A pathetic list of reasons for paper books

Perhaps it's just depression over losing our sub zero temps here in Minnesota, but little things have been annoying me lately. Here's one.

In 10 Things a Kindle Can't Do That a Hardcover Book Can, Connie Francis* lists:

1. Finding a mate
2. Making friends
3. Judging people
4. Impromptu blocks (propping up table legs)
5. Pressing flowers
6. Completing a costume
7. A weapon
8. Impromptu toilet paper
9. Bug killer
10. Making friends with author 

These were listed after the usual "Ooooh, I just love the feel, smell, taste, etc of printed books" rhapsody. 

Really, we should keep buying paper books just in case the stall is out of TP? Print lovers, judging by this list, you're getting desperate. Ms Francis, if this were written tongue-in-cheek, you were far too subtle for me.

Now compare the list above to my friend Vicki Davis's 11 Reasons E-books Can Improve Your Life:

1. Highlights and Notes.
2. Search.
3. Portability.
4. Shareability.
5. Connectedness.
6. Organization.
7. Readability.
8. Learning.
9. Availability.
10. Price.
11. Opportunity.

Wow - actual educational benefits. Ms Davis, I would add to your list privacy (my classmates can't see what I am reading) and security (I can lose the reader, but the book will remain in the cloud).

One of the major challenges our district will face in being able to take full advantage of e-books is acquiring the physical devices needed so all students have 24/7 access to them. We'll be testing cheapie Android tablets this spring to see if there is a workable alternative to a $300 iPad.

Oh, you can smash a spider with your Kindle. Just do it gently.

* Not sure if this is the "Where the Boys Are" chanteuse or not.

Image source

Comments

[Sara Carter]

Oh. How I LOVE this.

[Jennifer Rocca]

I'm not moony eyed over paper books and we do use plenty of ebooks. As a school with a 1:1 iPad program, we can support ebook reading (when the publishers get around to making ebook lending both practcial and competitively priced). But it doesn't change the fact that when I offer a student an ebook they almost always ask me if they can have it in paper instead. If I shifted my fiction collection to more digital and less print, I would lose readers. Perhaps that will change in a few years, but as of right now, that's where we stand.

[Marcia Rhinehart]

I still like paper books since many of my students do not have computers or devices at home to read e-books. We are slowly shifting to e-books, but until our school shifts to the 1:1 BYOD program I can't justify buying most of my library materials in electronic form. We talked about BYOD policy last year and then nothing has been done. We have a wireless mobile cart, but we have been having problem with the laptops loosing power after only one class period or not working at all. Our tech has to continually work on them just to keep them running. I am hoping to get my first iPad and experiement with e-books so I can better help my students learn how to use them.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for the observation. I wonder why kids are adapting the e-book version? The research I read seems to be all over the board about young readers and e-books. What age does your library serve?

Thanks again,

Doug

Hi Marcia,

For the reasons you state, we only spend 25% of our library budgets on e-books right now - and buy almost exclusively non-fiction titles.

We've talking about this being a chicken-egg situation. If there are not e-books available, why get the readers? If there are no readers, why buy e-books?

When you get it all figured out, please let me know ;-)

Doug

[Doug Johnson]

From Jennifer:

I'm in a 9-12 high school. They're more than willing to use ebooks for research, but not for reading novel length texts. I teach a 21st Century Skills class and after teaching a specific lesson on how to most effectively read an ebook, it improved just a little - but only for a short period of time.

These are still kids who were raised on paper however. We don't start 1:1 until 9th grade. Students who spend more time learning digitally from a younger age might grow up more willing to read digitally. I just don't have first hand experience with that yet.

------

Thanks, Jennifer. My own grandsons (2nd and 7th grades) who are voracious readers and who each have their own iPads still like print as well, and save the iPads for gaming!

[Susan Mark]

I wasn't terribly impressed with the list, either, but I do think paper books have uses where ebooks might not be as ideal. Although, I say that as someone whose comfort level is better with paper books. To some extent, I think asking whether one is better than the other is like asking whether a hammer is better than a screwdriver. Depends more on what you want to do with them than with the intrinsic value of the tool.

[Connie Castillo]

I'd smash a bug with my first generation Kindle but probably not with the new HD Kindles. They are much more delicate. But I won't smash a spider, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Susan,

I expect these uses will all shake out. I know that I like ebooks for most things, especially novels, but not for travel guides. I hope the uses for paperbooks will be more important than propping up short table legs!

Thanks for the comment,

Doug

Hi Connie,

The enemy of my enemy is my friend as well, unless he is in my house.

Thanks for the chuckle,

Doug

[Teri]

I'm in a 7-12 school, and have many non-fiction resources, as well as 18 Nooks with 381 fiction books on them. Love the Nooks, because I buy 3 digital copies of each title, get 18 ( you can register up to 6 devices to an account) I can't keep them in the library - as soon as they come in and are charged, they go out again. The non-fiction ebook use is picking up speed, but still not without extensive pushing and plugging on my part. For my kids, I think it's more a matter of what they are used to - once I show them the virtual reference materials - they're in, especially as they realize that they have 24/7 access, and that they can use the same material that someone else is using. Each year, I spend more of my budget on e resources, with an eye to keeping some balance so that my print collection, still extensively used, remains current. Challenging times for us!

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Teri,

Thanks for a boots on the ground view of e-book-print situation in a real school. I think you are right when you say "it's more a matter of what they are used to" but that it takes some selling to get them going.

Thanks again,

Doug