Envy of the Sun

For awhile I've played with the idea of owning a Kindle, Amazon's electronic reading device, and then found out that there are some libraries that are actually in the process of lending out Kindles - with purchased e-books - isn't it exciting?

What would the pros and cons be for checking out Kindles - or other electronic readers for that matter? These are a few that I can think of:

Advantages:

• The hardest part of owning a Kindle for me would be the inability to make physical notes (I learn better with a pencil in my hand and using it) - especially if it is a textbook. But writing in library books is terribly frowned upon, if not entirely banned. So maybe an electronic book would be the perfect answer? Then again, I've heard that the Kindle (and I'm not sure about the other e-readers) allows the reader to make electronic notes. I'm guessing there should be a simple way to reset the book, and delete any notes, so maybe this feature isn't a problem.
• No heavy books to carry. Yay!
• No dog-ears, no bent covers, no coffee stains (my pet peeve). Er...well, not too sure how well a Kindle would respond to a coffee spill, however.
  

Disadvantages:

• I guess the price would be the biggest disadvantage. It's much more expensive to replace a damaged Kindle than a damaged book (unless the book is a rare document, but in which case the library would probably have it room-use only). And the Kindle as Room-Use-Only seems to lose its point altogether.

The list, especially for the advantages, I'm sure will keep growing :)

Upon a little more serious thought, and a conversation with a good friend, I may have to retract my previous statement about physically published material as the primary source of research material. There can be plenty of reasons for online material to be just as helpful, or which can at least point to other sources that may be as helpful. If anything, wandering around on the internet may help one discover many different views, ideas, opinions - and some good pages can cite references and sources.

Personally speaking? Whenever I did research in any of my classes during my undergraduate years, I started with using the internet. I did keyword searches on electronic journals, pulled out relevant articles and printed them out. I did keyword searches and looked at the electronic catalog that listed the books (physical and otherwise), to see what was available in print form. And then moved over to the library. And yes, I did a Google Search too, to see what came up. I think it really depends on what you're researching or studying, whether you should emphasize one medium over another, and either way, both are going to be prominent areas of your search.

I would love to hear what others think about this. :) And by all means, prove me wrong if you believe that is the case!

Just this morning, I had a conversation on the phone with a professor about why libraries should be the primary place for research. This professor, who am glad to say was particularly passionate about this topic (as much as those of us who are professionally dedicated to the library), gave me the a link to a neat little educational website called All About Explorers. Only, it's not meant to give actual biographical information about any of these fascinating individuals. Instead, within the frame of a respectable-looking website, they provide preposterous data to make several points, among which, one shouts out, "Be SMART when you do online searches!"

Sure, the internet is great for a lot of things. But nothing beats peer-reviewed, properly published (in physical form) content. At least for research purposes. Textual research.

I have decided to give this blog a 'space/universe' theme. So, the first thing to change was the template. I am currently using the Acid Rain template, which might be replaced by something else that I find more appropriate :) Getting it uploaded was a bit of a hassle, but the instructions found under the Comments section were very helpful. Goes to show how much you can learn from others.

I attended the Reaching Forward 2009 Annual Conference held in Rosemont, IL on May 1, 2009. An enjoyable experience, and none so much as the Keynote Speaker, Michael Stephens, from Dominican University. Despite a somewhat tardy appearance, wholly due to the fact that the men's restrooms were only accessible by a shuttle service (one does hope that, in the future, the library field becomes a little more equally distributed as far as gender is concerned), his presentation "Hyperlinked Library Services for Everyone" did much to entertain and inform. For a person who has already participated in a Library Web 2.0 program, this presentation provided a refreshing perspective on the role of the web in our ever-evolving library atmosphere.

I am probably including Dominican University on my list of prospective MLS schools, all because of Michael Stephens!

There were many short workshops throughout the day. I attended Internet Safety, Dealing with Difficult People: Why is No One as Nice as I am, and after lunch, Going, Going Green. Internet Safety with Detective Alan Krok was very interesting, but also presented for the anxious parent. Dealing with Difficult People, presented by Diane C. Decker was an interactive lesson, but not long enough for the message to sink in. Lunch was accompanied by a reading by author Elizabeth Berg. My final session, Going, Going Green, was unfortunately punctuated by many yawns, which I assume was an after-effect of a very complete meal.

Altogether, an enjoyable experience, with opportunities to network throughout the day (though some of us, including myself, probably did not take as much advantage of this as they should have). I still stand by the belief that the pièce de résistance was the Keynote Speech.