I love Calibre as is. I use it on all of my devices to manage and move my personal library. I even used it during my own education to manage my reference materials. I can't imagine my life without it and I would not want to change it for the world. In fact, my asking for a similar version for the Chromebook, and proposing that it's construction be funded by donation, is in no way an intentional threat to the builds that already exist or the creator. I honestly thought that his being paid for this labor of love would be appealing enough to warrant further consideration of Calibre's many uses on multiple platforms. If I have upset you by asking to add to the capabilities of an already awesome system, I apologize for any misconception in my meaning; please do not mistake my purpose in posting. I looked, to no avail, for a way to simply contact Kovid directly to have my request put through, and I sympathize with being busy, which is why I would have found the funding to pay him for his effort.
Why insist on Calibre?
1) If the students had their libraries locally, and could manage them personally, they would not need to sign in on the internet for accessing them as with Overdrive or a cloud space. Calibre can do that.
2) Calibre automatically accesses and implements metadata into the files, but it also allows editing of that data. The students need the ability to know and find this information for annotation and citation.
3) Many ebooks and epubs found on the internet for free or bought online do not come in a universal format compatible to Chromebook that is easy to organize. Calibre can change that, and learning about the process can be a helpful tool in any student's life.
Calibre is the first, and to my knowledge, only program that meets the needs of what I aim to accomplish, and through the years it has continued to surpass my expectations. I am open to Chromebook-compatible suggestions of alternative programs with the same capabilities and ease of use, as my search has come up empty. Use of the internet is guided and regulated in our school, I am required by rule to limit its use to specific lessons and use what is on hand to accomplish a majority of our curriculum goals.
To clarify my position, the students I teach enjoy reading when given the chance to choose their literature. My class reads 40 books per year at a minimum and the students get to choose, within certain parameters, those 40 books. My classroom "hard copy" library is limited by my ability to fund its growth and I do not make enough to keep abreast with the voracious curiosities and varying interests of 35 fifth-graders. I barely make enough to supply art materials, notebooks, and copy paper. Our school library is rapidly dwindling in response to a severe deficit in the goodwill of our society toward the public school system. As it is, the local public libraries are carrying less and less books. It may not be this way at your child's public school yet, but my students are being greatly disserviced.
In response, my students have discovered online resources to solve the problem with virtually free and completely legal access to more literature than the Chromebooks hard drives can hold. I now have many students who use the internet wisely. Under firm guidance in the classroom and with due diligence they have responsibly found literature on the web at home, in their spare time, that their parents have bought for them as ebooks to read on their devices. I want the possibility of my students having access to it in the classroom as I teach them to sharpen their skills in research and proper citation. For those of you who do not know, literature refers to all genres of books, not simply those of fiction.
The first problem is that Chromebooks do not read every etext format, nor do they allow for rating, commenting, metatagging, and other management of the students' personal libraries. I cannot buy them newer more compatible computers, servers, and cloud spaces and the school district can barely afford the upkeep of the facilities. I cannot secure licenses for digital copies of all their favorite books, nor can I buy them compatible software for their Chromebooks, of which there is none. Most students are already required to learn and use technology to a degree much more advanced than I was taught in college, just to take the mandated standardized tests every year.
We have many enrichment activities like Author Studies and Book Talks, where the students share literature with each other and the younger grades, that they are passionate about. In addition to creating visual and concrete representations by hand in groups, they could access the books they are talking about and immediately read specific passages as they present, without carrying many books and papers. These students will often insist on finishing a discussion on their reading rather than go to recess.
I do not have the capability to write code or run servers from my classroom. Most elementary teachers and students do not and, its quite a task simply to monitor the students' online presence and activity. Many of our schools are still very limited in the technology that is allowed in the classroom. While the internet seems limitless, the minds and pockets of public school administration and PTAs are not even close. I have thought of a way to make it much easier. I am already reaching out to the local computer science departments in colleges and high schools for a Calibre-like program to be built and piloted in our district but I am unfamiliar with what such things require. I look forward to not only your continued constructive criticism but also your much savvier suggestions on how to proceed, should I have the capabilities in the near future.
To my also quite limited knowledge, having a Mac-compatible version did not harm the Windows version or stop its updates; though some of your responses seem to indicate that a Chromebook version made specifically for my classroom would somehow alter or disable use in your devices. Please try to keep in mind, that this is not your or my database that I aim to share with 35 children, nor is it your or my devices that I aim to use to do so. This is for a public elementary school's Chromebooks and a class of fifth graders who wish to show off their love of literature and technical prowess to their peers. How better to do that but in a digital library that they would take with them to build as they go, with all my hope that their lives are enriched by the experience? This could be a very important step in the advancement of their scholastic careers and the spark of inspiration in countless others, if approached properly. All I'm asking is for suggestions on how to reach my goal.
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As to the validity of my poll, as more than just a very successful attention-getter. I find it hilarious that the poll bothers you so much, but I do not regret including it and you do not have to look at it.
I admit it seems a bit outrageous, or perhaps specious, when read out of context. Of course, all students should have access to literature in all its formats, especially with the protection and guidance of the classroom. So, above was the context in relation to Calibre and my very specific request. If it was not clear let me further the point. The response choices in the poll are actual attitudes expressed by real people, many of whom tell me those are valid reasons why students don't have the right to universal and free access to literature or why it's ok not to fund libraries. I think that is important because I even heard them echoed in a few of your responses.
And,
before this becomes an explosively political and truly self-righteous argument about whether you liked a poll or not, rather than simply an appeal for a program to be paid for and piloted for the sake of students everywhere, I want it known that your unnecessary disapproval of my request to integrate a library management program into my classroom is ridiculous at best.
Thank you for drawing attention to a cause that should be followed. Feel free to include a donation when the time comes.
As this idea is still in the pre-planning stages, I need more information before making this dream into a reality. Since talking to Kovid directly was not an option, here I am, crowdsourcing ideas on how to make it possible. Until I get the go ahead from the school administration for implementation and the funding for the project to be created, the only posts I will respond to will be for constructive criticism or tech-savvy suggestions.