The fire is not so hot yet…
Oct 20th, 2011 by Cathy Jo Nelson
Some rights reserved by libraryman
Yesterday I wrote about my disappointment at limitations with Adobe Digital Editions. (I learned today that is the software that has limited application in a school setting.) It seems that a workstation can download the software and be registered to a user and device, and then cannot be used by any other user or device. That causes a kink in our ability to serve 2500+ students in a BYOD environment, especially considering my library only has 40 machines.
Workaround?
The workaround, and I may be muddy on this right now, is to unregister the user so that another user can register. If that is the solution, then that is the solution. Sigh. A lot of work, but if it comes to that, we will do what we have to do. My colleague and I talked, and we decided that initially we believe only kids who already use devices will be wanting to get ebooks via our OverDrive portal, and they already being users, will in all likelihood have Adobe’s Digital Editions on their computer or device at home or wherever they consume ebooks. We will just have to tell them to login from that location.
Less than ideal
Not the ideal solution, but for our initial foray into the ebook service, it is what we will have to do. We believe that it may be an issue in January, if the market predictions are right, and we have students and teachers getting ereader devices for Christmas. I can believe the market’s prediciton on the rise in devices purchased, but not necessarily that teens will be the recipients. So we shall see.
One tool at a time
Again, we are playing this by ear. Our launch date is Monday. October 24. We have a staff development planned for teacher planning periods all day Tuesday, so our work is cut out for us. Our staff development series is called “One Tool at a Time.” My fear is that as we roll out this ebook portal for school, our teachers will be overwhelmed despite that we only cover one tool per training. I mean please. We have to introduce the web portal, the Adobe Digital Editions program, and then how to get content on any number of different devices. Yikes. Now c’mon you all know teachers are usually the hardest sell, and that our kids will probably breeze right through our launch. Perhaps I should stagger the training so those who have Nooks, Kindles, Apple products, Android products, and whatever else comes in can get their needs met. I dunno. Guess we’ll find out. Wish me luck.
I so admire your foray into this venture as I am one of those learning from you. I do think that you are right in targeting those students who already have devices and therefore have the digital editions software installed. I believe that eventually libraries will provide the books not the readers although school and library systems are the societal equalizers and will need to provide devices for those who cannot afford them.