Last school year when MHS Library received some donated funds, I explored purchasing e-books, Nooks and Kindles. My "research" lead to to purchasing 6 Nook Simple Touches and 40 titles for each. Here's the skinny on how I decided to go with Nooks and the result in our library.
A random questioning of students that I knew owned eReaders revealed that students who owned Nooks, preferred Nooks. Those who owned Kindles, preferred Kindles. Those who owned iPads, preferred iPads. Same reply from staff members who I knew owned eReaders. OK, so that was no help. I own both a Kindle Touch and a Color Nook. I prefer the Color Nook, but then the two are really not in the same category. So, I compiled a list of pros and cons for each device. iPads were dropped immediately; they just cost too much. Kindle Fire and Nook Color/Tablet were also dropped because of cost. That brought the tug-of-war down to Kindle Touch and Nook Simple Touch. A quick Internet search lead me to the writings of Buffy Hamilton at The Unquiet Librarian, Collette Adams at A Wrinkle in Tech and the eBook Educators Group at EduKindle Ning. And I consulted some other high school librarians that had purchased eReaders and e-books for their schools. These folks have already created policies, permissions slips, rules, handouts, MARC records, and offer excellent advice!
Drum roll
I purchased Nooks because I thought they were a better reading experience. The pages loaded quickly, seemed easier to read, and reflected the page number of the book rather than the percentage read. It also "felt" better in my hands. I appreciated that they didn't have a web browser (less distractions) and security settings blocked unauthorized purchasing. I knew about Barnes & Noble's managed accounts, however, since I was only getting 6 units I didn't take advantage of that program.
Nooks in the House
Once the 6 Nooks were purchased and books loaded (January 2012), they were advertised within the school, the library's Twitter and Facebook pages, District newsletter, and even on WHO early morning news in Des Moines (that was a surprise). I developed a permission slip for student and parental signatures so that a student could check out a Nook for 2 weeks. Checkout included the Nook Simple Touch, a cover, and a case. I didn't loan out the power adapter nor USB cable telling students to bring the Nook in if it needed charging (the battery life should be able to handle 2 weeks checkout with wifi turned off and I worried that loose items would just get lost).
Selecting what titles to put on the Nooks was the next step. We always promote the Iowa High School Book Award titles, and I had asked an Iowa High School Battle of the Books team to "test" the Nooks. So, a logical first choice was titles from the current and future IHSBA and IHSBOB lists.
Titles were entered into our library catalog as eBooks and resource lists showed what titles were on the Nooks. I "advertised" their availability and immediately all 6 Nooks checked out and we had a waiting list of more than 20 students. Most were students that I knew to be avid readers; they heavily borrowed print books from our library already. I found that all borrowed the Nooks once. That was enough. When asked if they liked the Nooks, replies were similar. Here's a sampling:
1. "I liked it, but I want my own. I don't want to have to use it for only 2 weeks and then give it back."
2. "I really liked highlighting quotes in the books, I loose my notes when I return the Nook, I want my own."
3. "It was OK, but a paperback is much easier. I don't have to worry about it getting crunched in my backpack and if I loose it, no big deal. If I loose a Nook, I'm out a chunk of change."
4. "I thought ALL the library books would be on it, not just 40. If I'm going to deal with being careful and keeping it charged, I want to be able to pick what books are on it. Forty books isn't enough."
5. "I'd rather own one. Then I can pick what books are on it and download a book as I want it. I need more convenience."
Once we worked through our waiting list we were done. That's right, done. They didn't check out again for the remainder of the school year. Really. I tried convincing students to try them, even pawned them off on staff and asked that they read them. No interest.
Next steps
I'll promote them again this school year and we'll see. I had purchased ahead, so 2013 IHSBA books are already there. I plan to promote those books more heavily this year, perhaps that will drive some demand. A Pew Research study Libraries, patrons and e-books, Are kids really motivated by technology?, Are teens embracing e-books?, and reflections from Buffy Hamilton and Collette Adams are on my reading list before I make any more purchases. I also wonder if genre-specific Nooks is the way to go - where a Nook holds dystopic-themed or realistic fiction. I also want to wait to see what e-book resources our AEA offers. Since our public library offers Overdrive, I won't go down that path. Funds are too tight to duplicate services.
