Thing 20: Books 2.0

I don't have any facts and figures, just my observations, but it seems that patrons are still using real (paper) books. Of course patrons want access to materials faster, but many only seem willing to read articles online. They don't seem as interested in online books. People still want to read paperback novels and fiction and even though technology offers access to reading on laptops, kindle, etc, they are not willing to read lengthy stories online or electronically.

All in all I believe it depends on what you are reading to determine if it is enhancing or hampering your reading experience. If you are reading short stories, or the news, or research literature, etc., you are probably enhancing your reading experiences. But, other ventures on the internet may hamper one's reading experiences. I will not list any of these experiences because I think we all know what they are.

I read several of the articles which discussed the future of the book and found them all interesting. I guess the debate will go on . . . I also visited many of the Book 2.0 sites listed and explored their features. A few friends and I have a small, fun reading group and we can never figure out what to read next. So, I checked out all of the sites under "Readers' Advisory" and a few "Book Group Resources." The sites that seemed most useful to me personally were Twitterlit, Reading Trails, What Should I Read Next?, What's Next?, and Reading Group Choices. I thought they would each be helpful in determining new books for our group and they were so simple!!! I also like the Book Browse site under "Book Reviews." It's always great to read a few other opinions on a book before deciding to take a chance on it!

I did explore a couple of the "Books on Your Phone" sites even though I am not interested in reading ANYTHING on my phone. I think would go blind very quickly! The children't lit section was pretty good, too. I have a young child who loves to read, but is way too young for anything on the internet. The sites were a great place to find all kinds of books for children.

As for professionally, I only thought a few of the sites were useful in the libraries. I think any of the "Readers' Advisory" sites would be helpful for students looking for books to read. However, they would still need to use the library catalog to find out whether the library owned it or not unless they were using the WorldCat/Facebook tool. (I was leary about trying any of the Facebook apps because I really didn't want to fiddle around in Facebook more nor did I want to install any more apps.) So, I don't know how well the WorldCat tool works in Facebook, but it could be useful if it can find books in any library.

I also thought a few of the "Children's Books" tools may be useful for Education-specific library. In the NEFLIN's 23 Things - Thing 20 post, I made a comment regarding the "International Children's Digital Library." We currently have that database listed under our Children's Literature Resource Guides on the Education Library homepage. The site is so cute and fun to use!! I especially LOVE finding books in foreign languages!

There were so many sites in this "Thing" that I had to bookmark them in Delicious! At least I am still using things we learned previously (Thing 10)! I also went back to Library Thing (Thing 13) several times while exploring this thing since many of the sites were related and I love that site! Wow - this was a big thing to explore, too. I have been back and forth on it for 4 days!