Kindle Survey

Greetings!
I belong to a group on Linked In for school librarians and one of the latest threads has been about Kindles or other e-readers and how other schools handle these in their libraries or if they even have Kindles in the library. It has been interesting to learn what other schools do with these e-readers. I’ve been wondering if it is worth getting some Kindles for my library and have been very interested in the pros and cons of the whole situation. I love learning from the experience of others so I don’t have to make their mistakes over and over.

What do you think about purchasing e-readers such as Kindle, Nook, or the Sony e-reader? Do you think it is a good idea, a bad idea, or are you indifferent? I would like your opinion on the following questions. Answer as many as you care to answer. I will compile your answers and give the statistics in a future email post.

1. Have you thought about purchasing e-readers for your library?
2. Do you see these as circulating items or for library use only?
3. What are the pros and cons of e-readers in the library for check-out purposes as you see it?
4. How do you handle students who bring their personal Kindle to school? Do you supervise their reading? Are they allowed to play games on them at school?
5. Do you or your teachers feel that monitoring e-readers might add an additional burden to your life?
6. Are your families ready for this step? Do you think it would be a positive addition to your program?
7. If you did decide to purchase e-readers for your school library, what would you see as the ideal ratio of students to e-readers?
8. Which e-reader would you consider purchasing and why? Kindle, Kindle Fire, Nook, Sony, other.

Thanks for any input you can give. I think it will be very interesting to learn how others feel about using e-readers in school.

I hope you have a great week. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Audrey