You are now connected to Amit from Amazon.com.
Me: I work in a library. I have six kindles regsitered with my account and I have a corporate credit card associated with the account. I would like to be able to prevent purchases on the kindles or I would like to be able to remove the credit card and strictly use gift card balances for purchases. Can you help? 10:24:16 AM
Amit: Hello, my name is Amit. I will be happy to help you. 10:24:33 AM
Amit: I need to transfer you to kindle team. 10:24:52 AM
Me: ok 10:25:12 AM
A Customer Service Associate will be with you in a moment.You are now connected to Amazon from Amazon.com.
Amazon: Hello, my name is Swathi. I’ll be happy to help you today. 10:27:29 AM
Me: I work in a library. I have six kindles regsitered with my account and I have a corporate credit card associated with the account. I would like to be able to prevent purchases on the kindles or I would like to be able to remove the credit card and strictly use gift card balances for purchases. Can you help? 10:28:11 AM
Amazon: Thanks for the information provided. I will be glad to assist you. 10:29:43 AM
Amazon: I have checked your account and see that the current gift card balance is $25. 10:30:29 AM
Amazon: I understand that you want to use the gift certificate balance to your Kindle purchases. 10:31:19 AM
Me: Yes, but I also want to prevent buying on the credit card in the event the gift card balance were to be depleted. I want to minimize the potential loss from unauthorized purchases. 10:32:25 AM
Amazon: To ensure that no one else can use 1-Click purchasing on your account, you’ll just need to sign out of your account when you’re done using it. Click the “Sign out” link above the Self Service Tools box in the right-hand column of our Help pages at any time to exit your Amazon.com account. 10:34:09 AM
Me: I am worried about purchasing made from the kindle itself, not from within my amazon.com account. Can you help with that issue? 10:35:45 AM
Amazon: Thanks for the confirmation. I will help you out with this. 10:36:42 AM
Amazon: Can I have 2 minutes while I do a research on this matter. 10:37:16 AM
Me: Yes, of course. Thank you. 10:37:30 AM
Amazon: Sorry to have kept you on wait. 10:38:47 AM
Amazon: I am sorry currently we do not have an option to avoid unauthorized purchases from your Kindle Devices. 10:39:37 AM
Amazon: However, as an alternative you can set a password on the Settings screen. 10:40:26 AM
Me: Could you please explain that option? 10:41:04 AM
Amazon: Sure. 10:41:15 AM
Amazon: I will guide you through the steps to do so? 10:41:57 AM
Me: ok 10:42:06 AM
Amazon:Thank you. 10:42:17 AM
Amazon: Firstly, I request you to Navigate the Kindle’s Home screen and press the Menu button. 10:42:54 AM
Amazon: Then, Select “Settings” from the Home screen menu. 10:43:28 AM
Me: ok 10:43:32 AM
Amazon: Once you’re done with that, Select the “turn on” option next to Device Password on the Settings page.10:44:03 AM
Me: I don’t see that. 10:45:09 AM
Amazon: Is it clear till here? Can I proceed further? 10:45:09 AM
Me: I see Registration and Device Info. 10:45:30 AM
Amazon: Are you trying this on your 2G kindle? 10:45:53 AM
Me: Yes, but I can get a newer kindle. Please hold on. 10:46:36 AM
Amazon: Sure. 10:46:45 AM
Me: On the Settings screen I now see Registration, Device Name, Wi-Fi Settings, and Device Info. 10:48:13 AM
Amazon: Do you see a device password? 10:48:54 AM
Amazon: You can see this on the second page 10:50:01 AM
Me: No, I do not. In order to get to the Settings screen, I have to go through the Menu button, correct? 10:50:14 AM
Amazon: Yes, Correct. 10:50:34 AM
Me: Oh yes, my mistake. I do see it on the second page. 10:50:44 AM
Amazon: Okay. Now can you please select the “turn on” option next to Device Password on the Settings page. 10:51:27 AM
Me: Wouldn’t this prevent a library patron from reading as well as purchasing? 10:51:52 AM
Amazon: Yes, It prevents from reading as well as purchasing. 10:53:00 AM
Amazon: Can we proceed for the further steps? 10:53:18 AM
Me: I’m not sure how this begins to solve the problem that I have. I’m wondering why amazon couldn’t simply password-protect accounts, like the iTunes Store does. 10:54:21 AM
Me: Is there another way that I could handle the issue? 10:54:37 AM
You are now reconnected with Amazon.
Amazon: Are you there? 10:55:25 AM
Me: Yes. 10:55:32 AM
Amazon: Thanks for confirmation 10:55:40 AM
Amazon: Can we proceed with the steps? 10:55:57 AM
Me: Sure, if you think that they’re going to address my problem. Thank you. 10:56:29 AM
Amazon: Yes, surly it will be of help. 10:57:21 AM
Amazon: Enter your new password twice and also enter a hint to help you remember the password. 10:57:39 AM
Me: Ok, but will this option prevent the patron from reading? Will I have to share the password in order for the patron to read? And, if so, wouldn’t the patron then be able to navigate to the kindle store and make purchases on my account? 10:59:06 AM
Amazon: Yes, if you share your password with the patron, then they will get an option to read and purchase. However, we do no have any specific security option to restrict from Kindle purchases. 11:01:38 AM
Me: Ok. Thank you for your assistance. 11:02:13 AM
Amazon: So, you do not prefer to create a security password on your Kindle screen? 11:02:43 AM
Me: No. That does not help in this situation. Thank you. 11:03:19 AM
Amazon: Okay, I will take this as a feedback and forward to our improvement team. 11:03:54 AM
Amazon: However, just for you to know gift certificates will be directly credited from your account for any kind of Kindle content purchases upto you Gift certificate balance in your account. 11:05:10 AM
Me: Ok, but will purchases then be made on the credit card? In other words, If there’s $25 on my gift balance, could someone be able to make $500 worth of purchases? 11:07:16 AM
Amazon: As an alternative to restrict anyone else purchase from your Kindle you can remove the Payment method associated with “1 Click settings in your account. 11:11:30 AM
Amazon: Whenever you would want to purchase content, you can add the payment method again to 1-Click settings. 11:12:46 AM
Me: That seems impractical, unless I can replace the credit card as the primary payment and make a gift card the primary method. That doesn’t seem to be possible, however. The only change that I can make is to add a different credit card or debit card. 11:13:22 AM
Amazon: I am sorry as of now this is the only alternative option we have to restrict the purchases. 11:15:06 AM
Me: Ok. Thank you. I will sign off now. 11:15:27 AM
Amazon: Is there anything else that I can help you with?11:16:16 AM
Me: No. Thank you. 11:16:26 AM
Amazon: We hope to see you again soon! Please click the “End Chat” link to close this window. 11:16:51 AM
Me: Ok. 11:17:09 AM

With the help of several custodians, I began dismantling my school’s library in July 2008. In my opinion, the library looked like a warehouse, with lots of shelves, little room, less comfort, and no defined learning spaces. It was basically “a box of books,” I had told the committee that interviewed me a couple months earlier. And if a complete library program were to be developed, the box would have to be replaced.

I was fortunate to get the support of my school board when I proposed a complete room redesign. In short, several shelving units were removed, a few were replaced, reference and browsing sections were created in the middle of the room, and new furniture allowed for the creation of defined spaces (e.g. presentation area, large-group and small-group work areas, a space for reading). The most controversial addition to the room was a large, flat-screen TV mounted on the wall. “You weeded books for this?” more than one parent asked. I responded by saying that I had weeded because de-selection is part of good library management. But, in truth, the summer-time weeding project did open up space, which allowed for the floor space redesign and the beginning of a new library program.

With old and under-used (and never-used) volumes removed from the room, I do recognize that some books have perhaps been missed. Yet, I know that a lot more has been gained. In new learning spaces within the library, collaboration among students happens all day long, large-group instruction in information skills happens regularly, and at the same time reading and individual work takes place in adjacent spaces. Further, with the addition of eBooks to the reference collection, book sources are now retrievable seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Kindles? We have two.

The transformation of my small library doesn’t compare, of course, to that of Cushing Academy. It nonetheless is similar, I think, because it’s the result of believing that libraries are meant to connect people with information and that information takes many forms. While there are now fewer books in my library, I argue that there’s now more information. As students search print or electronic sources, discuss an event seen on a TV news program, use a library laptop to jointly build a multimedia project, or show one another an interesting magazine article, information is being rapidly gathered and widely shared. In other words, within the library there has developed a dynamic information exchange.

My commitment to this type of library leads me to this judgment about Cushing: On a ten scale ($12,000 coffee machine aside), where zero is total disagreement and ten is fully agree, I say the Academy’s bold library transformation is a seven. If you believe what students and staff said about the old place, then unless you’re trying to build a warehouse, the change must be viewed positively. Although I would argue for a more balanced blend of print and digital sources, I’d choose their busy library over the quiet warehouse any day. Are some old books being missed? Most likely. Is accessing and taking notes on information sometimes now more challenging? No doubt. But is the library merely a box? No way.

kindle2

Here’s what I knew: Amazon’s Kindle 2, with the ability to make any book large-print and a text-to-speech feature for some books, is a powerful new tool for school libraries attempting to serve a diverse student body. The device could certainly help meet the needs of struggling readers and students with vision problems, for example. Further, with reasonably priced downloadable content from Amazon and many classics freely available on-demand from manybooks.net and other sites, the Kindle could reduce a library’s reliance on a slow inter-library-loan process and thereby benefit all students.

Here’s what I now know: When attempting to integrate Kindles into a school library program you’ll likely face some challenges. Most vexing, for me, has been getting content onto the device. Technically this is easy, but buying content is the problem. Unlike other purchases at Amazon (like the Kindle device itself, for example), all digital content must be tied to a credit card. A credit card is something, I bet, that most schools don’t use. Instead, they probably have a corporate account at Amazon, which allows for a regular purchase-order approach to buying. If a school employee wants Kindle content, then, a personal Amazon account would be needed. This, of course, poses at least one significant problem: All content would be tied to the buyer’s account and could only be managed by the buyer. While Amazon did tell me via email support that digital content can be purchased with gift cards, I called them and pointed out that in order for a gift card to be redeamed, it needs to be tied to a credit card account, which brings me back to the original problem. Right now the only solution seems to be an institutional credit card that could be used for establishing an individual library Kindle account. It’d be nice if Amazon followed Apple’s model in the iTunes store, where a personal credit card can be deactivated from an account once sufficient gift-card credit has been added to the account. (Purchase orders can be used to buy gift cards). That way a library account truly belonging to the school could be easily created.