Skip to content

Think before deciding on e-book

Greenwood Public librarian Judy Foucher offers some advice on purchasing an ereader.

Are you considering buying an e-reader for someone for Christmas? Or putting one on your own wish list? There used to be only one choice, and that was the Amazon Kindle, but today there are many more options available. And if you want to use the library’s collection of e-books, there are some considerations you should know before you buy.

To quote Gillian Shaw from the May 23 issue of the Vancouver Sun: “Canadian libraries have e-books available for download and as someone who has probably paid enough library fines to buy at least one e-reader, I think this counts as my favourite technological advance at the local library. With an e-book, you’re never late returning a borrowed book—it disappears automatically from your bookshelf.

“Kobo and Sony e-readers work with library e-books in Canada while most Kindle models don’t support the open standard (EPUB) format used by libraries. However, the Kindle Fire is the exception; you can use it to borrow books from Canadian libraries.”

We have a few patrons who are using our library e-book collection now but expect to see more in the New Year; drop in and we will do our best to help you get started with your new e-reader.

We are excited that Grade 4/5 students at Big White will be joining the Grade 4/5 students in Greenwood and Rock Creek this season for the Reading Link Challenge program.

The children will be reading six different books over the winter/ spring and then we’ll hold two levels of challenge to test them on their knowledge of those books. And we (the Greenwood and Midway public libraries) have decided to hold a special alumni challenge for the Grade 6/7 students of Greenwood and Rock Creek, since they have “graduated” from the program but enjoyed it so much they still want to participate—isn’t that great?!

The Greenwood Library will be closed from Dec.24 through Jan. 2 for the holidays, reopening on Friday, Jan. 3. Be sure to stock up before then on reading and viewing material.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our patrons!