In time for the holidays

With smart timing, just when parents and grandparents are thinking about what to buy for children for the coming holiday seasan, Barnes and Noble is introducing Nookcolor, a new version of its e-reader. You can read all about it on the SLJ website. This is seen as a challenge to the iPad and Barnes and Noble are stepping in quickly to offer a wide range of children's books including many old favorites like Beverly Cleary's Mouse on a Motorcycle. Now the question for librarians is, how will this affect the circulation of children's books from the library. Should libraries purchase e-readers and make them available to patrons? Is there a way of licensing those ebooks so the library can loan them out? This is a topic that should be discussed more often, because things are moving quickly in the electronic publishing world. Let's not allow libraries to be left behind.