The Boston Globe reports that Cushing Academy will be eliminating their library and replacing their 20,000 physical volumes with 18 e-readers. And a cappucino machine.
The article goes on quote various experts lamenting or praising the decision. My only question is this: How bad was circulation in their library when the assumption is that 18 e-readers will be enough to meet reader demand for books to take home?
I continue to worry about the rush to replace paper books with electronic ones. Seems like we’re in the early days of digital rights management with electronic texts, and Kindles are sexy, but not practical for sharing books with others.
Like you, I worry about digital rights management and proprietary formats. But I also found myself wondering if they couldn’t have gone with a $10,000 cappuccino machine and nearly doubled the number of Kindles they purchased!
OK, I just looked at the math. They would have added 33% more Kindles, I guess. I was making Kindles be a much better deal than they are!
.-= Nancy McKeand´s last blog ..Writing to learn =-.