The Kindle for Law Libraries and Librarians (E-Book Readers)

[Lyonette Louis-Jacques]

I've drafted an article for a local newsletter on how the Kindle can be used in law settings. I tried to make it broadly applicable, but may have a law school library bias...:-) Anyway, comments and any other feedback are welcome!

[I've removed the draft pending publication of the article; will post new URL when the revised article is published - Lyo, June 2, 2009]

[Jim Milles]

Corrections:

(1) Amazon recently changed the price to upload documents to Kindle. It used to be 10 cents per document; now it's 15 cents per megabyte.

(2) Downloaded Word documents from Westlaw: the footnotes are preserved and the hypertext links DO work. This is one of my favorite features--much easier, to me, than flipping back and forth in a printed article downloaded from Westlaw.

(3) "You cannot cite to Kindle documents": i.e., Kindle books don't have page numbers. However, for law users there are two ease workaround: (a) Get the page numbers you need from Amazon book preview or Google Books, or (b) let the journal cite checkers do it.

(4) Don't underestimate the number of law-related titles available for Kindle; it's hardly just for recreational reading. I've loaded dozens of books on cyberspace law, information privacy, and other topics by Lessig, Solove, Friedman, Benkler and other authors, and I'm doing 90% of my reading this summer on the Kindle.

[Lyonette Louis-Jacques]

Thanks, Jim! I'll make those corrections. This Kindle2 article is getting more and more outdated by the minute as Kindle DX fervor continues...:-) But it's great thinking about applications of any Kindle version to law libraries.

[Lyonette Louis-Jacques]

I think this is the first podcast about the Kindle DX for law use:

Kindle Me This (Dennis Kennedy, Tom Mighell and Adriana Linares on how the Kindle DX might be used by law students and lawyers, May 8, 2009)

http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/kennedy-mighell-report/2009/05...

[Debbie Ginsberg]

Thanks for writing this up! It's very helpful, and I like all of your links. A couple of minor points:

The Kindle for the iPhone came out before the DX. The original iPhone app came out in March, I think, though Apple just recently launched an iPhone-optimized Kindle storefront.

I believe iTablets are still in the rumor stage (we Apple fans have been waiting for a full Mac tablet for years).

[Reba Best]

I'm jealous of your purchase! Now I can't decide between the Kindle2 and the KindleDX. If I wait a few days, there might be a KindleDX2. I've got a question, I thought you could avoid a charge if you emailed documents to yourself then transferred them to the Kindle or is this only available on the DX?
Thanks,
Reba

[Jim Milles]

Reba, you can avoid the charge if you convert the documents on your desktop using an application like Stanza, and then transfer to the Kindle with your USB cable. I'm willing to spend a few cents to do it wirelessly.

[Rob Richards]

Lyo, This review is very helpful. Many thanks.