At the Ref Desk (11/13/18): Beginning of finals week -- wow, we're crowded! [more...]

UW-Madison Dumps Kindle in Favor of Laptops, Netbooks & Smart Phones

Submitted by Leo Klein on Mon, 11/16/09 (10:25am)

Actually they didn't but you'd think they would have right after their library director made the following comment to CNET:

[Library Director Ken] Frazier added that a suitable device would include better "accessibility, higher-quality graphics, and improved navigation and note-taking. I think that there will be a huge payoff for the company that creates a truly universal e-book reader."

Hmm, "accessibility, higher-quality graphics, and improved navigation and note-taking"? When, oh when, will we ever get a device like that? [/irony]

Of course, he forgot to include, a device 'already owned by 93% of the student body'.

Topic: 
Dept. of Bad Ideas
Netbook
Academic Libraries
Location: 
Madison

2 comments

by Brian Raymond C... on Mon, 11/16/09 (4:37pm)

This technology upgrade will be so much more helpful and prodcutive.

Who wouldn't be interested in greater accessibility, higher-quality graphics, and improved navigation and note-taking? We all wish the investment was made a year or two ago.

Brian R. Callahan
Chicago, IL

by Leo Klein on Mon, 11/16/09 (5:00pm)

The joke (or maybe irony) is that this functionality, so lacking in the Kindle, has been part of the standard laptop, netbook or even, to a certain extent, smartphone since time immemorial. What's more, practically everyone on Planet Earth (as defined by your student population) already has one of the latter devices.

As far as the Kindle is concerned, it's the perfect definition of bad technology.