Revisiting the non-ebook plan

While I believe the verdict is still out on whether reading in print or on an electronic device impacts comprehension, what seems to be an emerging consensus is that reading snippets, shorter works, and lighter fare works just fine on a screen; longer works that require more focus and study are better accessed via print. Naomi Barron makes this case in two guest posts for The Digital Reader blog: What happens when you try to read Moby Dick on your smartphone?,  July 20, 2016 and Do Students Lose Depth in Digital Reading?, July 22, 2016.

Barron's findings seem to validate the digital conversion "plan" I've been espousing for quite a few years for the disticts in which I've worked.

The E-Book Non-Plan (October 2010) suggested schools and libraries start the digital conversion with works that readers engage with for short periods of time - reference materials and non-fiction used primarily for research. But I was less certain about...

... longer narrative works – fiction, biographies, and popular non-fiction.  This kind of “e-book” is truly a technology in churn. As a public employee/educator I don’t want to buy a technology that makes choosing BetaMax look brilliant by comparison.

The error, as I see it, is that we look at "the book" as a single experience when we engage with books in many different ways. Especially length of access. The plan that grew from this deliberate selection of book "types" looks like this:

• Build “out” the e-resources from reference, books used for research, anthologies, easy readers, etc.
• Purchase only device “agnostic” and multi-user books
• Support these programs: ELL, Reading intervention (RtI, differentiation), Materials for CMS, 1:1 program
• Consider community-wide reading program resources like MyOn Reader.
• Spend 25% of library materials budget on e-materials with 50% funded by curriculum $$

The plan still makes sense to me.

As I have written before, e-books are inevitable. Humans will adapt, if given enough practice, to comprehending long, deep. complex materials on screens. But in the meantime we can be stategic about how we roll this format out.