I just attended this seminar with Lisa Guernsey at the Library 2.011 World Virtual Conference. Just a quick note that it was nice to be part of a conference session where I felt I had a good understanding of what she was talking about. Interestingly, I felt familiar with a lot of the research she presented as well as the background of eBooks because I wrote a proposal of a study on this exact topic for my EER500 (Research Methods) class/subject. Having done that subject online, I've never really been sure of how thorough my work was, aside from the feedback I got from my instructor. It was nice to have someone working in that industry reaffirm that I really did know something!  :) In addition, I learned of a few other good sources for eBooks to consider when I eventually step up to the plate, if I choose to expand an ebook collection. 

eBook collections/sources mentioned were:
Oxford Owl (free)
Scholastic's BookFlix
Tumblebooks
One More Story
Sesame Street
Big Universe
Disney Digital Books
MeeGenius
Storyline Online
International Children's Digital Library (free)
Starfall (free website, has some books)
TrueFlix (for older elementary and middle school students)
Overdrive (?)

There isn't enough research to conclusively indicate whether or not ebooks are having an impact on student reading skills. More research needs to be done (like my proposal!). Also, Lisa wondered if there was any research done on the effectiveness of Starfall.com since so many teachers in the group claimed to use it a lot. 

There was a new term that I hadn't heard before, called the Catwalk syndrome. This is where kids go off track and explore because of too many bells and whistles in the ebook. :)

Do we need to clear the way for eBooks? Are print books going away? We don't know yet. Most librarians at this seminar tended to feel that there needed to be a balance. There's something to be said for story time with children gathered around to hear a story, or the table covered with books, or children drawing, writing, and folding paper to make their own books (examples that came up in this session). 

Here is the link to the recording of that session.

In reading about collection management for my ETL503 class, and in combination with some of the research topics proposed by students in EER500, I've come across a few thoughts on the topic of eBooks and young readers. There's no denying the increased amount of digital resources available through the internet and through our libraries today. The question for many right now is, are we losing our physical paper resources? Are digital resources taking over?


Personally, I think about this too. We have a ton of physical books on our personal bookshelf. However, I rarely read them. We've purchased a Kindle from Amazon and use that quite a bit. With my studies at CSU, I rely exclusively on digital materials... well, aside from textbooks I'm required to purchase. If I can get them digitally, I would do that instead. I read all of my articles online (pdfs), so finding a good pdf reader that I can mark up as if it were paper is particularly useful (I use an application called Skim right now). However, I depend on my laptop to read my course studies. It's not always convenient. I'm still looking for a better solution. Transferring my pdfs to my Kindle is not worth it. The text is just miniature and difficult to work with. Not an ideal study solution.


I tend to believe that libraries will go more and more digital. Will they rid themselves entirely of books? Some libraries are. My instincts tell me that we might be able to go more digital (I think we will), but I'm not sure if this is a good idea for young readers (children under about 10 years old). I think digital reading should be phased in around 8-9-10 years old, and that they might not need physical books as much, say around middle school or high school. However, for young students, I think that being able to navigate the whole page, flip pages, feel the pages, point at the words, etc. is very important. eReaders lack some of the things that books have. Fuzzy images, colorful illustrations. My 1 year old loves to touch the fuzzy snowflakes and open the flap books she has. We can't do away with that.


I'm curious to know what some of the research says out there. There are some fellow students in my EER500 class (research methodologies) who are interested in that topic. I am too, but I am choosing a different topic (I think). 


One of my classmates in ETL503 asked: "would it really matter if your child sat on your knee and shared beautiful illustrations and rich language that happened to be on a Kindle? Do literacy practices really require real books or could the same be achieved using an electronic device?" (Gilchrist, S., ETL503 forum posting to Module 2 on Nov. 24, 2010)


Something I've said in response was: "When asked to think about eBooks, I am not entirely convinced that going electronic is best for our youngest readers. I have a 1 year old and she gets enjoyment out of touching and feeling (remember the texture books too) her books. For older and capable readers, I think ebooks might be okay though. 
eBooks are just so new... I think a Kindle is blaaahhhh for little kids (I have one). However, something as colorful and sharp as the iPad might be a better alternative. But yes, access is such an important issue. It's still in its infancy and constantly changing. I don't think we're very close to a standardized ebook format yet either. That's yet another hurdle.

There are some people in EER500 looking further into the research on eBooks and young readers. I'm curious to learn about the information they find."