Tech Blog

[#1]

 Got a Sony eReader and use the Sony Reader store? Well check out the little blue & white box in the right-hand sidebar on the page.
 
Yep, you read correctly -- you can check out books from the library and read them on your eReader.
 
In early December, Sony (and technology providers Overdrive) will have hundreds of Canadian libraries hooked up and ready to lend books; many libraries are already set up and running. As I understand it, only libraries in Atlantic Canada will be missing...for now.
 
This Library search page will help you find a participating library in your region. For example, entering Alberta in the search field turned up a large number of participating libraries in my province.
 

The system requires you have an Adobe account to manage the DRM and ‘return’ of the eBook you ‘borrowed’. Actually the DRM just expires and you can’t read it after the lending period runs out. Which is another way of saying you don’t have to remember to return borrowed eBooks back to the library.
 
Not every book at your library will be available for loan, but as libraries start to convert their catalogues to digital, you’ll find more and more of the popular reads on your library’s virtual shelves. Welcome to the 21st century
 
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management

[#2]

Yay for libraries doing this! I just wish they had more books available for e-readers. The Atlanta Fulton Public Library started doing this earlier this year, but they only have 46 books listed in the Fantasy/sci-fi genre, and there's no consistency as to what format each is offered in: one might be an audiobook; another a PDF, and yet another an ePub. 

[#3]

Well, that's odd. I came back to check to see if Brad had replied, and I see that my post was edited by JS. Why? The additional sentence included a hyperlink that I was citing as an example of the e-readers that our library supported for comparison, which included the Sony eReader mentioned in this article. Given that, it was arguably the most relevant part of my post.

[#4]

Hi Katharine,

You linked to a site that was what we called Commerce enabled. This means you could buy Items from that page. This was a violation of our community Guidelines found here: Code of Conduct

[#5]

Hey Katharine, yeah, that's a foible of the Overdrive system as implemented by libraries. As I understand it, the libraries have a limited catalogue to pull from, and still pay for the book as if they have a physical copy, without the hassles of keeping a physical inventory.

It's not for everyone, but for me and the casual fiction I read it's great! Now, if I need a reference book, I tend to want the physical item

Still, it's neat to see this new vector for consuming content grow. It's helping keep the libraries relevant.