Kindle me this, Batman — will libraries soon stock Amazon’s wireless reading device?
For those still fusting about their 20th century caves, a Kindle, now upgraded to Kindle 2, is a $359 device for reading electronic books, and can hold 1,500 books at once. The Kindle Store currently has more than 230,000 books available and plans “to have every book ever printed, in any language, all available in under 60 seconds on Kindle.” Well, then.
Until Kindle MXXV comes around, however, libraries are holding their own, thank you very much.
Kindle 2 and libraries have both been in the news recently, bookending the highs and lows of the economy, which now must be described by at least two adjectives, such as global and dismal. Kindle 2 will go on sale Feb. 24; that’s the news there. Meanwhile, as the sour economy continues its downturn, business at public libraries is booming, as the Sno-Isle and Everett libraries attest. From computers to DVDs to books to librarians, libraries have it all, if not technically every book ever written. Many people use the free computers, especially those seeking employment or educational opportunities. We’re certain, however, that once in the door, most visitors find something else that captures their imagination, something they just have to read or watch, perhaps by judging by the cover alone.
Maybe the downtrodden economy has given more than one young person the opportunity to just wander around a library, discovering stuff. This activity should be greatly encouraged. Tell them it’s called surfin’ the ‘brary. Yuck. Wait, don’t. Go retro and tell them: You can find everything you need here, especially things adults might not tell you. The books banned at your school can be found here. Great truths, not to mention great stories, can be found here. Important information, free of embarrassing pop-ups, can be found here.
More people are interacting with librarians, those human founts of information, way more reliable and far-reaching than Wikipedia. A librarian can offer a suggestion for a good book for a pre-teen girl that isn’t about a sexy vampire; Kindle 2 would like to make suggestions for similar books you’ve purchased in the past.
We don’t have anything against Kindle 2; it’s really very cool. (And they’ve anticipated every curmudgeonly objection one could make: Oh, you want to make notes in the margin? You can. You can’t doodle, but you can make notes with its QWERTY keyboard.) And they’ve tried really hard to make it book-like.
But we love libraries, in good times and bad. We like that more people are going to the library, whatever the reason.
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