Technician Online

Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Science and Tech

Media Credit: Luiz Zapata

In 1996, Robert Schrag came up with a novel idea.

For two years, Schrag, who is now a communication technologies professor, ran a children's publishing company that distributed books not in paper form, but on the computer. Consumers downloaded the book and read it on their screens.

"It was an idea 10 to 15 years ahead of its time," Schrag said with a laugh. "I only lost the cost of a Duke MBA doing it."

But more than a decade after Schrag's company failed to take off, companies like Sony and Amazon have unveiled a new version of the electronic book. This updated take on an older concept pairs mobility with new technology - electronic ink. And next week, students will get the chance to test drive two models by borrowing them from D.H. Hill's Learning Commons.

According to Greg Raschke, associate director of collections and scholarly communication at the library, the Learning Commons will have two Sony Readers and six Amazon Kindles ready to check out for a week at a time. Students looking to check out the e-book readers can visit the reference desk in the East Wing, where they can tell the reference librarians which books they want to download onto the device.

Books that have already been downloaded will stay on the device, where students can access them.

"Essentially, students can sort of build their own popular collection," Raschke said. "Students have been asking us for a while to build up our popular collection."

The library will also purchase subscriptions to the nation's major newspapers, available wirelessly with the Kindle. Although the devices will come with extra perks like these, Raschke said he figures they will mostly be used for leisure reading.

And Schrag said that's a trend that is likely to continue even among the broader audience for e-book readers like the Kindle or Reader. It will be a while, he said, before devices like the Kindle could be used in areas like the college classroom, which means students won't see a decrease in textbook costs from e-book readers.

That's because Schrag said most of the "obscenely expensive" cost of a college textbook comes not from the materials, but from the actual intellectual property inside. Whether it's on paper or e-paper, that intellectual property will be the same value.

"My guess is that if you're spending $400 for the Kindle, you're probably not going to spend $400 on paper and ink costs in the four years you're an undergraduate," Schrag said.

Continued...

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