Quick Reads

Digital Libraries Shifting the Landscape
By: Glen Bull and Martha Sites

Google is coming out with new digital books. They are working with authors to transfer their work onto the web. These websites provide past and current issues of magazines, journals, newspapers, and fiction and non-fiction books. These books are not only available on computers, but on phones as well, anything that can connect you to the internet and you can have a book on the screen.

There are also digital book readers. You download a book onto a digital pad and you can read it from the screen. They also have a read aloud option that you can listen to instead of read. These books are called Kindle books. The creators of these books have also made devices that will allow the book to be posted on a digital whiteboard. Although these books may seem great they do have some drawbacks, they do take time to download from page to page and are expensive to buy and fix. You can find these books at Google book search on their web page.

I think these books are a great idea. They will lower the use of paper and can give students, teachers, and readers more options while they read. Teachers can use the digital whiteboards to help teach visually. The students can use the read aloud option to help with comprehension and the everyday reader can download a book to their computer while waiting in the airport. What I see as a drawback is that the digital book readers can be expensive and many student wouldn't have the means to buy one, but the Google book search on the internet is a good idea, many students now have access to the internet though school or public libraries and can download a book cheaper then having to buy them. They are quick and easy ways to learn and read.