Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Libraries and Ebooks: Any Book, Not Any Time Soon

WPLC.  10 copies.  170 holds.
LINKcat.  166 copies.  168 holds (89 active).

Public libraries’ policies are evolving with e-books. (Kansas City Star, 5/30/2011)

Excerpt:  It’s news to a lot of folks, but many public libraries here and across the country offer digital books that can be read on such devices as a Nook or, with the right app, a smartphone. The potential is enormous: book-borrowing without the physical limits. Any book, any time, right?

“Some of the waiting lists are long,” said Adam Wathen, collection development manager at Johnson County Library. It’s the same at Kansas City Public Library, director Crosby Kemper III said.

And most everywhere else. One digital library advocate found a waiting list of 127 for an e-copy of a book about chess champion Bobby Fischer at the New York Public Library.

Public library collections are mainly made up of physical books, of course, but libraries have begun contracting with e-book suppliers for loaning digital books. The way the system works now, a copy of an e-book, just like a physical book, can be loaned out one at a time.

But along with music and movies in the young digitized world, the handling, so to speak, of digital books is in flux
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Related articles:
On the distinction between the book reader and the book owner.  (5/10/2011)
Demand for ebooks grows exponentially in Wisconsin.  (5/2/2011)
Struggling to find an ebook common agenda between libraries and publishers.  (4/5/2011)
Ebooks and libraries:  "The challenges just keep piling up".  (3/28/2011)
Publishers Weekly tracks ebook sales.  (3/18/2011)
Word is getting out:  Ebooks @ your library.  (3/18/2011)
Ebooks continue to gain market share.  (3/17/2011)
Publishers look to bottom line in formulating ebook policies for libraries. (3/15/2011)
News stories on HarperCollins ebook decision go mainstream.  (3/5/2011)
9 years of book sales:  trade and ebook.  (2/17/2011)
Will ebook readers be wooed by Barbara Cartland?  (2/12/2011)
The impact of ebooks on libraries.  (2/11/2011)
OverDrive news release: Library eBook circs up 200% in '10. (1/10/2011)
Mashable: 5 ebook trends that will change the future of publishing. (12/29/2010)
Christmas 2010 the tipping point for ebooks?  (12/24/2010)
Ereader as brown paper bag.  (12/9/2010)
The ebook reader compatibility surprise.  (12/3/2010)
Ereader ownership:  Survey says....  (11/30/2010)
David Carnoy asks, "Does the Kindle pay for itself?" (11/29/2010)
Need to repair that ebook reader?  (11/19/2010)
Who uses an ereader:  Survey says....  (9/22/2010)
Book industry wrestles with print vs. pixels.  (9/2/2010)
Coming soon to a screen near you:  Ads in ebooks.  (8/20/2010)
Ebooks now comprise 8/5% of book sales. (8/12/2010)
Genre paperback publishers drops print.  (8/6/2010)
Ebooks and libraries.  (5/4/2010)
Ebooks eliminate a free form of adversiting:  the book jacket.  (3/31/2010)
Ebooks: another round of false promises?  (3/19/2010)
The skinny on ebooks.  (3/8/2010)
Hardcover vs. ebook:  Breaking down the costs.  (3/1/2010)

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