Had a conversation a few nights ago with a friend who's discovered the joys of his local library. Apparently they've joined the digital age and it's now incredibly easy to search the catalog and place holds online, so all you have to do is stop by periodically and pick up your stack of books. Seemed pretty useful, so I decided to take a look. Sure enough, my county library has the same kind of deal - search the catalog online, place holds, etc. Only problem is, out of 30 books on my Amazon wishlist, they have a grand total of 2...
"Strange", I thought to myself... "Do I just have a really odd taste in books? Is my local library terrible? What's the deal?"
Then it struck me...
I went back and checked the last 10 or 15 books I've ordered on the Kindle... sure enough, at least a 90% hit rate at the library.
So what we have is this: The library and the Kindle seem to have highly intersecting sets of books available. Makes sense - only the most popular X% of books get the investment necessary to make them available in either format (the development of a Kindle version or the purchase of multiple copies of said book for the library system).
What this means, however, is that the usefulness of the library drops by several orders of magnitude for me. Let's take a look at the Pros and Cons (again, with the caveat "for me"... your mileage may vary):
Kindle Pros:
Selection - At least one or two orders of magnitude wider than the library
Timing - Books are available instantly, no waiting 3-4 days for the hold to process
Location - Books come to me, I don't have to go pick them up or take them back
Size - No matter how many books I request/buy/carry, it never gets any bigger
Longevity - I don't have a specified timeframe in which I *have to* read a particular book, and I don't have to give it back when I'm done
Library Pros:
Price - It's free! (Oh, unless you take your books back late, in which case it could end up costing more than just buying the book)
Now, I can already hear the cries of "Wasteful Capitalist Overconsumer!!!" Remember the caveat? "For me".
For me, the pros of the Kindle provide value. Value I'm willing to pay for. Sure the library is free, that's what it's there for! But if there's a more convenient solution that allows me to read more, to read more often, and to read more easily, I'm willing to spend a few bucks for that.
It's great to see libraries entering the Digital Age. I'm willing to concede that the local library is probably approaching Amazon itself in usefulness, and if it weren't for the Kindle, I'd probably give it a shot. Unfortunately for the library system, from where I sit they're just catching up to several years ago, and once again the technology world has passed them by...
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2 comments:
I've also found that some of my recently Amazon wishlist books are definitely not in the library system yet, that's the curse of being up front on many things.
Your kindle insight was great though I disagree w/ the "oh but late fees abound"... We've probably paid $2 across the 20+ books we've checked out. But I understand that's "for us" and you might not be so lucky.
I think the real "draw" of the library can be considered with this question;
How many books were you interested in but didn't put on your wishlist cause you didn't want to spend $ on them relative to others?
It's not as poignant as I'd like but maybe makes my point. I've checked out books that I'd never buy unless I'd read every other "tier 1" book on my list.
I've also recently learned the values of Audio CD's! I know the value audio stimulus has as someone's who's been trying to pick up running.
Music's good but I found books to be better for long tasks like running or driving because I'm not constantly alerted to the passing of time (every 3-4 minutes).
Anyway, everyone's different and in reality I think a lot of this is as much about me _changing_ as it is it "fitting" w/ what I want.
I'd love to be able to just get a Kindle but $10 for most books impacts more of my goals then I'd considered and buys me a heck of a lot of late fees!
How do you like the Kindle? I know you mentioned that there are lot of books, but how do you like using on the go?
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