TILTS: Kindle Public Library
Today's technology I'd like to see (TILTS) stems from a comment left by Michelle Hartz to my recent blog post titled Amazon Kindle 2 tempts me all over again.
Michelle mentioned that her library offers eBooks but not necessarily the ones she wants to read. She said she would be hooked though if libraries offered eBooks for the Kindle. I think I would too.
Think about how awesome this would be. You walk into a local library with your Kindle in hand. You search through their eBook content which of course includes the same eBook selection available on Amazon.com. When you find the one you want, the library zaps the book electronically on to your Kindle and you're good to go.
I'm sure there would have to still be some kind of electronic due date. The only difference would be that instead of returning the eBook it would just get deleted from your Kindle. You could even have a limited number of electronic renewals.
A green library that never runs out of titles
The advantages to this type of Kindle library are numerous. First, the library would be commended for how green it is behaving by not requiring paper copies of all of its books. Second, consumers would never have to worry about a book being checked out or unavailable. Since the content is all digital, every book is always available!
Who's with me? Better yet, who's gonna be the first to open the Kindle Public Library?
Disclaimer: Technologies presented in the Technology I'd Like To See (TILTS) series are based on my original (and sometimes delirious) thoughts. I present them here to the public only because I can not afford to implement any of them myself. If you steal borrow one of my ideas and end up filthy rich because of it, please remember where you got the idea and throw a little love my way. Something like a BMW or a big fat check would do just fine.
4 comments for this blog post so far...
February 20, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Michelle Hartz
Thanks for the props. Obviously, I really like this idea. I wonder how it could be implemented. Maybe I could make Bloomington Library the first to do something like this. Of course, I’d have to get a Kindle 2 first.
And I don’t think you’d have to walk into your library even, just go to your library’s website, or perhaps a special Kindle store, from the Kindle 2 itself.
February 22, 2009 at 9:18 am
Patric Welch
@Michelle: Of course! How short-sighted of me to think you should have to walk your Kindle into a library when it has a built-in cell phone to download books directly from your library.
I’ll be more than happy to be the Bloomington Library’s guinea pig if they are interested. Maybe that will be my business angle for buying one!
November 06, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Michelle Hartz
As a credit for this idea, can I get another entry into the Kindle drawing? If I had a Kindle, I might be able to present this idea to my local library…
(Yep, I’m shameless.)
November 10, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Patric Welch
@Michelle - You can get as many extra credits as you want into the Kindle drawing.... as long as you use your unique referral link :)
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