Arthur the aardvark always said, “Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.” This may have been true several years ago, but readers now have other ways to get the books they are looking for.
eReaders bring the library to readers own home computers. These digital readers started to become popular after Amazon released the Kindle First Generation in 2007. Since then, other companies have come up with similar digital readers such as Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Sony Reader. These different electronics bring a new feel to reading, and readers are now torn between buying a paperback book and downloading a book offline. In contrast some high school students prefer to read a physical book instead of a digital one.
“Call me old fashion, but I like to actually sit down and read an actual book, I like the smell of paper,” Brianna Garrett, sophomore paper back user, said. “I like to actually hold the book in my hands and buy it so that I can have a physical thing.”
With paperback books, if one wants to lend it one just gives the book. On eReaders however, one needs to use the digital device in order to read the burrowed book. On the other hand, eBooks are easier to burrow from an online database for those who do not have a driver’s license. Instead of needing a ride to the library, they can get the book right away.
“If I am reading a series and I want to read the book right away, then I can just go and buy them [online] and they are way cheaper than [buying] regular books,” Grace Dwyer, sophomore and Kindle owner, said.
For example. book Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K Rowling is $13.88 for paper back and $7.99 for the Kindle, Nook, and Sony readers. Although the eBooks are cheaper, paperback users still go to the store to buy books.
“A lot of people probably wouldn’t come in if they were just looking for a specific book, but even people who have eReaders still like to come in the store and browse the aisle because it gives them that traditional feeling of going around and discovering things they might of otherwise not found,” Ferguson said.
Buying a specific book is cheaper since one does not need to buy a digital reader, that costs around $150, in order to read it. Also, if a person wants to keep a book on their reading device, it costs more money on top of what they spent originally on their eReaders.
“With a book, you can bring it anywhere and you don’t have to worry about it getting stolen. [Someone] would rather steal an iPad with fifty books on it than A Tale of Two Cities paperback cover,” Garrett said.
A thought for readers to consider is how portable their books are. For long car rides or on vacation, all the readers’ books can be found on their eReaders without taking up too much luggage space.
“When I am sitting on the train going downtown and back, it is nice having that to read because of the portability,” Dwyer said. “Also, when I am carrying a paperback book in my backpack, they get smushed by the other books that I have, and my Kindle just slides in there and doesn’t get caught.”
Students also may want to use their digital books for textbooks. The average high school text book weighs about 1.5 pounds, and students also have to carry around binders, notebooks, and pencil cases for every class. eReaders allow students to leave their math and English books in their lockers, making their loads significantly lighter.
“I like the online textbooks because I don’t like carrying around a fifty thousand page AP Euro book, and since it is online, I can just go on it instead of carrying it and breaking my back,” Garret said.
One problem students may face with eReaders, however, is battery efficiency. If their eReader suddenly runs out of battery during class, students are left with no books for the rest of the day. The paper version of the books eliminates all fears of having no books for class and does not need users to plug into outlets in order to properly prepare for class.
“If your electricity goes out and your battery goes out you’re done, but with an actual book, I can read it anytime I want,” Garrett said.
Digital books also have a different feel than the paper back covers. They are more similar to a computer screen than a physical book. This helps readers because they can look up words they do not know on their digital reader and make notes in the book that they can easily erased later.
“If I don’t know a word in the text, there is a keypad at the bottom and you can scroll to the word and you click on it, and it automatically pops up with the definition at the top or the bottom, depending on how far down the page you are, which I like a lot,” Dwyer said. “You can also highlight passages and then there is a little button on the homepage where you can look at all the different passages you highlighted, and that is really nice if you are taking notes for something at school or if you just really like the quote.”
Another helpful resource an eReader may offer is font size changes. This allows the reader to make the text bigger or smaller in order to help them read the book easier.
“My mom has to get larger printed copies of books in the library, and if she can’t get the bigger printed copy and can’t get the regular print, then she has to wait. And on the Kindle, you can change the font size to as large as you want and you can read as easily as necessary. Also, it may help people who need glasses,” Dwyer said.
On the other hand, books give the reader a sense of accomplishment. If someone reads a longer book, they can see how much progress they made and how much left they have to go. On a digital book, they never leave the same screen.
“I sit at a computer screen all day, so I like to actually read books because I already have bad eyesight, so being at a computer screen will make me go blind,” Garrett said. “I just think it is easier to read not on a computer screen, if you stare at it too long, you can get a headache and it hurts your eyes.”
In Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Reading Habits survey, 83 percent of people surveyed said they thought the digital books allowed them to get their books more quickly, and 53 percent said eReaders had a wider selection of books to read from. Yet 69 percent thought printed books were better than eBooks for sharing reading material with other people.
“Realistically, you can’t mess with a median that has been perfected for a couple thousand years, I mean the eReaders are a fantastic thing, don’t get me wrong, but if you are big into reading and you can’t necessarily access the internet or anything like that, then there is no real reason to have an eReader, so a lot of people just prefer regular books,” Chase Ferguson, Barnes and Noble worker, said. “Plus, it kind of gives you the right to lend them out however you want, so books are still more popular.”