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Friday, September 03, 2010

Rural S.C. library offers e-book readers to the community

The Georgetown County, S.C., (pop. 60,703) public library system has purchased 25 Amazon Kindles for patrons in the county to use at the library. The library also bought $2,500 worth of e-books thanks to a national Library Services and Technology Act grant. The e-book reader is the latest tool made available at Georgetown County Library, reports Digital Communities.

Many local residents in the rural community don't have the means to buy new technologies, so the library helps bridge the generational and digital divides.  "We're a small, rural library system and we think this technology will interest young people, particularly young males. They're the hardest to reach," Dwight McInvaill, director of the Georgetown County Library, told Digital Communities. In Georgetown County, the library is hoping to improve the school drop out rate by offering new technology to the county's students. The Kindles are available for teaching and reading, but not lending.

One-third of Americans older than 14 use the Internet at public libraries to keep in touch with friends and family, do research and find jobs, according to the report, Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries.

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