The Cost of Convenience

Ereaders in libraries are becoming a very big thing. Many libraries are embracing this new technology and using it to reach out to their patrons, providing them with an alternative option for the “outdated” hard copies of books. It’s also a way to relate to the younger generation, who are mostly quite familiar with the changing technologies of our times. This may, on surface level, appear to be a good thing. But is it really?

Our main goal as librarians is to get the patrons the information they need as conveniently as possible. A drawback to libraries providing ereaders for their patrons is just that: providing.

Ereaders are expensive. That cannot be denied. A library would have to purchase a large quantity of ereaders in order to meet the demands of the public. They would undoubtedly be an item in high demand. Many patrons would prefer these to standard hard copies of books. But ereaders would be checked out on such a constant basis that there may not be enough to go around. Angry patrons may, unfortunately, have to resort to the more primitive methods of checking out hard copies or using interlibrary loans if the ereaders they desire are all checked out.

Another problem when it comes to providing these sorts of items is theft. Unfortunately, some people would much rather snag an ereader from the local library than buy one themselves, or pay to use one repeatedly. In our damaged economy, many people want the luxury of such items without the chore of coughing up the money for it.

In addition to theft, what about maintenance? Suppose a careless patron drops his ereader by accident? What if one is misplaced by a patron or the staff? And constant use tends to wear down the technology and make it run slower. Repairs of this kind must be factored into a budget. We cannot deny that maintenance, especially when it comes to technology and computer items, does not run cheap. We have to stop and wonder if a library would really benefit from providing ereaders to the patrons. Would the cost of maintaining the ereaders, replacing the damaged or lost or stolen, repairing glitches and breaks, outweigh the benefits of providing them to the patrons?

This is a difficult decision to make. On one hand, we as librarians have a duty to provide information to our patrons in as convenient a way as possible. But, on the other hand, as convenient as this method may be for the patron, would it really be convenient for the library itself? It is a tough call that only we as librarians can make as we see fit.

Sources:

http://tracygregory.hubpages.com/hub/Why-School-Libraries-Still-Need-Books-On-the-Shelves

eReaders in Libraries May Actually be a Problem?

One would think that eBooks and eReaders would have a negative impact on the LIS profession. Or, at the very least, you might expect that plenty of librarians are up in arms against the big technology movement.

“Libraries are about BOOKS!” they’d shout. “Technology has no place in our hallowed stacks!”

In truth, weeks of exploration have shown me next to no resistance to the addition of eBooks and eReaders in libraries. Many librarians, in fact, seem to embrace this turn of events. As has been shown in recent posts, libraries are coming up with increasingly creative ways to include these new tools to access text into their stacks.

The drawback to this that I’ve run across is that the purposes of ebooks and libraries tend to be very different; combining them may not be a bad thing, but would it really work?

A library, when it comes to physical texts and/or items, tends to be there for the purposes of loaning these things out to patrons with the expectancy that these items will be returned in the future. Ereaders, on the other hand, tend to be for the purpose of its owner purchasing texts. As the entire process is via the internet and there is no face-to-face exchange when it comes to purchasing texts with ereaders, the concept of lending tends to be an impossible one. Why pay money to virtually borrow a text when you can just keep the text instead?

Which leads to the issue of loaning when it comes to libraries. In this case, libraries serve as a middleman between the ebook company and the patron. In a library, a patron would be charged multiple times for the use of an item that they would only have to pay for once if they owned it. The process is seems to be just complicating a simple process with unnecessary steps. There are other ways to access texts; checking out the physical text itself, or interlibrary loans if your library doesn’t own it. Yes, ereaders allow faster access to texts, but the process of doing this via library tends to be a complicated one. It certainly doesn’t help that the purposes of libraries and ebooks are at opposite ends of the spectrum.


Sources:

LISNews http://lisnews.org/library_thing_why_ebooks_are_bad_libraries

Library Journal http://blog.libraryjournal.com/tennantdigitallibraries/2010/08/19/e-books-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

Facing Reality

As a follow-up to my last post, I would like to touch on the benefits of accepting the realities of the world today when considering the effects of e-readers on the profession. It may be the case that the proliferation of these devices has affected the job prospects of today's librarians negatively, but it is certain that there are many other factors at play. There is another side to this coin, though. With the job market being the way it is, there are many working librarians who are forced to take on more and more responsibilities for the same pay, and who are expected to take care of it all in the same amount of time.

As an example, Michael (whom I mentioned in my previous post) told me about how his elementary school's librarian is only there for half of the day. The other half of the day is spent at another school, and parents who volunteer fill in as best they can while the librarian is out. Sure, it would be great if the school district could afford to staff the two libraries separately, and perhaps interested parties should do all that they can to help that become a reality, but we can't confuse the reality we wish for with the reality we have. By doing so, we would be saying to librarians like the one at Michael's school that we are abandoning them to their fate. The reality of the situation is such that e-readers could be an incredible benefit to employed librarians who are finding themselves shouldering much more responsibilities than they ever anticipated. Think about how much easier it would be to manage two libraries if the collections consisted mostly of e-books. It could be done from a single computer and, presumably, would be equivalent to managing a single collection. Students would not need to physically check books out and it would not be necessary to ask for parent volunteers to staff the library, which is better for everyone as parents have less and less time these days outside of work.

As with many aspects of the relationship between librarians and technology, we must keep in mind that change happens; it is not something we can avoid or that we can prevent. It is our job to look at the changes which are taking place and take advantage of them in order to benefit our patrons and our profession. Yes, it is a shame that librarians are having a difficult time finding employment. We are not the only ones, however, and we cannot use technology as a scapegoat. What we can do is recognize the prevalence of e-readers and use them to provide the best service we can for our patrons and, as I think many of our blog posts show, there are plenty of ways for librarians to use e-readers effectively.

Some Positive Aspects of E-readers…

With e-readers, libraries now have the chance to offer more content to patrons with these new devices. In Sue Polanka’s article “Improving Library Services with E-books” she offers new insights to how e-books improve services for patrons and how they are a positive contribution for libraries.

One of her first arguments is how with e-readers libraries can now let patrons access content anywhere and anytime. Patrons can now check out books any time of the day and are no longer confined to library hours at a physical location. Patrons can access and check out books any time of the day or night. Polanka believes this is good for libraries because instead of materials taking up physical space in the library they can purchase materials that are electronic and available 24/7. She insists that space in the library can go towards more important things. She also mentions with the advancement of e-readers, libraries can focus more on another important factor which is service.

Another plus to e-readers in the library that benefits patrons and libraries is that e-readers often do not go under the physical damage most books encounter. With e-readers, e-books can’t be lost, stolen, they also can’t have pages ripped out and ruined, or be shelved physically in the wrong place in a library. Another plus to having e-books is if libraries have unlimited access, with unlimited access multiple library patrons can check out the same book at the same time, people would no longer have to wait and have a book put on hold for them. People could access e-books from any part of the world as well, they no longer would need to pick up a book, and instead they could also have the content delivered electronically. Patrons would also no longer have to wait for shipping either, when a book was finally published it could be delivered that same day electronically, and no longer have to wait a package to ship, libraries would also not have to wait either for titles to arrive at the library.

One of the biggest advantages with e-books Polanka argues is that e-books let users full text search. Full text searching lets users search the chapters, image captions, along with charts and graphs, which is one of the factors people like and value e-books.
Finally the last point Polanka talks about is virtual reference services. Polanka says, “Using virtual reference services, librarians can successful/y answer questions and provide content to users by sending persistent URLs for the title, chapter, or page of a book, e-mailing articles from encyclopedias, downloading book chapters to a shared network drive, and copying and pasting text. Many librarians use video sharing software like Jing to demonstrate complicated searches or features in online products and make them understandable to remote users. Such software provides visual opportunities for library instruction in a virtual environment.”

Polanka offers a lot of great points on how e-readers can have a positive impact for both patrons and libraries, but I wish she addressed more aspects of new services libraries can offer that don’t involve e-books. I also felt she could have dig deeper into the subject. She also could have explored how these advantages would have on libraries in the long run. I also wished she looked at the negative aspects as well because for every good quality there might be something bad. In general, these positive aspects of e-readers would benefit any library or patron.

Source: Polanka, S.. (2011, July). Improving Library Services with E-Books. Information Outlook, 15(5), 13-15.

OverDrive, Publishers, and eBooks. Oh my!

Due to an increase in e-reader ownership, more and more libraries are providing patrons with access to e-books, with the help of e-book providers like Overdrive.  To patrons, these e-book providers are a great service which their libraries provide them.  Which e-reader owner doesn’t want access to hundreds of popular titles, available to be borrowed for free from their public library?  If I had an e-reader, I know I would definitely take advantage of this resource.  In order for libraries to keep up with new technology and thus the needs of their tech savvy patrons, libraries know that it’s important to provide these services.  There are many reasons why these types of services are great for patrons and libraries, but many librarians feel that patronizing e-book providers, like Overdrive, is more problematic than it is beneficial, at least from a library stand-point. 

The Kansas State Library, which signed its first contract with OverDrive in December 2005, had to renegotiate with the vendor this year, as their contract would soon be up.  The new contract they received from Overdrive however, was not one that they were expecting, or could even afford.  As it turned out, OverDrive was increasing their price by 700% over their last contract.  In addition to the extraordinary increase in price, there was also a change in how the eBooks would be provided to them.  With their old contract, eBooks were considered purchased content, but in the new contract, it was obvious that the library would no longer be owning the eBooks, they were now only provided license to lend them to library users for as long as the contract was valid.  And so, the Kansas State Library chose to not renew their agreement with OverDrive and they have yet to find a new provider.  Kansas State Librarian, Jo Budler, feels that it really isn’t OverDrive’s fault though, she says:  “OverDrive is really caught in a squeeze as a middleman – all of these eBook vendors are – with publishers on one side and libraries and their patrons on the other.”[1] 

One of the main reasons why OverDrive had to change their contracts with their customers is because of publishers changing the way in which libraries can lend out their books, now that eBooks are a huge part of a library’s catalogue.  HarperCollins for instance, now limits libraries to lending out each of their titles only 26 times before the library has to re-pay for additional lending.  Since providers, like OverDrive are caught in the middle, Budler says “we need to collaborate as partners – libraries and publishers.  Let’s all gain from this.”

For those of you wondering why libraries would even try to work with eBook providers right now considering this transitional period seems to be a costly hassle, I will provide you with some positive information about eBooks in libraries, as it really isn’t ALL bad.  In October, Overdrive released their third quarter results, which include numbers from the 15,000 libraries that utilize the OverDrive network.  The results showed that the number of eBooks checked out nearly tripled in number for the third quarter, in comparison to all of 2010.  Additionally, there were more than 2 million new users, using not only e-readers, but mobile devices as well.  Since users have to have a library card and check-out these eBooks from their local libraries, this can only mean one thing:  E-Readers and eBooks are actually bringing people to their local libraries, as opposed to keeping them away, which is what many people thought would happen.   Libraries should be able to rejoice knowing that technology won’t be making them obsolete, but in the mean time, they have those pesky contracts (and those greedy publishers) to worry about.

                Sources:

1. “Kansas Leading the Fight for Fair Ebook Access in Libraries,” Nancy K. Herther.  http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/Kansas-Leading-the-Fight-for-Fair-Ebook-Access-in-Libraries-78302.asp
2.  “eBook growth in public libraries powered by OverDrive results in record checkouts and new Users,” OverDrive Press Release [October 12, 2011].  http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?

Are e-readers truly the future?

In a world where e-readers seem to be taking control of the casual reading market, it is only natural to wonder if they can or will be as popular in other settings as well. More specifically, is it possible for elementary school students to utilize these tools effectively and, if so, how early should the be included in a child's education? To answer these questions, I spoke with two teachers currently working in elementary schools in the United States.

The first, Michael, has been teaching for almost three decades at various grade levels, including elementary, middle, and high school. He has also recently begun using an Amazon Kindle. When asked if he thought that e-readers would be relevant to education in the near future, his answer was an emphatic "yes". He went on to say, in fact, that he believed that e-readers would be the "next big thing in education, especially at the elementary level." At his school, students are evaluated twice a year to determine their reading levels and the main areas where they require improvement. Each classroom includes a small "library" of fiction and non-fiction books at various levels and the students select books to read from the appropriate level. A digital library would not only be able to cover a wider range of books for the students, but would require less upkeep than the physical libraries that are housed within each individual classroom. Students also could not really "lose" e-books, at least not in a way that would require replacement in the school's collection.

He went on to mention the ease with which teachers could track student reading, and that the software could suggest books directly to the students based on their reading level and areas of interest. Along these lines, he brought up the particular difficulty of finding books for adolescent boys. Most children's and young adult books are written with girls in mind rather than boys, according to Michael. He believes that it would be easier for picky readers to find books which they might enjoy with the introduction of e-readers, something that would encourage more students to be casual readers in the long run.

The second teacher whom I spoke to, Devin, works as an art teacher at an elementary school and has been teaching for less than five years. Though she does not have any experience using e-readers in her classroom, she has seen their implementation in the rest of the school. Often, she finds, children seem to learn their use faster than adults to, and she definitely advocates their use with children as young as four or five. Their are some drawbacks to the introduction of e-readers that Devin mentioned, such as "the expense and having to take the time to train teachers." However, she felt that "most [teachers] would react in a very positive way." The use of e-readers would also free up a great deal of space in small classrooms, a fact that both she and Michael mentioned.

The consensus from both teachers was that e-readers will, in the very near future, replace books as the preferred medium in schools. As Devin put it: "For schools, I say it is only a matter of time before books are completely replaced." She did, however, preface this with the following statement: "Personally, I like holding a physical book in my hand but that is because I am a nerd."

Amen to that, sister.

"The E-Book: Pipe Dream or Potential Disaster?": A Prescient Projection of the Future

In recent times, the e-book has come on strong as society lauds convenience as a means for procuring texts for education and entertainment and e-readers have finally hit the mainstream consciousness. The successes of e-books and e-readers have been a long time coming, predicted well over a decade ago by David Dorman in “The E-Book: Pipe Dream or Potential Disaster?”.

Some of the issues raised in the February 1999 article are currently affecting libraries today. The most important issues confronting information stakeholders, Dorman argued, have to do with "the fact that the digital content of an e-book breaks through the limitations of the book as a physical item - limitations that form the basis for the economic and institutional relationships among the information stakeholders." (Dorman, 36-37). Though a fantasy thirteen years ago, this has become all too true; just as the ease of procuring of an MP3 file has forever altered the way a listener enjoys music, the ease of procuring an e-book in ePub or PDF formats has forever altered the way a reader enjoys reading. "If electronic readers become popular," Dorman went on, "content sources for free e-books... could become the major suppliers of books in the public domain." (Dorman, 37).

Dorman’s article concluded with the following regarding terms and conditions of use:

“In the long run it will not simply be the inevitable success of electronic-book viewers that will profoundly affect libraries; rather it will be the terms and conditions for use of their digital content. It behooves librarians who care about the role of libraries in society and about the need to preserve freedom of information access to take an active role in shaping the fundamental tools and rules that will control our access to digital information.” (Dorman, 39).

As Kristy and Katie have pointed out before me, there are currently a finite number of times that certain publishers will allow a library to lend out an e-book, putting libraries at the mercy of the publishers, the libraries forced to repurchase electronic copies once the maximum number (whatever it may be) is reached. Though the battle for access goes on, the publishers unfortunately seem to have the upper hand at this point.

With reduced budgets and millages, it is essential to invest in the right items for patrons. The difficulties of keeping up with technological advances will forevermore be an integral part of the role of the librarian and librarian professional. Change is the name of the game... when it comes to e-books and e-readers, it is essential for those in the library field to think about all that can be offered electronically and to strive to preserve and increase access to electronic reading material just as we must strive to preserve and increase access to our old standard bearers.

Source: Dorman, D. "The e-book: pipe dream or potential disaster?" American Libraries 30(2). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25635325