This past fall, I took a part time job
at the Phoenix Public Libraries as a library assistant. One of the first experiences I had dealing
with a customer was dealing with an e-book question. Up until this point, I had heard of e-books,
but never really dived into the technology.
Through this question I was asked, I became immersed in a growing
technology. I decided to take trainings
and explore how e-books work so I could be affluent in the subject to help our
customers. Working with e-books made me
see endless possibilities. I became so
amazed with the technology that I took the concept to the Dysart Unified School
District. Through meetings, I embarked
on a four month journey and successfully got e-books into our school
district. The growth of e-books is a
prime example of a trend facing libraries.
This paper will discuss the concept of e-books, explore development of
e-books, look at advantages to using e-books, examine disadvantages and
obstacles of using e-books, and finally look at possibilities libraries have in
regards to e-book growth and development.
CONCEPT
OF E-BOOKS AND DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TIME
E-books stand for electronic books. It is a digital edition of a book. E-books development can date back to the
1930’s (Priego, 2011). The concept of a
digital book remained quiet until starting in the 1990’s when the internet became
easily accessible in homes. The internet
made the transfer of files easy and thus companies saw great opportunity in
pursuing development of e-books. In the
1990’s Sony was the first company to develop an e-reader device with the Data
Discman (Coburn, 2001). While the
technology became available, it did not really take off until the around
2007. This is when Amazon developed the
Kindle. Two years later Barnes &
Noble developed their e-reader device called the Nook. These two e-reader devices were the first big
push in digital access to books.
One problem with the e-readers is the
device left little options to do anything but have digital access to
books. One year later, in 2010, Apple
revolutionized the industry with the development of the I-Pad. While e-books were not the primary marketing
for getting an I-Pad, the device revolutionized the industry because of the
ability to access e-books while being able to do other things. This led to the further development of the
Kindle Fire and Nook Color in that these devices now allow users to access
other resources in addition to e-books.
Since the 2010’s, e-books have seen
tremendous growth. For example,
Foasberg’s (2011) study showed that roughly 24 percent of college students
reported using an e-book in some capacity.
Further success in the e-book industry can be seen from public libraries
that offer e-books. Bishop (2013) noted
a growth in public libraries that carry e-books. From 2010 to 2011 the number of public
libraries that offered e-books to customers rose from 69 percent to 91
percent. Given libraries have a goal to
provide access to materials users want, this shows a positive trend in the
amount of usage of e-books.
ADVANTAGES
When looking at e-books, several
advantages can be noted. The first
advantage is the ability to draw more people into reading books. Society has moved to an age of technology. Many people have a computer, tablet, or
smartphone. In the technology age, users
of technology have come to rely on the devices for everyday functions. The development of e-books plays to this type
of person because they can now access books on their device.
Another advantage to e-books goes to the
platform e-books run on. E-books are
able to be downloaded to the device preference of the user. Instead of having to carry many books, users
are able to download their books, access their books anytime, and only have to
carry one device. Specifically I can
remember when I was a child and went on a long road trip. I would take four or five books along with me
on the trip. With the development of
e-books, I can still take those four or five books, but only have to carry one
device.
This leads to an advantage of accessing
the e-books. For physical books, people
have to go to a bookstore, a library, or other place to get the book. They have to do this within the hours of
operation the location has. E-books
allow for immediate access of books anytime during the day and from any location. Springen (2012) discusses how people who have
digital devices have grown to want immediate access to books. E-books allow for users to have immediate
access to a book and not have to wait for a convenient time or place to go to a
store.
A final advantage to e-books is the
logistics with e-books in regards to libraries.
E-books are a very durable version of the book because they can not be
lost or damaged. Therefore replacement
cost are very minimal with e-books. Also
a great advantage is e-book policies are set up by an administrator. A library does not have to worry about the
collection of the e-book after the loaning period as the book is automatically
returned to the shelf upon a designated due period.
DISADVANTAGES
With advantages of technology, there
always seems to be disadvantages. This
is the case for e-books. The first
disadvantage worth noting is the cost associated with e-books. For a user, a device would be required to use
the e-book. The device can be expensive
especially if someone is on a budget.
However, it is worth mentioning that the devices required to run e-books
are more common among society. The other
disadvantage with cost directly impacts libraries. The cost to get an e-book can significantly
be more than just buying a book. Most
likely the library would need to carry the physical book for those that do not
use e-books. Also there is a hidden cost
to training staff to show users how to use the e-books.
Another disadvantage associated with
e-books comes from outside the industry.
E-books tend to take profit away from the publishers and authors. It is therefore that many of the authors are
hesitant to offer their works in digital format. Springer (2012) shows a comparison that
authors typically get 10 to 15 percent of the listed book price. However e-books work a little different and
the publishers get only 70 percent of the sale price, of which authors get 25
percent of the publisher’s share. While
this seems better for authors, the fact is vendors can offer the e-books at
whatever price they want, thus impacting the portion the author gets.
Present
Opportunities for Libraries
As over 91 percent of public libraries
have become active in the e-book movement, the opportunities for libraries
would be in refining the technology. One
of the tough obstacles libraries face are availability of sources. Due to disadvantages discussed, the big six
publishers have changed limited libraries on what materials are available. This provides an opportunity for libraries to
do a couple of things. First libraries
have an opportunity to work with publishers and authors outside the big
six. The Douglas County Library in
Colorado is a great example of how this is manageable. According to Kinney (2012), the Douglas
County Library system has partnered with local authors and small name
publishers to provide their customers access to e-books. If more libraries followed suit, this would
impact sales of the big six publishers and could lead to actions to make
e-books more widely available for libraries.
The other opportunity libraries could
face is having negotiations about usage of e-books. Each of the big six publishers have a
different model in regards to e-books.
One growing trend is selling a certain number of times an e-book can be accessed. In this model a library would be able to lend
out a book, such as the Hunger Games, 26 times through e-book usage and then
the license would go away or need to be renewed. This leads to a suggestion by Kinney (2012)
noting that a creative solution meeting the needs of the library and the big
six publishers would be to allow access to an e-book and set up a system to pay
for the e-book on a per usage forum.
This would also benefit the customers of libraries as they would not
have to wait for possible holds on an e-book.
This may take negotiations between ALA and the big six publishers, but
provides a creative solution worth exploring.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, e-books have been a
transforming technology libraries have had to deal with. The advantages and opportunities libraries
have to use e-books, proves that libraries are able to keep up with a digital
society. This technology also shows that
there is a place for libraries in the technological world. E-books and other technological opportunities
libraries are faced with require great thought, but prove to be a reason
libraries will continue to flourish.
REFERENCES
Bishop, C., Visser, M. (2013). E-books? So what's the big deal?.
Young Adult Library Services, 11(3), 4-8.
Coburn, M.,
Burrows, P., Loi, D., Wilkins, L. (2001). E-book readers directions in enabling
technologies. Common Ground, 145–182.
Foasberg, N. M. (2011). Adoption of e-book readers among
college students: A survey. Information
Technology & Libraries, 30(3), 108.
Kenney, B. (2013). Giving them what they should want. Publishers Weekly, 260(9), 19-20.
Priego, E., (2011).
Father
Roberto Busa: one academic's impact on HE and my career". The Guardian London.
Springen, K. (2012). Are teens embracing e-books?. Publishers Weekly, 259(8), 20-23.
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