ePub Enters the Public Library

Members at both Cleveland Public Library and CLEVNET member libraries can now download EPUB eBooks from the library's website. The EPUB files can be read on the Sony reader or via Adobe Digital Editions on a PC or Mac. Digital aggregator Overdrive is planning to extend the service to other libraries powered by its service.

The libraries are able to offer a variety of borrowing options, such as 7, 14, or 21 day lending periods. This again raises the question that if you are now able to rent an ebook for free, why would you want to buy one? You only need to validate that you are a community member and are entitled to lend material and never need to set foot in a library again. How do we balance a public library and a retail model? What is the impact on author royalties if the dominant ebook model was based them being loaned under a library licence with an aggregator such as Overdrive?

eBooks For Free

We have raised the question of the role of the library within the ebook world. We have written about Overdrive’s Digital Tour and libraries giving registered members free access to digital from anywhere at any time. Just think you can download books whilst the librarian is asleep in bed and the library all locked up. Yet the debate as to how libraries and retailers will digitally co-exist remains largely unvoiced.

Today we read an article in Reuters which gives us some more insights. It reports that in Phoenix a group of library branches, or should the collective noun be a shelf-full, have created a library of some 50,000 titles of ebooks, audiobooks, music tracks and videos that can be checked out from anywhere for free. The community apparently love it.

Just like books the member selects the titles and checks them out and three weeks later, poof, they disappear.

OverDrive with an estimated inventory of some 100,000 titles and working with 7,500 libraries is a major force behind this quiet revolution. Although the files are downloaded to a PC they can then be transfers to many devices dependant on the library and the file format etc.

What is the position of a library versus a retail outlet? When the books were physical people had to consciously attend the library and find the book, but today they merely search an online inventory and download for free, at anytime, for anywhere.
The question we all need to ask is, why would you expect the consumer to pay for it?

Observations From the Sun

Sitting back reading paint, drink and generally unwinding over the last two weeks on in Majorca was bliss but it did bring home a few interesting thoughts. The second week was so relaxing I was clearly blogged out and not blogs were written.

One the book is the reader and although Sony believes that their ‘reader’ can assume the name it can’t. It was interesting to see people of all ages enjoying reading books and it begs the question whether on holiday the only time people read today? My wife devoured six books. However was put down as lacking merit and another (the Sebold was too gruesome to stomach). The stress books go through is plain for all to see – soggy bottoms, damp patches and sand in their cracks!

The really interesting observation was to see the apparent necessity of the family communicator – the laptop. Even in rustic fincas, up mountains and on the coast, all nationalities expected Wi Fi broadband access and had brought their laptops with them. Laptops were not exposed to the elements and were respected sensitive equipment and were being used in reception areas and rooms. The questions we would ask are whether the ebook reader as we know it today can honestly bridge the gap between the laptop and the mobile phone and why would any sane person want use expensive gadgetry by the pool or on the beach where most reading takes place?