Two garage attendants are talking about the svelte Mini Cooper Coupe I’ve just parked. One says he likes it, the other laughs.“Are you kidding? That’s a chick car.” The first man’s face falls.At the Allen County Public Library, children’s librarians haven’t seen a big upswing in children using e-readers.
“I’m seeing kids check out lots and lots of print books still,” says Mary Voors, children’s services manager.
But that could change.
Last month, the library announced its e-book collections, including its children’s and young-adult collections, were now Kindle-compatible and could be used with any device running a Kindle app.
E-books and audio books are also available for e-readers including the Nook and the Sony Reader. Mobile devices such as a smart phone or some MP3 players and computers can also be used to download from the collection.
Users can browse and borrow e-books at acpl.lib.overdrive.com.
But the library does not have Kindles or other e-readers available for checkout, Voors says.
Mari Hardacre, young adult services librarian, says e-books are likely to be the next big thing.
Children’s and young adult publishers increasingly issue e-versions of books and textbooks, and some are publishing only in the e-format, which can save the expense of printing and distributing books, she says.
A game changer in children’s publishing occurred this year when British author J.K. Rowling reversed herself and allowed her popular Harry Potter books to go out in an e-format, Hardacre notes.
“I definitely think kids will adopt them,” Hardacre says of e-readers. “But we’re still young in the game.”
