Luther Seminary Library

Kindle2 and the Doom of Libraries

Early in February, Amazon released the second version of its highly successful e-book reader, the Kindle 2. The first orders arrived in purchasers' mailboxes this past week.

People really liked the first model, and the new one is thinner, has better navigation, and other features people are bound to like.

A couple of comments:

1. E-books have been "an idea whose time has come" (or whose time was soon to come, or whose time was bound to come, eventually?) for a very long while. The main reason this culture shift keeps getting delayed is simple: nobody has come up with a reading device for e-books that readers like nearly as well as a book. But with the recent advent of both the Kindle and its Sony counterpart, an at least acceptable solution may at last have arrived. Sales figures are hard to get, but even the earlier version of Kindle had a long waiting list.
   
2. As someone who had never handled one of these things until yesterday (February 26), here's what I notice about the Kindle 2: it's every much as bit a sales device as it is a (surprisingly pleasant to use) e-book reader. What Amazon has succeeded brilliantly in doing is to get customers to pay, and handsomely ($359), for a device which makes it tantalizingly easy, fast, and cheap to buy and use Amazon's own inventory (currently numbering 240,000+ titles) of electronic books. Whether we end up liking reading this way or not, that's a pretty ingenious business strategy.
   
3. And what about that eye-catching "Doom of Libraries" bit in the title of this blog-entry? Not likely, at least not right now, and at least not this library.
   
   I was delighted to note that within the generic "Religion and Spirituality" category, there are over 8,000 titles available under "Christianity," and mostly at prices cheaper than the paper editions. Voila, a theological library, right? But on closer inspection, the vast majority of what's available is either popular theology and spirituality (which is fine, but not principally what we buy at Luther) or dated stuff. So at this point, with few exceptions, theology-via-Kindle is mostly shaped by what Amazon can digitize outside of copyright or with a good shot at the mass-market.
   
   There is no reason not to wish Amazon well, but for now what they are doing and what libraries like ours are doing are complementary, not in competition. And because we care not only about collections but about providing the best access possible, the birth of Kindle 2 is good news, not bad.

   DRS

Audio Books

It is a sad but generally accepted fact that you cannot read while driving (some in my own family have attempted to flout this with amusing but unfortunate results). It is difficult to read while walking, although I can attest that this is possible if you have a fairly smooth and straight path, and biking should require all your attention, unless you are on the back of a bicycle built for two, in which case I recommend reading aloud to the person in front of you if you wish to be particularly romantic (here you should possibly find a different title than those pictured).

According to historic Methodist sources, it is possible to both read and plan your next sermon on horseback, provided your horse has ridden the circuit before and your sermon is very straightforward.

However, these activities and more are made simple with some of the newest members of our collection, which are audio books. These items will be available soon for borrowing, and, with the help of a CD player and headphones, will allow you to take your books where they've never gone before. The easiest way to see what titles we have in audio is by choosing "Subject begins with" in MARTIN (the library catalog) and searching for "Audiobooks."

Music for the Ear and the Eye

                Two online resources for studying and appreciating music are worthy of mention at this beginning of a new semester.  The first, Oxford Music Online, has been around awhile, albeit under another name, while the second, Naxos Music Library is new.

                Oxford Music Online is a superlative resource for learning about music.  Formerly called Grove Music Online, it includes (you may have guessed already) the complete 2nd edition of the esteemed New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, as well as two other musical reference dictionaries.  Do you need to know the musical form of a passacaglia? Or something about the career of jazz composer Dave Brubeck?  This authoritative source is a perfect place to fill these sorts of information gaps.

          

      The Naxos Music Library is a location for streaming audio files of classical, jazz, folk, and other genres of music from respected recording labels.  Here a variety of musical styles and genres can be compared and contrasted . . . or simply enjoyed!  Be advised, though, that the library’s license is for 3 simultaneous users so it may not always be available.  Nevertheless, Naxos is a unique and exciting addition to the learning resources @ your library.

                One final note, both these resources will be demonstrated at our first Noontime Forum of Spring Semester (with free pizza).  Plan to come Wednesday, February 25th, Gullixson Hall, Rm 103. RSVP to jbartholomew001@luthersem.edu or ext. 458

Bruce Eldevik, Reference Librarian

This is Where We Live

Librarians have all sorts of fantasies (something has to get us through these long winters and semesters). Here is one that all book lovers will enjoy!

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

Welcome to Spring Semester at Luther. Check out a book—see where it will take you.

— Jennie Bartholomew, Electronic Services