Much of the consternation we are dealing with in finding an ebook delivery model that will  work for our district, our students and staff comes from the fact that book publishers have not yet figured out how to accommodate libraries in their pricing structures. The good news is that discussions are taking place between publishers and the library world. For a concise look at the situation read this editorial from the Philadelphia Enquirer, written after the Public Libraries Association annual conference a little over a week ago.    Katie

If you're trying to keep up.....Bloomberg Businessweek has an article about Amazon's recent foray into book publishing and the history leading up to this point.                                   Katie

Not only does the Books Should Be Free site have a wide variety of public domain books in audio format, if you select a book and scroll to the bottom of the page the title is available as an ebook in several different formats...for your kindle, ipod/ipad, nook, Macs, PCs etc. The site has tabs for popular titles and different genres for quick searching. One can also find some titles in 28 + different languages.   Very slick!                                                                  Katie

I ran across this admittedly promotional video of a district that is actively promoting the use of ebooks. I thought it would be good for all of us to see some of the ways teachers are utilizing the format.                                                                                        Katie

Check out this article from the LATimes on new book-sharing potential through apps and online social media programs.

On February 10th the Golden Heart Reading Council held their monthly meeting at Library Media Services. They received a demonstration of how to create Resource Lists in Destiny as a place to store favorite books, media AND websites located through One Search on the units they develop. A quick look at some of the online resources available for K-8 was offered. The group was also shown some of the new ebooks available in Destiny for all our elementary students. Their evening wrapped up with time to look at the kits, media and book resources in the collection with time for checkout for those wanting to take items with them. It was a successful evening for both the GHRC member and the staff at LMS, who learned about some of the teachers' specific needs.      Katie

So, perhaps you secondary folks have a little more time to be figuring out the best way to deliver digital content when it comes to books the students choose to read. You can read Tele-Read's  synopsis of a study just released by Bowker or you can read a longer article at a site called @PaidContent titled "New Stats: Kids Find E-Books ‘Fun And Cool,’ But Teens Are Still Reluctant," which goes has more statistics on both teens and younger readers.   One tidbit says "Respondents to an earlier 2011 survey said that only 37 percent of the children’s books in their houses were bought new, compared to 34 percent hand-me-downs, 17 percent given by others as gifts, and 9 percent borrowed from the library".  They then talk about the problem of handing down an ebook. Lots of other interesting and thought provoking data.                Katie                                              

OK..... so I got waylaid in getting the post below posted...by 4 months!!  It is still a great article and I don't want to  wait for Literacy Day this year to publish it. Lori Learned's sharing yesterday of the website International Children's Digital Library reminded me of Literacy Day (don't even try to follow the route my memory takes!) and this entry which has been languishing in draft form. Both sites are worth checking out...the ICDL should be shared with teachers, bi-lingual tutors and parents as its a fantastic  resource.  Kt
--from September----------------------------------------------------------------------------------This blog post poses the question "Are All Readers Literate?" It speaks to the need for our young learners to be acquiring what they call background knowledge, or domain knowledge, domain-specific content knowledge.  What any reader, not matter what their age or skill level, needs in order to fully understand text. This is an area where our profession can help by guiding students to resources which expand their knowledge base; by taking the time to explain idioms and pointing out metaphores and similies; and by making connections for them between a feature in a fictional setting (Charlotte... as in Charlotte's Web) and the Dewey section on spiders. We can help them build background knowledge with games and contests that challenge them to learn new facts and broaden their horizons. We can share a bit of our selves, our interests and backgrounds in order to expand their background information base but also to encourage them to exercise a little self examination and see that they may have a some stories to tell and information to share which will expand our knowledge base as well.
I would encourage you to read not only the short blog post but also to follow some of the links the article alludes to.