A reply from Amazon regarding the KIndle

I got an email from Amazon last night saying loaning the Kindle is not on. Its reproduced for those that may be interested..

" Hello John,

I am sorry that you have not received any answer to this question.

I have consulted the Kindle Management Team and they have advised that public loaning of a Kindle is in breech to the terms of use of the Kindle and Kindle content. The public lending of a Kindle breeches the Digital content section of the Terms & Conditions of use for the Kindle.

"Upon your payment of the applicable fees set by Amazon, Amazon grants you the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy of the applicable Digital Content and to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Device or as authorized by Amazon as part of the Service and solely for your personal, non-commercial us"

You can read the full terms and conditions of use for the Kindle at the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_bc_nav?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200144520

I am sorry that I do not have better news, but I hope this information helps..."

Its either in the too hard basket for Amazon or the not part of their business plan i guess more's the pity. Amazon have a potential world wide market for libraries if only they would be creative in their thinking regarding libraries.

Pretty much kills the lending of Kindle's in my library and i suspect a lot of my colleagues in public libraries here in Australia.

I have to admit the iPad from apple may have possibilities, i will certainly be investigating this option.

The Kindle and Public libraries

Thought it was about time to update this blog as its been a while.

I was given a Kindle for christmas, its an interesting device and i have grown to like it. I can adjust font size when im reading and wait for it, if the publisher allows it, a text to speech function is enabled and voila we have an audio book very very cool.

If i switch it off the Kindle remembers the page I am on which is very smart.

This got me thinking, does the kindle have a place in public libraries? I think it does. A web search has revealed several public libraries in the states are using them with success.

The next challenge is, how might it be implemented in my library, here are my thoughts.

1. The Kindle allows for a ebook purchased from the Kindle store on Amazon to be shared on up to 5 devices so lets purchase one and load 10 titles to start with.

2. Allow borrowers access to the kindle store to select 5 titles each time they borrow the Kindle and add it to a Kindle wish list, this functionality exists on the device as standard . This creates a borrower wish list-great for selection. This is not my idea a US library already does it.

3. I am still pondering the issue of how long we loan the device - my thinking its why should it be ant different from a standard loan.

4. The other pondering is what happens if the device is damaged/lost or even should i treat it as a value added service and charge?

Me being a good boy :) decided to contact Amazon in the states to ask what their attitude is to Kindles in public libraries. I think its in the too hard basket lol, they promised to get back to me monday night, its now 24 hours later and still no information from them.

A good lesson for us as librarians, good customer service is about communication and telling people why we can't do something for them rather than keeping them guessing.

The customer service person was very attentive he indicated he hoped to get back to me monday night. Outstanding customer service would have been for him to ring tonight and say "John its taking longer than i hoped to get you an answer we estimate xxx" that would have been outstanding in my books. Currently I am hoping Amazon will contact me but they get a Fail at the moment and I am not holding my breath.

Enough of my rant :) does anyone have any thoughts about the kindle and public libraries?