is she still talking about iPads? oh, no she dinn't...

oh, yes she did!

happy autumn. well, almost autumn. but definitely happy back to school days. ah, the crackling in the air . . . that's brain synapses firing up after a long nap of water skiing, camping, traveling, swimming, boating, snoozing, you know, SUMMER!!

but now it's back to the grindstone for most students, especially college students. and what do my eyes see? or rather what DON'T they see? lo, and behold, NO iPads. although at my institution it has been reported that 60% of the freshman class use apple macbooks. hmmmmm...

so that led to me to wonder what's going on at other campuses around the country. it seems as though colleges and universities think this iPad is going somewhere. where's it going? home with their students. because the colleges are the ones providing it. see below:

iPad pilot launches in texas university mba program

okalahoma state to test iPad in PR and marketing courses

duke u trying out iPads for field research

so i'm wondering . . . what are the technological expectations of colleges and universities and what are they of the students and do they match up? if the iPad is not a natural extension of a student's technology suite, such as their laptop, which they probably brought with them and have used for many years, why are some universities so intent on having students use a piece of technology they wouldn't otherwise use? especially since one of the current themes on iPad usage on college campuses is . . . use it for what? what can it do? who creates the app? is there an app for that?

happy reading (there IS an app for THAT) . . . no matter the format. happy thinking, too for that matter.

confused?? you should be!

i know it's been a whole 'nother month since i last blogged, but it's summer and you're probably not around to read it anyway. the hamptons, the cape, cancun, fiji. i know how ya'll roll.

but now that you're taking a break from your travels, i have to admit something to you, dear readers . . .

i . . . am . . . confused!

are e-readers and iPads good? or not so good? and are we even listening anymore? is this the new "paper or plastic" argument? can i put my iPad in a paper bag? or my paperback in a walmart plastic baggy? okay, that's just silly.

but . . . this morning, i woke up to a story (well, i actually woke up before the story came on, since i heard it in the car) about stanford university. specifically, stanford's engineering library. the title of the story is: stanford ushers in the age of bookless libraries

"In 2005, when the university realized it was running out of space for its growing collection of 80,000 engineering books, administrators decided to build a new library. But instead of creating more space for books, they chose to create less."

the new physical collection size? 10,000. that's right, TEN thousand, not EIGHTY.

so this e-reading thing must be catching on. most of the engineering periodicals the library subscribes to are now available online. so no need for "paper."

so, case closed. if it's good enough for stanford, it's good enough for . . . no, cornell university. their engineering library is headed in the same direction.

now, you should have noticed that these articles refer to the engineering libraries of these fine institutions. but i suspect other non-engineering libraries will follow suit.

so there. but wait . . . there's more.

because while students are reading their fancy schmancy digital journal editions, they will be reading . . . more slowly. according to a nielsen study, you read slower on an iPad, even slower on a kindle, than you do a traditional paper book. i take issue with the reading selection, ernest hemingway, which was referred to as "pleasant and engaging to read." i beg to differ. but i digress.

julie sartain over at PC world mag takes issue with the study in her article titled "why e-readers are a worthy investment."

i mentioned to a "colleague" that i thought for every two steps e-reading takes forward, there is some force to push it one step back. i don't know why. it's not evil, it's just different. and you don't HAVE to read an electronic copy of a text unless one isn't available. this is america!!! land of the free!! free to be, you and me!! thank you, marlo thomas!! (yes, click the link-it's how we used to learn stuff)

happy reading . . . no matter the format!

i'm baaaaaa-ack! and still talkin' ipads.

my sincere apologies, dear reader. i don't know where the time has gone. to think it has been almost a month since my last post. luckily, nothing of any significance in the world of e-books, e-readers, tablets, ipads, publishing, books, libraries or students has occurred, right??

AU CONTRAIRE!!! that's french, you know. babelfish it.

at first, i was just going to post link after link after link about stuff i thought was of interest and have you catch up. but that's not fair. and you probably wouldn't read it all anyway. so i'll just jump back on track with some information i shared with colleagues at work on academic libraries and apple's ipad.

i currently serve on a committee at the academic library, of which i am gainfully and gratefully employed, that is exploring the usage and applicability of ipads in our library. actually e-reading devices as a whole. one of the questions is will we be hardware providers or content providers or both? will we use this opportunity to become fluent in i-pad-ese? or tablet-ese? or e-reader-ese? i love these-ese words. :-)

anyway, in our last discussion, i mentioned that several academic libraries are lending apple ipads. they include ncsu, fairleigh dicksinson, and mit.

i also came across this presentation from fairleigh dicksinson entitled e-books, e-readers and their impact on libraries.

and this just in - duke university will be looking for ways to incorporate the ipad beginning in the fall 2010 semester. way back in ancient times, circa 2004, duke university began experimenting with apple ipOds.

questions, questions. what role the academic library will play regarding the introduction of these electronic devices? will we provide platform-diverse content or provide the platform itself? should the library have several electronic devices and for what purposes? general circulation? interlibrary loan? should we have any? what about ebooks and products such as ebrary. and what about e-book formats. kindle, e-pub, mobi, pdf. a colleague reminded us about betamax and vhs. which one did you bet on? if you picked betamax, you chose poorly.

weighty questions, no? oui.