Invisible Library Books
If you’re browsing the stacks at the library and find a particular book difficult to find, you might be looking in the wrong place. With eBook sales soaring and the popularity of eReader devices at a steady high, some libraries are turning towards electronic book lending, or “e-lending,” as a way forward. Yet, while e-lending may seem a practical move for libraries in the digital age, making the service possible has been difficult.
According to The
Economist, roughly
three quarters of US libraries offer eBooks (even the Library of Congress offers eBooks). In December 2012, the Pew Research Center released a study that found that the number
of library users borrowing eBooks increased modestly from 3% to 5%. Compared to Amazon, however, who has for sale more than 1.7
million eBooks, the
“average public library makes available
only 4,350 e-books.”
E-lending may not be causing books to fly off the (virtual) shelves, but it has
provided a service more suitable for the 21st century library
patron. The
Economist explains that,
“e-lending is frictionless: any user with the right privileges can download a
digital file instantly (at the end of the borrowing period it self-destructs).”
The concept sounds ideal for
borrowers and for librarians in a world where many patrons no longer want to
carry around hard copy texts. However, the idea does present some
complications.
Unlike hard copy books, which can be rented without restriction, eBooks are not
as free to roam, as each eBook and/or publisher has its own laws, regulations,
and procedures regarding e-lending.
With a publishing world struggling to make ends meet, eBooks have provided a
beacon of hope for earning revenue. However, the idea of libraries circulating
and re-circulating eBooks means that less people will be purchasing them from
big sellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which in turn, means less
money. As a result, the amount of revenue a publishing company makes on selling
eBooks to libraries has come under scrutiny, as some publishers set high prices
in order to make sure they have the greatest possible return.
It is also unlikely that libraries would deal with a publisher one-on-one, and
instead there is usually always a middleman in the process of bargaining for
eBooks. OverDrive and ebrary are both eBook distributors that cater to libraries.
The difficult part of this process is making agreements with individual
publishers looking to protect their profits. Random House sells eBooks to libraries
at high price, but libraries can circulate them endlessly and own them forever,
whereas Macmillian only allows libraries to own eBooks for two years or until they have been rented 52 times. After conducting a
months long study on how libraries lend eBooks, Penguin has agreed to make new eBook releases available to libraries. However, the library can only purchase them
for one year, after which they must pay an additional fee. Simon and Shuster is the one of the big publishing names who has chosen
not to license eBooks to
libraries.
There are some attempts to make the process easier and cheaper. In the United
States, new state legislation in Connecticut
would require all publishers to offer
eBooks to libraries at a fair price. Libraries in the state of Washington are seeing their efforts to pressure publishing companies to lower eBook
prices pay
off as well.
There are other attempts to find a good model for e-lending services. The
United Kingdom recently commissioned an independent review by William Sieghart which examines e-lending in British
public libraries. The review states that e-lending should be recommended to
libraries but that publishers should be protected, with eBooks coming under the
same restrictions as physical book loans.
E-lending is an obvious way forward for libraries in the 21st
century, but the process of making the service possible is proving difficult.
Aside from the struggles with profit-protecting publishing companies over
renting out eBooks, offsite lending with electronic publications could also
mean that libraries will see a drop in the number of patrons visiting on a
regular basis if they can rent a book from home. With less people visiting libraries,
the use of a physical space, as well as the employees who run it, may no longer be necessary.
Thus, an attempt to find a way to solve financial difficulties could actually
make things worse in the long run, depending on the success of e-lending.
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