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Kindle news: K-machine wiki for libraries, an email list for e-booking librarians, and an estimate of 10M Kindle owners soon
September 29, 2009 | 1:34 pm
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By David Rothman
The guy in the picture is reading from a Kindle “in the shadow of the great New York Public Library.”
But “old-fashioned library books still reign supreme” there.
Could that change? Maybe if librarians will take time to learn the technology, and about specific machine. They’re stretched thin, many of them. But maybe a new Kindle library wiki will help, as a way for librarians to share tips and save time.
The Kindle Library Home is a joint project of Duke Medical Center Library and Texas A&M Medical Library. Medicine and med-ed are priorities. there. But ideally the Wiki will also enlighten public librarians and those in many other areas. Give it a chance and help out.
The project’s FAQ presently is sparse but already takes a stab at such basic questions as, “How can I make sure that patrons cannot purchase books on the library account?” It would be wonderful if a copyright lawyer could jump in with advice since Amazon’s terms of service are rather problematic for libraries.
Library e-book list
Latecomers might also want to catch up with a separate e-mail list for librarians dealing with ebooks. This covers all brands of machines, not just Kindles. I mentioned the list before, but this bears repeating.
In other Kindle news…
If you extrapolate from a survey, Kindle ownership could reach 10M units in 12 months. Get the details, gang, and tell me what you think of the numbers and the logic (via Jon Noring and Paul Allen). I’m skeptical, given all the competition Amazon will face, not just from other e-reader makers but rival form factors such as netbooks. But who knows?
Image: CC-licensed photo by Ed Yourdon.
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Comments:
Do you really think we could see a growth from 500k to 10 million in only 12 months? That would a 1,900% increase.
Even if the info I have on the current number of Kindles is wrong, I still have to wonder where you think the millions upon millions of screens will come from? Screen production simply isn’t that high.
Great points, Note.
> Screen production simply isn’t that high.
Of course, maybe Amazon will switch to a different tech for machines called “the Kindle.” Or perhaps e there’ll be several technologies, used on different models. Or we’ll see a breakthrough in productivity among the displaymakers. But the miracle will happen in just 12 months?
So, yes, I’m skeptical.
Thanks,
David
Just like the “Kindle in every backpack” idea, this is the right idea being approached in the wrong way. Better to create a library of 1 or 2 common formats, and let users worry about what they’re going to read them with… you can’t expect everyone to go and get a Kindle. But you can get adoption numbers like that if people can use any device they have.