{"id":6567,"date":"2014-11-12T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T15:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/?p=6567"},"modified":"2014-11-05T10:19:34","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T18:19:34","slug":"why-the-public-library-beats-amazon-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/why-the-public-library-beats-amazon-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Public Library Beats Amazon\u2014for Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/files\/2014\/11\/publicLibraryebooks.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-6570\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/files\/2014\/11\/publicLibraryebooks.jpg\" alt=\"publicLibraryebooks\" width=\"304\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/files\/2014\/11\/publicLibraryebooks.jpg 562w, https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/files\/2014\/11\/publicLibraryebooks-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 304px) 100vw, 304px\" \/><\/a>A growing stack of companies would like you to pay a monthly fee to read e-books, just like you subscribe to Netflix to binge on movies and TV shows.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t bother. Go sign up for a public library card instead.<\/p>\n<p>Really, the public library? Amazon.com recently launched Kindle Unlimited, a $10-per-month service offering loans of 600,000 e-books. Startups called Oyster and Scribd offer something similar. It isn&#8217;t very often that a musty old institution can hold its own against tech disrupters.<\/p>\n<p>But it turns out librarians haven&#8217;t just been sitting around shushing people while the Internet drove them into irrelevance. More than<a class=\"icon none\" href=\"http:\/\/digitalinclusion.umd.edu\/\" target=\"_new\"> 90% of American public libraries<\/a> have amassed e-book collections you can read on your iPad, and often even on a Kindle. You don&#8217;t have to walk into a branch or risk an overdue fine. And they&#8217;re totally free.<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/articles\/why-the-public-library-beats-amazonfor-now-1407863714\"><em>Why the Public Library Beats Amazon\u2014for Now<\/em><\/a>, by Personal Tech columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A growing stack of companies would like you to pay a monthly fee to read e-books, just like you subscribe to Netflix to binge on movies and TV shows. Don&#8217;t bother. Go sign up for a public library card instead. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/why-the-public-library-beats-amazon-for-now\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts-about-libraries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6567"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6574,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6567\/revisions\/6574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/collinsunbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}