HANDHELD LIBRARIAN CONFERENCE

The Handheld Librarian conference covered a fairly broad range of issues and information regarding E-readers in the library.  The first presenter was Mary Minow.  She discussed the legal issues related to E-readers in the library.  Her information (NOT advice) told us we may lend empty E-reader devices to the public but be aware of the lawsuits being filed by patrons with disabilities.  Blind patrons want equal access to E-readers.  Therefore, libraries are discriminating against the blind when lending these deivices to the public.  Patrons with disabilities are asking to have "substantially equivalent ease of use" for all patrons.  Unfortunately, all E-readers are not equiped to be used by patrons with disablities.

The second presenter, Ken Petri, discussed the technology of E-readers and how they could be improved to provide "ease of use" for patrons with disabilities.  His presentation included ideas for motor disability and partial to full blindness disability.  At this point in time, Ken believes the IPAD (also IPOD Touch/IPHONE) is the most lendable E-reader because it offers the best experience and advancement in technology for patrons with disabilities.  While no device completely satisfies the criteria for all patrons with disabilities, the future holds promise.

John Larson talked about lending E-readers to the public and how best to proceed.  He talked about cloud libraries like Overdrive and 3M.  His library loans 3M devices and uses the 3M cloud library.  The interesting part of using this particular brand of E-reader is that a "discovery station" is available for patrons to select the e-books they want.  The patron can walk over and browse the online collection without having to log on to a PC.  Unfortunately, Overdrive does not work with 3M devices but you CAN use other devices with the 3M cloud library if you use an app.

The final presenter, Dawn Nelson, showed us how to use the Barnes & Noble Digital Locker.  This system works very well in a school library.  Dawn's situation involves lending E-readers to students in grades K-12.  The students use Nooks that are equiped with a microphone and "Read to Me" feature.  With the Digital Locker, the school librarians get help from a Barnes & Noble store to purchase (with a purchase order #), download and track each device.  So far, Dawn says this method for loaning E-readers in school has worked very well. 

Overall, I found all the presentations very informative.  Much of the information was new to me and showed me what is involved if we ever decide to loan E-readers at our library.  I hope advancements continue to be made in the E-reader field so that ALL patrons can enjoy this newest technology being integrated into library systems.