Two weeks ago we bought two eBook readers to trial at work. The intention is to see how viable technologies such as this are for University students of the future, particularly as we already buy eBooks through our supplier, Dawsonera.

After just under a week of playing of the device I have to admit I am suitably impressed; the PRS-505 to start with is beautiful to look at, housed in a leather wallet which provides the studious smell you get from leather bound books. Sony also provides 100 free classic books, but these can be accessed for free anyway!

The screen is superb; I have been able to read from it without any of the strain on the eyes experienced from LCD screens. The device can also be tilted at many different angles and the reader can still view the text, something near impossible when reading from a laptop screen.

Accessibility is good, users can simply zoom in and out of the text with the touch of a button. I was also able to bookmark without any issue, as the device will save multiple pages across multiple books. The battery is impressive to – I have used it now for around 4-5 hours with no visual drop in battery life, despite only having an hours’ charge time so far.

The only drawback is that Sony requires you to install software in order to transfer books onto the device, something which many have come to detest with some MP3 players. It would be nice to see an updated version at some point, providing a simple ‘drag and drop’ set-up in Windows explorer.

Seeing this as a viable alternative for students is very challenging. The eBooks we buy are hosted through our suppliers site, as licencing issues mean that a system has to be in place for digital rights management. Making eBook texbooks available on these devices would mean years of complex negotiation with publishers, but I am sure this negotiation has already started.

A full review of this product will follow shortly. All members of Library staff will have the opportunity to try them out over the next few months, with a short questionnaire to complete.

In the summer I stumbled across Camstudio, an open source program that allows you to record your desktop screen activity. This is an extremely useful product for those of us who are yet to invest in products like Adobe Captivate.

As a Librarian I feel products such as Camstudio will quickly become essential. The Internet has quickly become the only place users visit to find information, and the private nature of this activity means that many make simple mistakes. The creation of online tutorials using Camstudio allows Librarians to meet students online and provide clear visual instruction.

I have used Camstudio as a training tool for the number of online databases that we subscribe to, and have been hosting them on our Library website with additional plans to integrate them with our VLE.

Some basic examples of video tutorials that I have done can be found below. They took me minutes to do and were instantly converted to flash video files upon completion.

http://www.filton.ac.uk/lrc/howtoguides/flashtutorials/gmid.swf.html

http://www.filton.ac.uk/lrc/howtoguides/flashtutorials/sector%20briefing.swf.html

I launched the new LRC website at Filton College today. The whole thing was created using a HTML editor, so it took me long time to do! I am quite happy with it, particuarly the ‘good websites’ section which involved a decent amount thought and discussion.

In the coming months I plan to embed a video tour of the LRC, before trialling some instant messaging software often branded as ‘ask a Librarian’.

I would like to know what you all think, as it will not be officially be launched until the students return at the beginning of September.