The area of electronic access has come on faster than the old guard can keep up. I was told recently that in the computer business years ago - the desk top computer would be a passing fad... Wow how far we have come since the 80s! Our kids don't have records or cassettes or horrors! 8Track! People are reducing their paper foot print. Cloud computing, no paper to loose or file has become the norm. So too is the book. Yes the feel of a book is great. To hold the 300+ page Harry Potter books and not get arm cramping at the best part is a fond memory! Now I hold 26 books in my hand and they weigh no more than my Kindle or iPad. I always have a book with me if I find a spare moment in the car pool lane or before a meeting. I attend a Bible study - yep my Bible is in there too. It is time to help change happen. Libraries need to be able to lend electronic books - not everyone can buy the book and not everyone can read the type set of the printed book. There are so many new areas for need to have eBooks from font size to readers that read to you. Check out an Ebook today - I did and it's an easy process.

Thank you, sydster and adavenport, for such thoughtful responses. I think you both hit on some important points- that reading experiences and the role of public libraries are changing. At this moment, the number of publishers making their eBook titles available to libraries is small. That may change- and likely will as the market adjusts and publishers embrace the new realities. But one thing is for sure- libraries are about so much more than being storehouses. We are community centers, concert halls, classrooms, cafes, and cultural centers. At least, that is our goal! What do you think about children using eReaders? Are your children using eBooks in the classroom? Are they allowed to bring in a Kindle or Nook to school? We'd love to hear your thoughts at our TweetUp. Join us on Twitter on Friday, February 10th at 11am. We'll be discussing these issues and others related to eBooks & eReaders. Use the hashtag #CLTweetUp to follow along and join in the conversation.

On a long car drive, I finished the first of the dragon tattoo books. The book was fantastic and I was immediately plotting a stop at the next major town we could find so I could buy #2 in the series. I just happened to have a bookmark from the darien library in my first book advertising their e-books. So, in a rural town in W. Virginia, I logged on and secured the second book in the series (and later, at the destination I took out the third). One word...fantastic. I never thought I would enjoy an e-book, but I do. Six months later, I was making another long car trip and I went to download unbroken...only to find that it wasn't t offered. So, i opted for Paris Wife which was available and also great. My point is that unavailability doesn't make me log on to Amazon and purchase the book...it just makes me find another selection on my libraries website . Until reading the NY Times article, I didn't know the backstory on the Library/publisher issue. E-books are the future and there will have to be a solution. With a library such as ours, I seldom purchase a book any more. While publishers think we will purchase these EbooksI to avoid the hassles of going to our local library, I disagree. I am solely reading on my iPad, but still head to the library once or twice a week for movies, children's books, seminars and social.