My Library Lends e-readers, rathern than e-books

[bhartman36]

I just checked yesterday. Renewed my library card and checked to see what their policy with e-books is. They've got two Kindles, an Nook, a Nook Color, and a Sony Reader to lend.

I really wish they'd lend the e-books instead of the readers. It seems superfluous. If you don't have an e-reader, aren't you more likely to borrow a paper book, anyway? Also, how expensive are the books to lend out, compared to the readers? I find it hard to believe that the expense of all those readers is less than the cost of the e-books they contain.

Anyone else's library have policies like this?

[Tome Keeper]

That seems odd, I would have thought that a library lending the readers would also lend e-books.

Our library is going through a consultation process at the moment to modernise/cut costs. Some people have suggested e-reader lending but it is not a popular idea due to the cost . I completely agree but then there is also opposition against providing e-books at all which I disagree with. Saying that the debate is just going around in circles, mainly because people who have no idea about e-readers and e-books keep confusing matters, one suggested that the library was just going to scan all it's books and not care about copyright .

Might be worth asking the librarians about the choice to provide the readers and not the books. I'm not sure how it would work either, at least for the Kindle. Do people register and de-register time and time again? Can anyone borrow them? Are they pre-loaded with books?

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Tome Keeper

Might be worth asking the librarians about the choice to provide the readers and not the books. I'm not sure how it would work either, at least for the Kindle. Do people register and de-register time and time again? Can anyone borrow them? Are they pre-loaded with books?

I'll ask about the decision next time I'm at the library.

As for your questions:

1) You don't have to register the devices when you check them out. You just go through the normal checkout process.

2) Anyone with a library card can borrow them.

3) Yes, they come pre-loaded with books.

Aside from being an odd way of doing it, I think the library is putting the devices through a lot of risk. Aside from the possibility of people just plain keeping the devices, there's the damage issue. Patrons are charged $5/day that the devices are overdue to return, and there's a $25 fee if you drop the device in the book drop, rather than returning it to the circulation librarian. And of course, if, for any reason, the device doesn't make it back to them at all, you bought it.

[Tome Keeper]

It makes more sense now that they come loaded with books, though still a bit odd as surely the library has to pay for the e-books as well and how do you guarantee there is something you'd like?

After working in libraries for a number of years it's all well and good having a fee if you don't return the device but the chances of that fee being collected are slim. We were forever chasing people with large fines/numbers of books late, that had been accumulating for years but it really came down to if they ever came in again or responded to the letters from the debt collectors.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Tome Keeper

After working in libraries for a number of years it's all well and good having a fee if you don't return the device but the chances of that fee being collected are slim. We were forever chasing people with large fines/numbers of books late, that had been accumulating for years but it really came down to if they ever came in again or responded to the letters from the debt collectors.

I think the only chance you'd have of getting an e-reader back, if ever, would be on an amnesty day. When I was a kid, my local library would have one of those every once in a while. I remember having to return books on amnesty day because the fines had grown too large.

[Tome Keeper]

I was the same , that was the bonus of working there, no late fees!

Don't think they have thought this one through!

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Tome Keeper

Don't think they have thought this one through!

Yeah, that's the bottom line. If you lend out the e-books, you have at least some control of when you get them back. Lending out the readers gives you no control, and serves a lot fewer patrons at a time.

[JSWolf]

According to the library, I had some CDs long overdue and we kept going round in circles saying that I returned them and them saying I didn't. But I finally gave in and went to pay what the library said I owed. When they went to look up the account, they could not find it and I didn't have to pay. I was then able to get a new library card.

As for loaning readers, I do feel that a Kindle is a poor choice until Overdrive is up and running with Kindle eBooks for loan. I belong to two different local library systems. Both have eBooks. But if one was loaning readers, the other would still have eBooks and none would work with a Kindle until Overdrive had the Kindle loaning up and running.

[odiakkoh]

My local library apparently partnered with B&N and got Nooks (about 20 per branch). They offer a little over 1200 ebooks right now but hopefully if this thing is successful they'll add more ebooks *wishful thinking*

[covingtoncat73]

My library doesnt' check out eReaders as far as I know but they have 1261 ePubs available (1736 total, so I guess almost 500 are checked out). That doesn't count their PDFs (I don't like reading PDFs on my Kobo) or ePubs that are not available. 710 of the available ones are fiction. Not bad for suburban Louisiana.

Anyway, they rent the readers but not the eBooks? That seems a little ridiculus. It would make sense if they had done away with paperbooks and offered eBooks but wanted to still serve patrons w/o their own readers but, IMHO, we are a long way for where a library could/should do that.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

My library doesnt' check out eReaders as far as I know but they have 1261 ePubs available (1736 total, so I guess almost 500 are checked out). That doesn't count their PDFs (I don't like reading PDFs on my Kobo) or ePubs that are not available. 710 of the available ones are fiction. Not bad for suburban Louisiana.

Anyway, they rent the readers but not the eBooks? That seems a little ridiculus. It would make sense if they had done away with paperbooks and offered eBooks but wanted to still serve patrons w/o their own readers but, IMHO, we are a long way for where a library could/should do that.

I kind of see libraries as the last holdout for paper books. I think the B&M stores will go, and then the libraries will be left. Well, them and maybe used bookstores.

I think that's at least a decade away, though.

[Anke Wehner]

Lending ebook readers in addition to ebooks makes sense to me, and would be great for people who have some interest, but don't want to drop money for a reader based on half an hour testing in a shop.

Lending readers but not books seems odd. Are they at lease preloaded with a library of public domain titles or something like that?

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Anke Wehner

Lending ebook readers in addition to ebooks makes sense to me, and would be great for people who have some interest, but don't want to drop money for a reader based on half an hour testing in a shop.

Lending readers but not books seems odd. Are they at lease preloaded with a library of public domain titles or something like that?

The library pre-loads the readers with books that the library has. You can see the library's policy here.

[mldavis2]

My little library loans a Kindle at $2/day which seems a bit steep. If a person can't afford to buy an eReader, how can they afford to "rent" one? I would also expect a durability issue with any eReader in the hands of the general public.

[abookreader]

What Happens if I Lose or Damage the Reader?
You will be charged the replacement cost – $215 for Kindle, $235 for Nook, $350 for Nookcolor.

Our local library had a couple of Sony Readers donated and then the Friends Foundation purchased a couple of more.

Right now most of them are available for loan and one is held back for education purposes (demonstrations and also anybody can just come into the library and the Resource desk will show them how to use it and let them play with it in the library).

Purchasing eBooks outside of the Overdrive system is an idea we have kicked around often --- mostly in order to get access to titles that aren't available via Overdrive (MacMillan etc).

I'm considering donating my old Kindle 2 to the library once the Overdrive Kindle set-up goes live.

I must say, I looked at the link to your library and these replacement fines are really really high. Do you happen to know the justification for it?

What Happens if I Lose or Damage the Reader?
You will be charged the replacement cost – $215 for Kindle, $235 for Nook, $350 for Nookcolor.