<p>Billymc^
that was awesome how did you do that lol</p>
<p>I’m just demonstrating that there are iPad parental controls that are pretty easily accessed. You don’t need to buy an app.</p>
<p>Also, the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button didn’t work. It just did a normal search. Ah well.</p>
<p>I stand by my earlier statement that these funds could have been better used elsewhere. However, the pornography point doesn’t carry much weight when you factor in parental controls and the non-hacker status of most 5 year-olds. But again, I would have rather seen this money put to feeding the hungry or at least improving education in more meaningful ways.</p>
<p>Billy,</p>
<p>So it looks like Safari (the web browser in an iPad) can be turned off using parental controls. It’s not a firewall and it doesn’t filter websites - it either allows or doesn’t allow the kindergartener to access the Safari web browser.</p>
<p>The parental controls is not a firewall, which is what the previous poster made reference to.</p>
<p>If the Safari web browser is turned off, it asks the question - what is the purpose of the iPad. What apps are going to be installed on it that help a kindergartener learn better? </p>
<p>I’ve use my iPad nearly 100% to browse the web. Without web access, it wouldn’t be very useful.</p>
<p>I’m still waiting for information on how I can use my iPad to allow me not to check out physical books from the local library.</p>
<p>I don’t possess an iPad, so I can’t answer your question. I prefer actual libraries, though I can see the benefits of electronic ones. Hopefully someone can answer your question, if there is a way.</p>
<p>Our school district has smartboards in every classroom, plasma televisions in every hallway, and laid off 23 teachers last month.</p>
<p>@babyontheway</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[OverDrive</a> - Device Resource Center](<a href=“Redirecting”>Redirecting)</p>
<p>Overdrive has an ipad app, that can download digital epubs right onto the ipad from the library digital collection. Check out your own local library website to see the details; but the library system I work in offers quite a few titles using the Overdrive software.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve used overdrive.</p>
<p>While there are a few thousand titles, it pales in comparison to the few million titles I can check out physically. The software is also painfully difficult to use - it requires many clicks in order to check out the book, and I find just placing a hold online and then driving to the library once it is available to be a much simpler process.</p>
<p>The larger point that I’m trying to make is that while the future of libraries will be in the ipad and other digital readers, I don’t think we are there today. In the library that you work in, I would bet there are few patrons that exclusively use the iPad app instead of visiting the physical library. So I don’t think we can call the iPad a library replacement today.</p>
<p>(This relates to the OP post because a big justification for iPads is people say that are library replacements. They will someday.)</p>
<p>Oh I agree, I don’t see digital publications replacing physical ones, yet.</p>
<p>Off topic from the original question, but publishing is in trouble right now. Companies that are not moving over to digital are losing money. Libraries that depend on physical encyclopedias, for example, instead of subscribing to databases are losing patrons.</p>
<p>I am not saying that this is good or bad. It is simply the trend that I see as a librarian. We are buying far more epubs and digital audio books than we were even a year ago. And the titles are moving off of the “shelves” faster than ever. This past Christmas, ebook reader sales were through the roof, in spite of a recession.</p>
<p>If you used the ipad app to download library epubs, you would find that the interface is vastly superior to what you might use on your PC. Two clicks and you are reading.</p>
<p>That being said, a Kindergartener needs to be playing with blocks and learning to use a pencil… there are lovely children’s books available digitally but it certainly is not a wise use of scarce classroom resources.</p>
<p>I agree that Ks need space and sunlight! But there is a movement happening right now in the publishing industry. [Dumping</a> print, NY publisher bets the ranch on apps | Reuters](<a href=“http://reut.rs/gBpWJu]Dumping”>http://reut.rs/gBpWJu)</p>
<p>Maybe I’m dense, but…</p>
<p>I go to my library and search for eBooks. It brings me to the Overdrive webpage. I type in “photography” in the search engine, and come up with 3 books. Two books are related to photography. Both are Adobe PDF ebooks.</p>
<p>I look to see compatible devices, and the iPad Overdrive app is not compatible with Adobe PDF ebooks. </p>
<p>In other words, there is not a single title on photography that I can view on my iPad! </p>
<p>However, I look up photography in the physical collection and there are hundreds of various titles and no compatibility issues.</p>
<p>(I think we all agree that electronic is the wave of the future…someday they will figure out the software / apps and then things will work well.)</p>
<p>Yes, it is pathetic right now, syncing everything up. I am a librarian in a school. 
My Follett ebooks are incredibly slow. And who wants to read on a computer screen. I sure don’t after using an ereader.</p>