Downloading ebooks

[Dodie Ainslie]

Anyone using the Nook in their libraries or schools? We are writing a grant for nooks and are researching downloading ebooks. We have various sources, but would also like to download through Google Books but it is blocked. Do you have Google Books unblocked at your school? Do you use Adobe Digital Editions to organize downloads and student digital libraries?  How are you implementing?

thanks-

[David Bond]

Just looking at the possiblities with the nook.  It seems to me that if we had a nook with 100 books that I could "checkout" these books to other nooks.  In 2 weeks the book "returns" to the original nook.  This sounds GREAT to me!  Am I understanding this correctly?

 

Google Books is blocked but it could easily be opened

[Pam Lilley]

Yes, but you can only "check out" books one time.  Once a book has been loaned/borrowed, it will return to the original account and cannot be re-loaned.  I do know that you can access a single Nook account on 6 different devices. 

David Bond said:

Just looking at the possiblities with the nook.  It seems to me that if we had a nook with 100 books that I could "checkout" these books to other nooks.  In 2 weeks the book "returns" to the original nook.  This sounds GREAT to me!  Am I understanding this correctly?

 

Google Books is blocked but it could easily be opened

[David Bond]

That's extremely limiting.  When will the publishers get onboard this new age?  If I had a paperback I could loan it as often as I like.  It seems to me that if I had an electronic version that I purchased I should also be able to loan it the same! 

 

BOOK:  I, as a community individual, buy a $9.99 book, read it,  and then donate to our school library.  Any student who wants to read it checks it out and then returns it.  The next student who wants to read this SAME book checks it out and it continues in this fashion.

 

NOOK:  I buy a nook, again just a responsible individual trying to do some good, and donate to our school library.  I had hoped to start a group of parents/students who would donate money for books.  Then we would purchase the ebook and anyone with a nook could check these ebooks out any number of time.  The ebook continues to be "returned" to the original Nook at the end of two weeks.  First there is not near the savings in purchasing an ebook and the actual book.  Many times it's only $1 savings!   Now I find I can only "checkout" each individual title ONCE!

Where is the harm in this?  It's not like there are 1000's of copies of this ONE book out there!  The book always "returns" to the original Nook.  The students who read the book do NOT have a copy of it!  Also the one book can only be read by one person at a time.  Come on publishers!
Pam Lilley said:

Yes, but you can only "check out" books one time.  Once a book has been loaned/borrowed, it will return to the original account and cannot be re-loaned.  I do know that you can access a single Nook account on 6 different devices. 

David Bond said:

Just looking at the possiblities with the nook.  It seems to me that if we had a nook with 100 books that I could "checkout" these books to other nooks.  In 2 weeks the book "returns" to the original nook.  This sounds GREAT to me!  Am I understanding this correctly?

 

Google Books is blocked but it could easily be opened

[Pam Lilley]

The only workaround I can potentially see -- though our member from B&N could chime in here -- is to create an a "locked" account.  Instead of checking out the Nook, you would check out the account and password to users who already have their own device.  After two weeks, you reset the password.  In that way, the library can still maintain a collection of ebooks for patrons to use.  I'm just brainstorming here so I haven't thought through the logistics entirely.

[Peg Becksvoort]

Our state school librarians are working on this - we want to join OverDrive, promote use of ePub loaned books, are interested in keeping current with others hoping to do the same.

 

[Dodie Ainslie]

@Peg- we are planning on joining overdrive as well, we also unblocked google books so students can download ePub books  We just wrote our grant for 30 nooks, hoping we get it and will roll out this pilot in the fall. Will keep everyone posted here. I do think that the book companies and textbook companies won't be able to ignore the borrowing issues- especially with ebooks starting to surplus paper books.

[Peg Becksvoort]

We checked out all five of our NOOKs in about three days. Staff is just as interested as students. I could have signed out ten more - easily. I have a waiting list and more interest daily.

I'll check on google books - all our 7th & 8th graders have MacBooks so can easily download any ePub formatted books.

I've been hearing from our book jobbers already touting their e-books.

Success story: first child in my library with a signed permission form happened to be a rambunctious 7th grade boy. After hearing some negative comments from one of his teachers, I took him aside and impressed the need for care (he had already dropped it a couple of times). I also wrote to his mother and told her he was bringing the NOOK home. She wrote back the next day to tell me that he had chosen a book on the NOOK and couldn't put it down. She commented that anything that gets her boys to read is ok with her. I spell success N-O-O-K.

[Kathleen Nester]

I have 4 nooks ready to sign out---one problem I have encountered is that I set up a password in the Barnes and Noble account thinking that the option to purchase books would be disabled there. Once I found out it would be disabled on the Nook, I changed the password on the account, then I found out that I needed to unregister and reregister the Nook to make the new password work on the Nook. (don't ask my why I do everything the hard way) After 3 phone calls, changing the passwords 2x and taking the Nook to factory settings, I have it changed on 1 Nook. I am only telling you all this...make sure your password you set up on the account is the one you want to use on the Nook and is difficult enough that the students can't figure it out. Another comment...if the Nook account is locked because a password was tried 3x, sit tight, in an hour, it unlocks. I hope that my mistakes will save someone else time wasted!