The Wonderful World of eReaders or: How I gained access to all the hot titles and stopped worrying about what to read during the holidays

Is there a book you have been on hold for what seems like forever for? Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl immediately comes to my mind. What if I told you you could become the first in the hold line without cheating? The library has three copies with no hold list (at this time of writing!), and all can be checked out for 28 days. If you are a Des Plaines Library cardholder, simply search “Nook” in our online catalog and place a hold on one of our ereaders.When your hold is in, visit the Reader Services desk on the 3^rd floor and pick up one of the circulating Nooks the library owns. 

In addition to the Nook devices, we also have Sony Readers and Kindles available for checkout. The Sony Reader has both the Hunger Games trilogy and the first four books of the A Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin (the inspiration for the Game of Thrones series you probably have a hold on). The Kindle also has a solid collection of new favorites including Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus and Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding. To find out the exact titles available on each ereader, click here to access the catalog, click on one of the ereaders (i.e. Sony Reader), and then click on the “Summary” option to view the titles available on the ereader. 

With the holidays coming up, if you have an ereader on your wish list but aren’t quite sure which one to go with, checking out different types of ereaders can be a way of seeing what might work best for you. These ereaders are equipped with at least 15 books apiece, easily enough to get you through downtime during holiday festivities without having to carry a bag of books with you.

If you have any questions regarding our circulating ereaders, feel free to contact the Reader Services department.

Matte or Glossy?

Okay sometimes it just happens. A newspaper advice column appears before my eyes and the next thing I know I have read the whole thing. It happened to me last week as I read a rather poignant plea for help.The letter started Dear So and So, a few of my friends have told me I'm dull. What should I do?

Well, Ms. Advice Columnist took a very calm approach. Her first response was not "with friends like these who needs enemies." Instead she began a discussion of different personalities and how some of us have a matte finish and some have a glossy finish. And some of her best friends are in fact a little dull but they are good listeners, reliable and comforting.

This holiday season many gift givers are going to be evaluating ebook devices. You have seen the glossy tablets that are the life of the party. Pretty colors shining luminously from the screen, images swirling and gliding across the screen. These devices provide access to media of all types. But there is something to be said for the devices that are more single in purpose --- mainly to read a book. Typically these use e-ink and they mimic the traditional reading experience. The Amazon Kindle, the Barnes and Noble Simple Touch Nook are examples of ereaders that use this technology. They are less of an investment, sturdy and have a long battery life. They may look dull, but let's say they have a matte finish and could be a reader's best friend.

Want help researching an ereader? Talk to us at Readers Services. We have devices for you to practice with or checkout, and we'll walk you through the options to use library ebooks so you don't have to spend money getting ebooks. Also our Downloadable MyMediaMall walk in sessions can be helpful.
For more information call 847-376-2840.

CNET.com has handy reviews of devices as well.
Sony PRS-T1
Amazon Kindle
Barnes and Noble Simple Touch Nook
Complete CNET ereader list

Finally - The Kindle

As my coworker David wrote about previously, the moment many
have been waiting for has arrived. The Kindle works with the Overdrive
product MyMediaMall. The long awaited collaboration with
the library ebook offering is now in sync with the ebook device
that started the explosion of ereading.

Quite frankly I'm impressed. The process of gettng a free
library ebook onto the Kindle device is pretty simple, and
Kindle users are used to simple and seamless. If you already own
a Kindle, try the service by going to MyMediaMall.net and choose
a Kindle title. If you don't own a Kindle and you are considering
the purchase of a device, there's no reason to ignore this one.

All of us in public libraries have been scorning the giant online bookseller
for years for keeping Kindle proprietary. We hate to say no to patrons,
and as Kindle users came to the library we had to turn many away when
it came to borrowing a library ebook. Maybe Jeff Bezos, the chief of Amazon,
couldn't bear our wrath any longer.

Well, that's probably not the case. More likely Amazon sees
a benefit, at this point, to giving it away for free. The library product directs
the user to Amazon.com where the ebook is loaded onto the Kindle
through the Kindle owner's account. Pretty smart marketing, but Amazon
didn't get to be Amazon by accident.

But what does all this mean for libraries? I think great things.
This new development makes the conversation about libraries
and downloadable media louder. The big huge
for-profit giant is giving a great big nod to information access,
sharing, borrowing and giving it away for free --
the mission of the not-for-profit public library.

They're here

People have been asking when they will be able to download library books to their Kindle eReader for a while now. Before this week we've had ebooks available for the iPad, Nook, Sony Reader and a number of other devices. The wait is over. Ebooks for Amazon's Kindle eReader are now available.

Ebooks are checked out and downloaded online through MyMediaMall. They get checked out for 14-days and at the end of the 14 days, they just stop working. There is no need to return anything (You might want to delete them off your device). There are currently over 4000 titles available for the Kindle and other eReaders.

MyMediaMall also has eAudiobooks to listen to using your iPod, or MP3 player.

There are a few steps involved getting your eReader set up. We can help you with that. We offer the MyMediaMall Open Lab on most Thursdays this fall (just drop in, no registration needed).

People really love their readers. They are light, easy to use and can hold numerous books. You can enlarge the print too, making them ideal for large-print users. If you would like to try using an e-reader we have a limited number available for checkout. We have both Sony Readers and Nooks. They are preloaded with a number of popular titles. Stop by the Readers' Services desk on the 3rd floor for more information (847-376-2840).