Easley Library Bookworms discussion

We live in a time and place where predictions are often made that print books are about to go the way of the dinosaurs, because e-books will replace them. Of course, a few decades ago it was just as confidently predicted that microfilm would replace print; after that, microfiche became the next magic bullet that printophobes thought would do the job. Both technologies are obsolete today, and print books are still growing strong. There may be an instructive point there.

It occurred to me that the relative merits of print and e-book technology, and the relative roles you'd like to see each of these formats have here in Easley Library, might make a worthwhile topic of discussion. Easley Library has a strong print collection, and all of the librarians here are committed to maintaining its strength. At the same time, we do have a large collection of e-books; and our holdings in both formats are growing all the time.

How do you feel about the two formats? Are they antagonistic, or complementary? Which do you prefer --or do you read in both? Why? Does either format offer benefits that the other doesn't? What is the value to society of print books? Of e-books? Are there electronic services you'd like the library to offer that we don't currently have? How do you feel about the ones we do have?

Personally, I'm very much a fan of print books, and read in that format more or less exclusively. I don't own a Kindle, and don't want one --of course, I boycott Amazon (long story!), but I don't want a Nook or another brand of e-reader either. While e-books tend to be free or cheap, print books are much more affordable than the costly high tech e-reading devices themselves, and don't make your ability to read depend on batteries. (Indeed, print books are often very inexpensive, if they're purchased used or remaindered, and reading library print books is also free.) When you purchase a print book, too, you actually own it. When you purchase an e-book, as I understand it, you're really leasing it; your ability to transfer or share it is subject to restrictions. The electronic book trade is also dependent on the power grid and the continued availability of cheap fuel, and vulnerable to natural or manmade electromagnetic pulses. Print, IMO, is the ideal format for books.

That said, I do have a (free) Kindle app for my home computer, and I use it primarily for reading short stories (when they're offered for free). With the decline and disappearance of the general circulation magazine market for short fiction in the 1960s, traditional mainstream short stories became an endangered species. The development of short e-stories offers short fiction writers a viable market, something they haven't had for decades. That, in my estimation, is a positive development!

I like both, Werner, and I don't plan to give up either format in the immediate future. :-)

E-books don't have to be expensive. In my email box each day, I receive the "Kindle Daily Deal" email which presents me with books of all sorts for as low as 99 cents or $1.99, give or take a little bit. I can also find a wide variety of free e-books, though I'm a little hesitant to go with those anymore, because they often lack much editing.

My kindle reader paid for itself a long time ago with the convenience it allowed me. I don't have to update to a new reader every year. Mine is probably five or six years old. Granted, it doesn't have all the new bells and whistles, but it works very well for download and reading books.

My Kindle (or now, often the Kindle app on my cell phone) allows me to take hundreds of books on a trips with my family, and no one fusses at me for taking more than I can possibly read, anymore. I just put my Kindle in my purse, and I'm ready to go.

On the other hand, I love reading a real, physical book. There's an ease of use to skimming through pages, flipping back quickly if I realize I have missed something, or flipping ahead if I am bored somewhere in the middle that I don't have with an e-book.

I also prefer to study with a physical book in hand. Again, the ability to flip quickly through pages seems to work better in a physical form than it does in an electronic format, for me. I like to spread my study materials out on a desk, and quickly move from one to the other. I can't do this same kind of thing with an e-book in quite the same way.

The e-book makes it easier to locate something specific, however, like a name I have forgotten, or a particular conversation. I can highlight favorite passages and pull them up without having to remember a page number, so it has it's advantages, too.

To be honest, I keep my favorite books in both formats. The Harry Potter books are big and heavy, but I read them over and over again. I cannot tell you how happy I was when Rowling made them available via e-book format. I have the beautiful hard-cover versions, which provided me with so much pleasure and excitement for years, sitting on my shelf for easy access when I'm home and have the time to enjoy a few minutes of leisure reading. I now also have them on my Kindle and cell phone so that I can take them anywhere without having to lug a HEAVY seven book set around, or without having to plan in advance which particular one I want to re-read, since sometimes I want to switch from one to the other without reading the whole thing over again.

Ultimately, I like the convenience of having my e-books *right there* with me whenever I feel like reading, and I like to be able to download a new book whenever I'm in the mood, but I love the experience of having a physical book in my hand and having total control over my reading experience. I love both formats and I, for one, will enjoy them far into the future. (I will cry, Werner, if an EM Pulse messes up my Kindle books. I am going to pretend that thought only exists in my dystopian television shows, movies, and books. Don't mess up my fun with your logic!)

Ok, so I'm not going to write a long post about this topic because Paula has expressed much of what I feel. I'm a book collector (the physical kind) and only within the last 3 or 4 years have I been overwhelmed by them and learned to stop buying them no matter what bargain I might find. I have been weeding out my physical collection over the last couple of years. And it is hard to let go of books. I have the first series of books that Stephen Lawhead wrote more than 20 years ago and they bring back such wonderful memories that I don't want to let them go. Amazon had a daily deal a few days back and I was able to pick up the electronic set for $3.
I also love that I can borrow ebooks from Amazon through my Prime membership and I can borrow ebooks from our local libraries. The library often gets copies of new books (in electronic form) that I want to read so I am thrilled to borrow them and not have to buy them. Plus, I don't have to go out of the house. I just check it out online and read away. And the really cool trick I've found is that if I don't finish the book within the loan period - all I have to do is turn off the wifi on the Kindle and I don't lose the book. It gives me more time. I finish the book and turn the wifi back on and it's gone. Plus, I can read PDF documents on my Kindle. That's is how I'm reading one of my late husband's novels, right now.
Don't get me wrong, I love the feel and smell of a new book... and even an old book if it isn't musty. But having the ebooks make me feel a little lighter in this world. I'm learning that the less unnecessary stuff I have the better I feel. One serious exception is the bible. While I do have an electronic copy of my favorite version, I still love taking my physical bible to church. Now, I'm going to go read my book. Hey, we should talk about audiobooks next. I do a major amount of reading this way.

I also will echo many of Paula's comments. I have been a reader since I was very small and have always enjoyed having a book in my hands. However, I do own a Kindle and now a Samsung tablet with the Kindle app on it and I do a lot of reading that way as well. I can't seem to stop myself from buying paperbacks that catch my attention when I am shopping in a store with a good collection of books for sale, but I also often buy books for my Kindle when I know a new one is out from an author I like.

I need to follow Crystal's lead and begin to weed some of my print collection and donate those books somewhere (some will probably end up at Easley Library). I used to only keep one specific author and share the other things I bought, but now my print collection is really too big at home. We'll see. I'll add that to the other projects I want to do :-)