The day was probably inevitable: Last week Amazon announced that its e-books are outselling print books. For many, this news helps to bolster the importance of e-books in the the media landscape.
The Smithsonian Institution Libraries is now in the process of converting documents from the Smithsonian Contributions and Studies Series to a format that can be easily accessed and read through e-readers like the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook. Last week the Smithsonian Libraries announced that these e-books will be made accessible at no cost.
Image from Genera of Bamboos Native to the New World, Smithsonian Contributions to Botany, (9): 1-148. The entire journal is available as a free e-book.
The benefits of this progressive move are many. The process frees up valuable physical space and removes the possibility that these documents may one day be out of print. The easy, accessible e-reader format also allows the materials to meet readers "where they are." Researchers no longer have to make a trip to where the physical book is kept.
"The addition of these publications into e-books is a tremendous tool for scientists and the public who will benefit from mobile access to research,” said Smithsonian Librarian Erin Thomas, who is coordinating the project. “Access to this distinguished series has never been so simple.”
If you're ready to get reading, you can see a list of available titles at Smithsonian Contributions and Studies Series publications.
Cover of First retrospective exhibition of American art : inaugurating the Junior Art Patrons of America, May 7 to 21, 1921, Fine Arts Building (1921). The entire program is available and thousands of other documents are available as digital files, thanks to the Smithsonian's efforts to digitize elements of its colllections.
In other efforts to grow the Libraries digital collections, new progress is underway in scanning pieces from the History, Art, and Culture collections. They scan about 150 pieces each month and the digital versions are available though the Smithsonian Collection Internet Archive. The collection is currently at nearly 4,000 items!
I personally think that this is a great idea - it's very convenient. I really like that some of these documents from the Smithsonian will be available for free.
This definitely shows that ereaders are here to stay. We're going to see more and more that documents are going to be made available on ebooks. I like this change, but I don't want print books to go away completely.
Posted by: Angelina | 05/31/2011 at 06:02 PM