Books: From Pages to Pixels?

February is Library Lovers Month. Could this be the year that many book lovers switch from pages to pixels? For the better part of a decade, consumers have failed to embrace electronic book devices, which were often hard to use and offered few popular items to read.

But this year, in part because of the popularity of the wireless Kindle device from Amazon.com, the e-book has started to take hold.

The $350 Kindle, which is slim, white and about the size of a trade paperback, was introduced a year ago. The Kindle has created broad interest in electronic books and got a real boost in sales after an endorsement by Oprah Winfrey on her show.

Recently, Sony has developed a promoted similar device; the Reader 700 for $400 that is a similar portable reading device. The stepped-up competition may represent a coming of age for the entire idea of reading longer texts such as novels on portable digital devices. Sony's efforts had been overshadowed by Kindle. But recently, Sony's latest model, the $400 Reader 700, with a reading light and a touch screen that allows users to annotate what they are reading has begun to catch up with Kindle.

With a promotional blitz in U.S. airports, train stations, and bookstores, Sony plans to catch up with Kindle and surpass its sales.

Many Kindle buyers appear to be outside the usual gadget-hound demographic. Almost as many women as men are buying it, with the device being most popular among 55- to 64-year-olds.

So far, publishers like HarperCollins, Random House, and Simon & Schuster say that sales of e-books for any device--including simple laptop downloads--constitute less than one percent of total book sales. But there are signs of momentum. The publishers say sales of e-books have tripled or quadrupled in the last year, and even authors who were once wary of selling their work in bits and bytes are coming around.

After some initial hesitation, authors like Danielle Steel and John Grisham are expected to add their titles to the e-book catalog soon.

Let your students take a look at the future of reading. ProQuest has created a BookCart learning activity called "Electronic Books--From Paper to Pixels."



The BookCart includes all the resources and instructions that students need to complete this mini-research assignment. (This BookCart learning activity also links to template models for both a written report and a presentation that can be downloaded from the Web Links section.)

To copy this BookCart for your students to use:

• Logon to the eLibrary Teacher Edition.
• Click the BookCart Admin link of the Teacher Edition.
• Click the ProQuest Carts tab.
• Type "Electronic Books--From Paper to Pixels" in the Search box to locate it quickly.
• Click the Copy icon in the Actions column to the right of this title.
• Click Return to My Local Carts.

To edit and tailor the BookCart for your students to use:

• Click your new BookCart Title--it will have the prefix "Copy of."
• Delete "Copy of" and then type your name in the Author boxes and your email.
• Optional: Edit the essential questions in the Description box.
• Optional: Edit student directions in the Description box for your students to use.
• Scroll down and click Save.
• Return to My Local Carts.
• Note: Students will be able to open this BookCart by clicking the BookCart tab on the Search page.

Assign students to write a report of at least 150 words or a presentation of at least seven slides. The report should cite at least three resources and address the following essential questions for critical thinking (you add or substitute others):

• What three features of electronic books make them preferable to print versions?
• How can electronic books be used to improve education?
• What improvements would you like to see made in electronic books and why?
• Will e-books and portable devices make reading more popular: why/why not?

Type "electronic reading devices" in the Search box > Sort results by Date

Use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

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