eBooks can exist with...

[D. Popeck]

>===== Original Message From me at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au =====
>At 10:32 AM -0700 26/9/01, Mark T. Bay wrote:
>>Admit it, is there
>>anything like sitting under a tree with a nice old worn-out book to pass the
>>time?  For me, and many others that I know, the idea of books being replaced
>>with LED, plastic, and ni-cad monstrosities is horrible.

Count me as one who likes the increased interest in digital ebook devices. I 
also am happy to think about the possibilities for the majority of authors (of 
varying abilities, locations and pocketbooks) who can now publish ebooks that 
are potentially accessible to a vast audience at a nominal cost. Add the value 
of digital distribution of educational materials to students instead of bound 
books or paper periodicals. Text books on a handheld? That would have made my 
knapsack a lot easier to tote. How about the patrons who take out five, ten, 
or more books out at a time now just taking one device home? The cost of the 
devices as of now makes them unattractive to a small library like ours, but 
the devices' cost will fall soon enough. Once that happens things will get 
interesting.

There will be downsides, as is the case with all things web, but ebooks are 
welcomed as an accompaniment to the books on our library's shelves. _Hop On 
Pop_ on a handheld? Maybe not, but I wouldn't mind always having _A 
Confederacy of Dunces_ a couple of clicks away on my handheld. (c:

David Popeck
Madison Branch Library
Lakewood, Ohio USA