eBooks: LCD or eInk

There are two basic types of eBook reader currently available: LCD and eInk. Many of us will be familiar with LCD displays that are found on things such as cellphones, calculators, and laptops but we may not be so familiar with eInk - electrically charged particles moving in a liquid to display different images. Unless of course we have a Kindle, Kobo, Nook, or similar device.

The iPad - Apple's answer to an eBook reader

Amazon's Kindle - just for books

As with any technology, there are a plethora of options available when looking for an eBook reader. Do I want one that allows me to read my books as well as function like a miniPC or do I want a reader that is dedicated to eBooks? Is a touch screen important? Is colour? Do I want to be able to annotate the books I read? All of these questions are reliant solely on personal taste to find a solution. Even more fundamentally: would I be better suited to using pBooks?

Personally, I find the difference between LCD screens and eInk is one of the most vital. Many of the comparisons between the two basic technologies state that eInk is not available in colour or can't handle video. Both of these statements now no longer hold with eInk's Triton, a colour eInk, and moving images are currently being produced, although they remain solely for retail displays. One advantage of eInk is that it uses less power since once an image is displayed it draws no power to keep displaying it whereas an LCD screen draws continual power. Some people also believe that an LCD screen gives them eyestrain - although there seems little evidence. I find that I remember what I read off paper to be easier to remember and this is also true with eInk. A further advantage of eInk is that it has a completely different "feel" to an LCD screen; reading can be a pleasurable activity that does not remind of work because it does not use the same technology to facilitate our reading.

Yet, for a library, the questions become much more difficult. Let's assume your library wants to provide eBooks. If you are also wishing to provide eReaders, you may want to consider which options are compatible with current subscriptions. Further, libraries need to consider legal issues since eBooks are covered by licences more than copyright. One important factor to consider our patrons' views. For example, do they want us to provide eBooks. With an estimated 5% of American adults owing an eBook reader, and such statistics growing rapidly, it seems as if there is such a market.

So, whether we are looking about eBooks for personal use or whether we are looking to incorporate them into our libraries there are many different options and we simply need to find the one that suits our needs.