Monday, March 19, 2012

The Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board Weighs In on Ebooks and Libraries

As with any online reader poll, to be taken with a grain of salt.

Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board: Libraries need e-books, too. (3/18/2012)

Excerpt: E-books have become so popular that the Free Library of Philadelphia reports a surge from July 2011, when there were 17,000 downloads to last month, when there were 26,800 downloads. 

Theoretically, e-books can last forever, and they are so easily obtained on the Internet that publishers believe they could lose their chance to recoup the costs of the original risks they took on authors and production. Paper books sold to libraries eventually deteriorate after many uses and libraries must replace them. With e-books, they don’t. 

The ease of downloading also means people don’t have to go to libraries for e-books, which raises questions about the future of libraries. They are more than just book warehouses. For example, the jobless go the library to hunt for employment on the Internet. Libraries help bridge the digital divide between those who have computers and those who don’t. Their programs for young children, teenagers, and adults promote literacy. And visits by popular authors to a public library are significant cultural events. 

Librarians rightly argue that they are spending dwindling public resources on e-books, so they should get a break. Part of their job is to help build a literate society, which is essential to a strong democracy. They also make a strong case that libraries generate business for publishers. 

“We know book borrowers are also book buyers, and we find that e-book borrowers are also e-book buyers, and that pattern won’t change,” says Sari Feldman, cochair of the American Library Association’s e-book committee.

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Mashable: 5 ebook trends that will change the future of publishing. (12/29/2010)
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