Terminalcoffee discussion

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/1351178...

Best article I've read on this yet...check it out. What do you think? What will libraries look like in ten, twenty, thirty years?

Or if not a subscription service, why not a borrowing fee? The library system here has something called "Bestseller Express" which allows a person to borrow a bestseller for $4 for 10 days. If an ebook is $4 - $10, why not just loan it out for $2 - $5?

I wonder. With so much free media out there, if everything went electronic format how many people would bother with libraries? You buy the few books you REALLY want anyway and pick up the rest from browsing the library...if you go electronic, why wouldn't you just browse the free shelves on the many (at least 4 show on my Stanza app) free e-book sites?

Will libraries become museums in an e-book future?

My 83 year old father has a Kindle that he uses to download samples of books. If he likes what he reads, he goes to the library and borrows the book. Yesterday was his birthday so I bought him a Kindle gift card.

Happy Birthday to Janice's dad!

I've been talking about this on Facebook today, and so I'll just post what I said there:

What's so great about a book is its instant accessibility, no device necessary, no waiting for it to download, just open it up and read. Also, it's much easier to share a book with a friend. But I bet publishers don't like us doing that, either.
Power to libraries! Power to sharing!

The internet was supposed to be the demise of libraries, and that didn't happen. I don't see ebooks as being the end of libraries, either. People won't want to have to buy all the ebooks they want to read, any more than they did all the books they read.

And libraries are far more than just places where there are books on shelves. They have DVDs, too. ;)

They are community gathering places where information of all kinds is shared, programs held, for all ages, not just kids. Yes, there may definitely be a push to shut them down, from one segment of society, but I believe people in this country value their libraries. Circulation numbers are going up, not down.

Yay, I like what Jackie said, since I'm still considering going back to school so I can be a Master of Information.

Michael wrote: "Or if not a subscription service, why not a borrowing fee? The library system here has something called "Bestseller Express" which allows a person to borrow a bestseller for $4 for 10 days. If an e..."

Ugh, please, no pay schemes (aside from my taxes going to fund libraries). Library books should be free. The minute a library wants to charge me to check out a book is the minute I stop going to libraries.

I love libraries. I noticed that they are carrying more ebooks which if you have a Nook you can download.Question: if you download a book can you then transfer it to CD or flash drive? just asking. This is the computer illiterate remember?

our library system is a little different from yours. i pay €39 (the price of two new hardcover books) annually. for that money i can borrow books, cd's etc. for free. if i'd want to pay less i'd have to pay a small fee for each book, cd, etc. i'd want to borrow. i don't mind paying.

I don't think I will ever prefer to read an e-book, I like to have the book in my hand, turn the pages, smell the print (lol) - I spend enough time staring at the screen already so wouldn't want to read a book on a screen. I hope library membership keeps increasing (I work in a library at the moment!) and agree that is is far more than a place for borrowing books - the one I work in is a library/visitors centre/shop.

Michele wrote: "I love libraries. I noticed that they are carrying more ebooks which if you have a Nook you can download.Question: if you download a book can you then transfer it to CD or flash drive? just asking...."

I seriously doubt it. That's exactly the kind of dissemination they want to prevent.

Michele wrote: "I love libraries. I noticed that they are carrying more ebooks which if you have a Nook you can download.Question: if you download a book can you then transfer it to CD or flash drive? just asking...."

If the files are in the format used by the ereader then I don't think you can open them on anything but that specific type of ereader. But there are lots of free and low-cost books out there that can be viewed on your computer screen.

I've been looking at news about the Kindle Fire and I looked up at the books I have in my personal library, and I realized that the home library is pretty much dead. Although I prefer physical books, I just don't see them surviving except in a few special cases. This will lead to questions as to what version of a book in the electronic domain is the official version. And what happens when all our knowledge is stored electronically, and it's all wiped out by some sort of electromagnetic bomb?

Oh, please, no! We cannot have the demise of the DTB! I am still quite in love with all the hardbacks in my collections, none of which are complete btw. Realistically, I don't think ereaders will be the end of real, physical books. I'm sure some smaller libraries and/or those that do not keep current with new material (both of which are the case with my library) will be forced to close their doors, but overall, I believe libraries will survive. It's already been pointed out, they are more than just places to grab a new book.
I do love my kindle. And am so pissed at the newest touchscreen/full color, etc. coming out. And it is half the price my kindle DX was and still is. But I still buy tons of used books, that I then take to another used book store and get credit for. And I will always collect every hardback I can find of the certain few authors who I want represented on my shelves. And Cyril was dead on pointing out just how often our electronic devices crash and lose everything on them. No, ereaders cannot replace DTBs and I don't think they ever really will.

I don't know what a DTB is.

Dead tree book.

Cyril wrote: "I've been looking at news about the Kindle Fire and I looked up at the books I have in my personal library, and I realized that the home library is pretty much dead. Although I prefer physical book..."

The book can only die if people let it. As long as we continue to be consumers of real books, there will be a market. Maybe future generations will eliminate physical books, but there are too many of us (even those of us in our teens and twenties) who care for our physical books too much to simply let them disappear. I have a kindle, but it is merely an addition to my library, not a replacement and I still buy many more print books than e-books.

Certainly books will be sloshing around the secondary market for decades to come. There are simply too many of them out there (and still being printed) for them to vanish quickly.

our state library is expanding their ebook sections and making them available through local libraries. I borrow from them on a weekly basis. I currently have approximately 600-700 books (both hardback and paperback) and am running out of room to store them as I live in someone else's house. I have 2 eareaders: the Nook to borrow ebooks from the library and the kindle because I enjoy buying from Amazon. This will make my next move easier: pack up the kindle and the nook and that's it.

I think within a decade physical books will be like vinyl records.

Made of vinyl? Please no.

Cyril wrote: "I think within a decade physical books will be like vinyl records."

Coming back?

Have way better cover art than their digital counterparts?

Be covered in scratches within 3 weeks?

yup

I will be very depressed if physical books become an emblem of hipster superiority.

I happily use my Nook for my fantasy/best seller list type of rubbish. But, my classics I'll never get rid of in DTB version! The Nook just makes things easier for travel, and keeps me from being over run by crappy paperbacks.