Checking out a kindle book from NYPL

One of the most exciting news in the past week is Library books for Kindle is now available. I wasn't sure what the checking out process will be, but I thought it might be pretty burdensome, additional software such as Adobe Media Console may be required.

And I just decided to give it a try with my NYPL library card. To my surprise, the process is really easy and I believe there will be no burden for anyone who knows how to use library catalog and how to buy Kindle books from Amazon.

NYPL now displays a catalog where you can browse ebooks with Kindle format only, and the search function also allows you to limit format as "Kindle", which is convenient for users to find Kindle books. I think once I saw somewhere that all the ebooks are listed together and it's hard to retrieve Kindle books out of pdfs and epubs. 

So, here is what the catalog looks like. The page shows title, author, brief introduction, number of copies and available electronic formats. The book "Dear John" has 9 available copies out of 15, regardless of format. By clicking on "Add to eList" button of the Kindle version, I'm adding the Kindle book to my list for check out. The following screen appears when I click on "My eList" and I "Proceed to checkout".

The default lending period is 14 days and I can modify it on the checkout page, 7 days, 14 days, or 21 days, note that each user can check out 12 items at one time (not sure if checking out printed items interferes with eAccount).

After I click on "Confirm Checkout", the screen shows the title(s) I'm checking out, check out date, expiration date, and the link "Get for Kindle". The link directs me to an Amazon page entitled "Get Your Public Library Loan".

Since I'm already registered my Kindle with Amazon and I'm logged in to Amazon, the only thing I need to do is to click "Get library book" and the confirmation page appears. Hooray! I can now turn Kindle wifi on, have the book delivered to my Kindle and read the Kindle book!

 

I need to admit I'm pretty satisfied with the process, and glad I don't need to install any addition software  or create accounts on Overdrive or other third-parties. At this moment, I just have one question, I mistakenly checked out a pdf version of "John Lennon" and I don't want to install Adobe Digital Editions to read it. Can I return the book before it expires automatically since there might be someone else wants to read the book?

I searched a book which has been on my reading list for a very long time, "You Are Not a Gadget", by Jaron Lanier. NYPL has three digital copies and all checked out at this moment. I clicked on "Request Item" and was required to provide an email address to put my name on the waiting list.

After I submitted, it tells me "You have successfully placed a hold on the selected title. You will receive an email when the selected title becomes available for checkout. Once you receive the email, you will have 3 days to check out the selected title." Thank you NYPL, OverDrive and Amazon, I can now read more books on my Kindle for FREE!

Update:
Annotations are not synced with my Amazon account but saved in My clippings.txt file.

The Role of Academic Libraries

The development of information technology in the past few decades has changed the way people interact with information and created a very different information environment for libraries and librarians. While academic libraries continue to support research and learning, it’s critical to examine the changing information needs to define roles of academic libraries in such information era.

Academic libraries should help students to reach their full potential. Students may need assistance with their research, prepare for job market, or simply complete a course assignment. In addition to offer information resources, more importantly, librarians should provide instruction sessions to improve students’ information literacy. For example, students today are very familiar with information technology. They may use Internet and web tools, such as Google on daily basis and believe “I can find what I need”. However, that is not always the case.  Librarians could teach students how to conduct search more efficiently and how to retrieve and evaluate information resources, including scholarly information and Internet resources.  Librarians should also help students to better utilize technology to empower them to increase work performance and competencies.

Libraries are sometimes overlooked by faculty members because they see little value in library services. Academic libraries need to prove its value by facilitating faculty’s teaching and research needs. Librarians should collaborate with faculty members to understand expected learning outcomes for students and develop collections and other resources, instruction sessions for individual courses or course assignments. Libraries also need to support faculty’s research needs by providing resources and help them with their promotion process. Librarians can assist them with scholarly publication process, increase visibility of their scholarly output, provide citation statistics and monitor trends in subject fields.

Academic libraries today also serve as an active participant in collecting, preserving and disseminating scholarly, historically and culturally records of the parent institution. Digital repositories increase the visibility of the institution, facilitate scholarly communication and also provide valuable information for the local community.

Neil Gaiman, the famous science fiction writer once said “Google can bring you 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one”. The true value of libraries and librarians lies in the ability to bridge the gap between people and information. Information technology hasn’t really changed the role of academic libraries, but offers new tools and approaches to facilitate patrons’ changing information needs in a very different information environment. Academic libraries should understand both opportunities and challenges to better serve the community and facilitate knowledge creation.