[Web4lib] E-Readers: The Device Versus the Book

[gerrymck]

Colleagues >

When it comes to meeting the demands of academic reading, today’s e-readers
are not yet ready to replace the textbook.

Campus Technology / May 2010 / Jennifer Demsk

Electronic readers may be ushering in a watershed moment in personal
reading, with the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, and Barnes & Noble Nook duking
it out for market dominance (and with the iPad warming up in the wings). But
how do these contenders fare in the academic marketplace? In theory,
e-reader devices seem ideal as a replacement for the expensive, heavy,
traditional textbook—even more so, perhaps, than for the beach-compatible
paperback book, which can take heavy doses of sand, suntan lotion, salt
water, and trampling feet and still deliver the goods!

But reading for learning is not the same activity as reading for pleasure,
and so the question must be asked: Do these devices designed for the
consumer book market match up against the rigors of academic reading?

Campus Technology recently spoke with three universities that conducted
e-reader pilots on their campuses to address that question. Northwest
Missouri State University tested the Sony Reader PRS-505 during the
2008-2009 school year, while Princeton University (NJ) and Arizona State
University are participating in a pilot of the Kindle DX with five other
universities over the course of the 2009-2010 school year.

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EnJOY !

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

Follow Me On Twitter > http://twitter.com/GMcKBlogs

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