For newcomers: Rochelle is a librarian in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and writes the lively Tinfoil and Raccoon blog. Related: The Kindle vs. a rotated laptop for e-booking, in librarian Steve Lawson's blog. - D.R. Michael Stephens wonders if my fondness for Kindle (despite its uselessness for libraries) could be characterized as "technolust." I chewed on this for awhile and came to the conclusion that I need to come out of the closet as kind of a technodud. I think I may be a bit ahead of the curve, measured against all of LibraryLand, and a bit more ahead compared to library users...

Moderator's note: Rochelle is, er, right on the money. Even with cheaper gizmos in use, such as the $200 OLPC XO, a library's role should be to encourage use of book-friendly hardware---not provide everyone with it! - David Rothman.(Screeching brakes)  Whoa. Wait a minute. Stepping back from my Kindle krush and putting aside the question of whether or not it's legal for libraries to loan them, I considered the Kindle issue through the eyes of a public library manager who has to make decisions about how to get the most out of a budget. Duh! It's a no brainer. ...

I am now the proud owner of a Remington Easy-Riter typewriter, with case, purchased for $5.00 this morning. It's in very good shape and it looks like you can still buy ribbons for it. Juniorina was with me when I picked this up at a garage sale (passing up a newish Huffy bike for $40) and wondered what I would do with it. Juniorette asked if I bought it to write my novel on. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Moderator's note: The TeleBlog is always on the lookout for contributing writers like...

My friend Mimi Davis, a reader's dream because of her dedication as a reader's advisor, pointed me to an article in Checking Out Romance (pdf), the Romance Writers of America newsletter for librarians. In it, Mimi and her colleague Beth Wong give suggestions for pitching romance titles to non-romance readers. It's great stuff for readers advisory librarians! I was also surprised to find an article titled "Who Reads E-books?" in the same volume, written by Malle Vallik, Editorial Director of New Business Development for Harlequin Enterprises. David blogged e-Harlequin in December, but it's good to see them...

Scifi author and long-time blogger John Scalzi (Whatever) made my day with the announcement that his titles Old Man's War and Ghost Brigades will soon be released as e-books from Tor. I've been waiting for my paper copy of Ghost Brigades at the library, but think I'll wait for the e-version. Why? Because Tor gets e-books in the way that Baen does, and I want to give hearty support to clueful publishers. Scalzi quotes Tor's Patrick Nielsen Hayden: We've tested a lot of e-book waters, including various cockamamie schemes involving overpriced e-books laden with DRM.Oddly enough, a...