Introduction to Ebook Readers and Ebooks - Faculty of Information

E­book
readers
Faculty
of
Information,
Information
Services
Fall
2010
Instructional
Series
Introduction
to
E­book
Readers
and
E­books
E‐readers
differ
from
most
mobile
devices
in
that
they
use
“e‐paper”
(electromagnetically‐charged
particles
on
a
screen)
to
display
text,
rather
than
a
traditional
LCD
or
backlit
screen.
Without
the
on‐screen
flicker
of
a
computer
monitor,
e‐paper
is
thought
to
cause
less
eye
strain
over
an
extended
period
of
reading.
Most
devices
are
designed
to
hold
hundreds
of
e‐books
in
one
small,
lightweight
carrier.
The
number
of
dedicated
e‐book
readers
in
the
market
continues
to
grow,
but
in
Canada,
the
Amazon
Kindle,
the
Sony
e‐reader,
and
the
Kobo
reader
continue
to
be
the
most
well
known.
In
the
last
five
years,
Amazon
and
Sony
have
produced
dedicated
e‐book
readers
of
varying
sizes,
with
varying
capabilities
(the
Kindle
is
wireless,
and
the
Sony
has
developed
a
touch
screen).
Meanwhile,
the
Kobo
Reader,
released
by
Indigo,
offers
to
be
the
most
affordable
and
flexible
model.
Other
manufacturers
include
Samsung,
IRex,
Bookeen,
Jinke,
Plastic
Logic
are
developing
their
own
innovations
such
as
flexible
screens,
games
and
animation.
Fujitsu
is
still
the
only
maker
of
the
e‐
reader
that
displays
colour.
E­book
formats
File
compatibility
can
pose
a
challenge
for
dedicated
e‐readers.
The
Kindle
is
designed
to
read
TXT,
as
well
as
the
proprietary
file
formats
MOBI,
PRC
and
AZW.
Sony
is
now
selling
its
ebooks
in
the
open
EPUB
format,
and
has
partnered
with
Google
Books
to
offer
public
domain
works
for
the
e‐
reader.
The
quality
of
display
varies
for
other
file
types,
such
as
PDF.
Users
may
have
to
perform
some
file
conversions
and
formatting
to
optimize
the
display
of
content.
An
open‐source
conversion
software
that
is
very
popular
is
Calibre.
Accessing
e­books
and
e­book
Collections
EPUB
files
are
available
for
download
from
Project
Gutenberg
and
EPUB
Books.
Google
Books
offers
full‐text
scans
of
books
in
the
public
domain
as
well
as
parts
of
books
still
protected
by
copyright.
However,
the
latest
version
of
the
Google
Book
Settlement
does
not
cover
the
use
of
Google
books
on
mobile
devices.
Traditional
e‐book
and
e‐journal
collections
that
libraries
have
purchased
tend
to
be
designed
(as
well
as
licensed)
for
reading
on
a
computer
only.
PDF,
a
common
document
format,
do
not
display
well
on
most
e‐readers,
which
prefer
free
flowing
texts.
By
and
large
the
e‐books
sold
by
publishers
tend
to
be
works
geared
towards
popular
reading,
but
in
2011,
Project
Muse
will
be
providing
some
scholarly
e‐book
content
on
their
platform,
in
addition
to
e‐journals.
Introduction
to
E‐book
Readers
and
E‐books
























































































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Elisa
Sze

Introduction
to
E‐book
Readers
and
E‐books
























































































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Elisa
Sze
Issues
for
information
centres
to
consider
Copyright
vs.
licensing.
Although
copyright
legislation
protects
how
the
content
of
books
is
distributed
and
also
grants
users
certain
rights,
terms
of
use
for
e‐books
are
increasingly
dealt
with
through
license
agreements
between
the
consumer
and
the
vendor/publisher.
Digital
Rights
Management
(DRM).
Although
e‐formats
open
up
the
possibility
of
multiple
simultaneous
users
for
one
e‐book,
libraries
may
employ
DRM
to
limit
access
as
a
result
of
negotiating
a
more
affordable
price
from
the
e‐book
vendor.
Overdrive
is
an
example
of
a
3 rd
party
e‐book
vendor
that
negotiates
titles
from
publishers
and
provides
participating
libraries
with
access
to
the
content,
while
using
DRM
to
restrict
the
number
of
concurrent
users.
Privacy
and
intellectual
freedom.
Wireless
e‐readers
simplify
the
process
of
downloading
books
to
the
device;
however,
it
is
uncertain
what
guarantees
the
vendor
can
provide
in
terms
of
protecting
the
privacy
of
the
e‐reader
user
and
refraining
from
tracking
the
material
loaded
onto
individual
e‐readers.
(Useful
case
to
consider:
Amazon’s
deletion
of
Orwell’s
1984
from
private
Kindles
in
Summer
2009.)
Further
Reading
Armstrong,
C.
(2008).
Books
in
a
virtual
world:
The
evolution
of
the
e‐book
and
its
lexicon.
Journal
of
Librarianship
and
Information
Science,
40
(3),
193‐206.
Baker,
N.
(2009).
A
new
page:
Can
the
Kindle
really
improve
on
the
book?
New
York
Times,
August
3,
2009.

Retrieved
from
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/03/090803fa_fact_baker?currentPage=1
Blummer,
B.
(2006).
E‐books
revisited.
Internet
Reference
Services
Quarterly,
11(2),
1‐13.
Carnoy,
D.
(2009).
Fujitsu
e‐book
reader
makes
Kindle
look
cheap.
CNET
News,
March
18,
2009.
Retrieved
from
http://news.cneet.com/8301‐17938_105‐10198920‐1.html.
Carnoy,
D.
(2009).
IRex
unveils
new
wireless
e‐book
reader.
CNET
News,
September
23,
2009.
Retrieved
from
http://news.cnet.com/8301‐17938_105‐10359583‐1.html.
Cuddy,
C.
(2008).
E‐book
readers.
Journal
of
Electronic
Resources
in
Medical
Libraries,
5(4),
389‐394.
Horava,
T.
(2009).
E‐books
licensing
and
Canadian
copyright
legislation:
A
few
considerations.
Partnership:
the
Canadian
Journal
of
Library
and
Information
Practice
and
Research,
4(1).
Retrieved
from
http://gir.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/article/view/929/1474.
Levack,
K.
(2009).
The
e‐reader
market
of
the
future.
EContent,
32
(5),
June
2009,
14‐15.
Macmillan,
D.
(2009).
Oprah:
Tech’s
latest
trendsetter.
Business
Week
Online,
June
5,
2009.
Retrieved
from
Factiva.
McKenna,
B.
(1998).
The
coming
of
the
electronic
book.
Online
and
CD­ROM
Review,
22(5),
346‐348.

Schaffner,
M.
(2010).
Project
MUSE
news:
E‐book
collections
coming
to
Project
MUSE
platform,
Project
Muse
[website],
September
2010.
Retrieved
from
http://tools.muse.jhu.edu/cgi‐
bin/announcements.cgi#20100910114620
Snyder
Bulik,
B.
(2009).
How
Sony
e‐reader
lost
to
Kindle
and
how
it’s
battling
its
way
back:
Exceptional
marketing
needed
to
avoid
becoming
the
Zune
to
Apple’s
iPod.
Advage,
80(28).
Retrieved
from
Factiva.
Selected
blogs,
wikis
and
websites
Calibre.
http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/wiki/
ECub.
http://www.juliansmart.com/ecub
Ebook
Reader
News.

http://www.library.utoronto.ca/library/blogs/ereader/
EPub
Books.
http://www.epubbooks.com/
Mobile
Read.
http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E‐book_Reader_Matrix
TeleRead.
http://www.teleread.org/.
(For
their
list
of
sites
hosting
or
offerng
“Free
e‐books”,
see:
http://www.teleread.org/free‐ebooks/)
Exercise:
Evaluating
e­books
and
e­book
readers
Evaluate
your
e‐book(s)
and/or
e‐book
reader
for
the
following:
text
quality
(legibility,
formatting,
resolution),
compatible
file
types
(TXT,
DOC,
EPUB,
BBeB,
non‐text
formats,
etc.),
refresh
speed,
navigation,
and
added
features
(if
any).
After
5
minutes,
switch
devices
with
the
next
group.
Please
be
ready
to
share
your
comments
with
the
rest
of
the
workshop
participants!
Questions:
1. What
features
would
you
look
for
in
an
e‐reader,
if
you
were
to
use
one?
2. As
an
information
consumer,
do
you
consider
the
lack
of
backlight
to
be
enough
of
an
advantage
over
all‐in‐one
devices
(such
as
netbooks,
PDAs,
or
mobile
phones)?
3. In
your
opinion,
what
qualities
would
“tip”
e‐books
into
popularity
among
academics?
4. Do
certain
academic
disciplines
(e.g.
science
vs.
humanities)
and
types
of
information
lend
themselves
better
to
the
e‐book
format?
Introduction
to
E‐book
Readers
and
E‐books
























































































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Elisa
Sze