New England Prep School Throws Away all Their Library Books... Buys 18 Kindles.

[drew00149]

Originally Posted by JWLaRue

Perhaps a change in the title to this thread is in order?

Also, I wonder if that $10,000 was entirely spent on readers? That would be something on the order of 350 readers (without figuring any bulk discount)! Since the size of the student body is around the low 400's....maybe they're getting a reader for everyone?

-Jeff

I thought that was odd. But I think they are including all the digital materials with which they will be stocking the readers in that figure.

The rest of the article doesn't allow for what your reading since the next sentence is:

Those who don’t have access to the electronic readers will be expected to do their research and peruse many assigned texts on their computers.

[JWLaRue]

Oops...I must be math challenged today!

-Jeff

[brecklundin]

after reading the article, I think this is a great idea. The school is reacting to how learning is/has changed over the past decade or more. It is not only adding the readers but also seems to be providing the hardware needed for laptop centric learning, multi-media and network & web connectivity.

While it is a bold move, it is a good move as well. The coffee shop thing is a cool idea as well. In a way the school is taking the idea of a Borders/Barnes & Noble bookstore and bringing that into the school's teaching structure. And $13k for a restaurant grade bit of kitchen hardware is not expensive...and remember this is a Prep school, money is not an issue at these schools. A Prep school is the sort of place where if the parents need to ask how much the tuition is, they can't afford it to begin with...

Me? I am happy with my consumer grade Bunn drip machine (best coffee maker for home use, well, ever! ), a manual pepper mill to make my Turkish grind and my thrift store readers...but the results are the same and it would be cool to see more schools move in this direction, with the tweaks that make it work for that campus.

[Stitchawl]

It is quite common these days for prep schools to require every student to bring his/her own laptop. Prep schools are NOT inner city daycare centers. They are very expensive learning options for the lucky few. (Hopefully they are learning options...)

Libraries in high schools are not (unfortunately) for bibliophiles. They are either for meeting with friends or for research for school papers. Only a few kids will use them because of a love of books or reading. Sad but true. So in a school of 400 students, lets say that this means 3-4 kids at most. Changing the library into something that the other 396 students will use more often makes sense. Personally, I do much more reading in Starbucks than in the library.

As for getting rid of the books? No... I think being surrounded with books is a lovely feeling. I like libraries. I've always wanted a dedicated library in my house. One with a rolling ladder. But I don't read paper books any more. I read my Sony 505. I don't NEED a library. I just want one. But I'm 62. I didn't grow up with a computer, game boy, play station, I-pod, etc., in my room or in my pocket. School kids today do grow up with them. I used to cut school and go to the library (or the pool hall) when I was in high school. Today kids cut school and go to the video arcade. Times change.

The students at this prep school are getting a modern education based upon modern concepts. (Actually, pretty rare for a prep school. Usually they are the last bastions of tradition!) But I think that if they are removing the library completely that they need to issue each student with an e-book reader instead, not just have a handful for the occasional use. With each student having personal computers in their rooms for downloading and printing research materials, the e-book readers become a convenient way to read for pleasure and learning.

How's that for mixed feelings!


Stitchawl

[Blue Tyson]

Actually know someone doing a Master's degree and has been for a few semesters, that has never even been _in_ the university library where they attend.

[JSWolf]

Why buy readers with incompatible file formats? And what about the limits of DRM? You cannot have say 9 readers authorized for a given book. Also, I don't think any reader be it from Amazon or Sony is yet ready to replace textbooks.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

[SNIP]

Plus, blowing $50k on a coffee shop, including $12k on an espresso machine? What's up with that?

I don't know about the $$ for the coffee shop, but I may be able to spread some light on the $12K for an espresso machine.

We went through the process of buying an espresso machine in the School of Computer Science here at CMU. The machine was to live in the SCS-access-only grad-student lounge. It had to stand up to serving many hundreds of cups of coffee each day, be push-button automated, store and chill milk (for latte, etc.), and self-clean frequently enough to keep the county health department happy.

The expensive part of this set of requirements is the "push-button automated" and "self-clean frequently enough to keep the county health department happy." Our machine steam-cleans the milk lines and brewing chamber every 15 minutes. This reduces needed cleanings by trained people to once each 24 hours. It also raises the price of the machine well above $10K.

The big machines you see Barristas using at coffee shops cost substantially less -- "only" $2K-$5K. They require trained operators (for both food safety and operator safety), regular cleaning every couple of hours, and are full-manual operation. This is not appropriate for unattended operation by any of a group of several thousand people with no training.

Xenophon

P.S. The first espresso machine paid for itself in less than one year. Then, before being flogged to death, it sold enough coffee to pay for the current much more expensive and much higher duty-cycle machine.

[LDBoblo]

I wonder why the opposition in the article is taking a stance on the more emotional/romantic view of books.

I think this is altogether a pretty terrible idea with the current state of the technology. If they're going to get rid of the books, then get rid of the books and force students to do their research elsewhere...but Kindles and Sony Readers? Yeesh. Part of me wonders if they did any research whatsoever beyond an Oprah worshipper testimony.

I think it'd be kinda neat if, when reader devices are usable in the future, libraries can digitize and consolidate their collections with a digital inter-library loan network that would replace the proprietary commercial stuff like Amazon's whispernet for educational-use readers.

[Ocean]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why buy readers with incompatible file formats?

Incompatible with what?

[spinoza]

I would take these numbers with a big grain of salt. The source of the article is the Boston Globe, which is known to get its data wrong--conveniently to sensationalize an article. I would trust that Cushing Academy knows what its doing in getting its budget in line with this transition to digital.

As others have noted here, this move to all-digital makes perfect sense when considering the users here. All the students at Cushing Academy have laptops, and the school supports a state-of-the-art network. The Kindles will supplement the students' use of laptops for reading.