Item # 23 - Everything has an end (proverb)

"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties". - The Advancement of learning (1605) by Francis Bacon.

This quotation, in my opinion, is very relevant to us, today' s learners.We started this journey with doubts, we knew so little, we worried so much. And then we became more interested, involved, fascinated and willing to go on. Each week was a new discovery - Bloglines and Flickr, RSSs and Wikkis, Delicious and Librarythings. All of them - the great new tools - to experiment and to learn, to share with friends and colleagues. This learning period was about self-discovery, friendship and support. Without my colleagues and their enthusiasm the end result would be much more difficult to achieve. I am very grateful for this opportunity, it is great to work in an industry that transforms so rapidly and develops on so many different levels.

Item # 22 - Audiobooks

Paper books, audiobooks, eaudiobooks - the world is definitely changing. Not long time ago our library introduced a new collection - Talking Books on Cds. Customers loved them and we were proud to offer this new great collection. At the same time, in the article form "The Bookseller" magazine, Sept.14, 2007 you can read about the Japanese schoolgirl with the "customised ketai" - "a tiny slender supercomputer with a miniature screen" that turns mobile phone into a portable library". Students download books, comics and read them on a way to school. When asked about the paper books - the answer is - "paper books are uncool".
Will everything be on-line in a future? How ebooks will change the publishing industry, libraries, bookstores, education? Technology advancing with the new portable devices, there is talk about the electronic paper, some libraries overseas offer to download books from their websites, with the termination of a loan period, publishers sell ebooks off its websited. Is there a common standard for the ebooks that will state on a market or the variety of e-readers and compatable formats only makes it even more confusing. Future will tell.