to improved vocabulary and overall language development."

Children reading enhanced ebooks also "recalled significantly fewer narrative details than children who read the print version of the same story", said the researchers, speculating that the extra features may be distracting. But while "print books were more advantageous for literacy building co-reading", ebooks, and particularly enhanced ebooks, were better "for engaging children and prompting physical interaction".

The researchers warned that designers should "exercise caution when adding features to enhanced ebooks, especially when those features do not directly relate to the story", and advised parents and teachers to steer clear of enhanced ebooks when prioritising "literacy-building experiences over ones intended 'just for fun'", because "some of the extra features of enhanced ebooks may distract adults and children alike from the story, affecting the nature of conversation and the amount of detail children recall". Enhanced ebooks should still be valued, however, "for their ability to prompt less motivated young readers toward engagement when they might otherwise avoid text altogether".

Chiong told the Guardian that enhanced ebooks "absolutely still have a place. Kids seem to love them. If enhanced books can engage kids who might not be as interested in reading, we will achieve an important goal. In our study, we were specifically looking at book-reading with a focus on learning and comprehension. That is only one of many purposes for reading. If the purpose is to just have fun or explore a classic tale in a new way, enhanced books are great."

The researchers now hope to run the study with a larger number of participants, they said.

Nice stories: Salmon Text For iPad Wins More iPads

by Brianna Gibbs


A Kodiak (Alaska, USA) teacher earned some serious bragging rights in the technology community this summer when he won an eBook lesson plan contest. John Malloy is a 3^rd and 4^th grade teacher at East Elementary and on the technology committee for the school district.


      "Basically I submitted an eBook that dealt with the lifecycle of a salmon," he said. "It had some great songs from the internet, some great content from the Discovery Channel and from a lot of other places as well, and a lot of footage that I took just from a lot of the rivers around here, just using an underwater camera that I had. So spawning pink salmon, spawning red salmon. It was a lot of fun and it was neat because I got to go out with my kids and add a lot of content to it, so it was fun."

The contest, 2012 Digital Lessons for Digital Learners, was sponsored by the Association of Alaska School Boards Consortium for Digital Learning. The intent of the contest was to encourage teachers to use new media publishing technologies, like eBooks, to create engaging classroom lessons.

 Malloy said he will be teaching 4^th grade this fall and decided to use a crucial part of that curriculum for his eBook pilot project.  

           "I teach 3^rd grade this year, and this upcoming year I'm going to be teaching 4^thgrade. A major part of 4^th grade curriculum here in Kodiak is Salmon, so I thought if I could create something with salmon that would elevate the level of the curriculum that we've already got in place, I thought that would be a lot of fun for the kids. And it's always nice to try some new things out, being a teacher, you always want to make your lessons more fun and hip to the kids."

            He said the project was far from a solo effort on his part.    

           "I had some great help from Don Zindale and Tina Genoff in the technology department in our district, that helped me get the program on my laptop that would help me create eBook, or enhanced book. And I also got help from Judy Philips and Clifford Gertz and Jennifer Warner with some of the pictures and images I used. And there's a lot of online stuff that's fantastic that really adds to the eBook."

            Malloy said he also sought out Fish and Game, in addition to the knowledgeable 4^thgraders at East Elementary. He said the 4^th graders saw the book before he submitted it to the contest, and they actually caught a few errors that may have cost him first place.

            In general, Malloy said the contest is a total win for the school, but added that his eBook is just the beginning.

            "I'm in the process of actually finishing up the one I created on salmon species, and then the different kinds of fisheries we have here in Kodiak, commercial and sport. And then also try to make an eBook on the management side of it as well. So you know it's definitely not a finished whole project, but what I submitted was good enough to win the first prize in the contest, which was ten iPad2s, and a charging station for my classroom. So the students in my class will be able to use those and it's going to really add to the 75 iPads we've got at East and we're really going to try to work them in and raise the bar for the next year here or so ."

            Malloy said he hopes he will become fluent enough in eBook publishing so that his students can start creating eBooks of their own.

            Second place in the contest went to a teacher in the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, and third went to a teacher in Haines.

eBooks and eReaders Survey

By Nate Hoffelder 

Unlike the past couple infographics I posted (which ranged from bad to hilariously terrible), the following infographic is based on a recent survey of consumers and includes info not posted elsewhere.

Computers continue to dominate as the most popular reading device, and nonfiction edged out fiction as the most book category.