Loan Caps for E-books?

With technology advancing every day it is inevitable that it is here to stay in the library profession. While technology is supposed to make life easier some may argue that it also brings more problems for the library profession and the institutions. With e-readers, new problems are arising and changing the rules of the library game. Recently Library Journal posted an article about Harper-Collins new lending terms for e-readers for library services and the problems librarians are facing.

Recently this past spring, one of the major publishers Harper-Collins revised their lending terms for e-books and this has cause an outcry from some members in the library community. In their new agreement, Harper-Collins stated that new books that came out via library e-book lenders will only be able to circulate 26 times before the book license expires. This may not seem like a problem at first but if a title is popular, the book license could easily expire quickly and this will cost libraries quite a bit of money. Harper-Collins claimed they settled on 26 circulation limit based on the average life span of a book and factoring in the wear and tear that “print books” encounter. Harper-Collins claims one of the reasons they changed their policy is because it would lead to more book sales and royalties for their authors.

These new lending term agreements are leaving librarians with new problems. Librarians are already struggling with budget cuts and e-book lending policies and user issues, this new policy just leaves more problems for them. Some librarians are even boycotting Harper-Collins products altogether until the publishing company comes up with better terms. Libraries across the country including the Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing consortium, the Upper Hudson Library System, and others are temporarily not buying Harper-Collins publications.

In the end is it really up to the publishers to control the circulation terms for libraries? Libraries are already struggling in this economy and publishers do not know the patrons the libraries serve, so maybe publishing companies need to re-consider their e-book lending terms.


Rapp, D. (2011, April). Harper Collins: 26 -Loan Cap on Library Books. Library Journal, 16-17.

Benefits of E-Readers in County Libraries:

According to the National Association of Counties' publication, County News, county libraries are being benefited by the lending of e-readers.  Shelly Kilgas, the Director of Technology at Grand County Library in Colorado, states in the article that she finds e-books to be more cost efficient for libraries than books in print (Taylor, 2011).  Libraries that offer e-readers to their patrons are seeing an increase in their patronage. Frank Marin, head of audiovisual popular reading services at the Broward’s North Regional-Broward College Library, says in the County News article, “It makes books available to people in a new way, brings people into the library, and I think it’s part of how we adapt today to the changing times for libraries" (Taylor, 2011).  

As a result, for those libraries that offer e-readers, circulation is booming.  At the Arlington County Public Library in Virginia, at any one time 74 percent of their e-book collection was checked out, as compared to 20 percent for their print collections.  Also, borrowers of e-readers are generally considerate with the valuable piece of equipment, something that can not be said for many library books. Frank Marin states in the article that his library had seen no damage to their e-readers, and all of them were accounted for.  Shelly Kilgas said the same for her library (Taylor, 2011).

For now, most libraries are just focusing on e-books.  However e-readers also have the capability to read PDF files, in which case all sorts of documents can be read.  For the county library, this means that  county documents, such as board agendas could be made available for public access.  Also, e-readers would give libraries the capability of offering their own original content (Taylor, 2011).

Now, even though the e-reader has its benefits, the librarians in this article agree that bound books won't go extinct any time soon.  Frank Marin puts it this way: ...The reality is that most often these things exist side by side. The movie theaters didn’t go away when VCRs came along, and certainly we’re always going to have books.  I think there’ll be new ways of accessing them" (Taylor, 2011).  Nicely said, Frank.

Taylor, C. (2011). County libraries see benefits in lending e-readers. County News: The Voice of 

America's Counties, 43(1), Retrieved from http://www.naco.org/newsroom/countynews/Current           Issue/1-17-11/Pages/Countylibrariesseebenefitsinlendinge-readers.aspx

E-Readers at the Romeo District Library

We’ve already discussed e-readers in an academic setting in a previous post and there are many articles on the web that discuss e-readers in public libraries.  I thought it would be interesting though, to find out more about how e-readers are being used in our own local public libraries.  As a result, I made a visit to my local library, the Graubner Branch Library, part of the Romeo District Library in Romeo, Michigan. 

At the library, I spoke with Heather VanFleet, one of the Adult Services Librarians.  She informed me that the Romeo District Library actually has five e-readers that patrons can check out.  She said the only way that Romeo was able to provide the Kindle’s to patrons, was because the Lion’s Club of Romeo donated them. 

I asked her what having e-readers available meant for the library and for the librarians that worked there.  She told me that the library staff is split on how they feel about e-readers, which really didn’t surprise me.  Some of the staff have e-readers and love them and others really don’t like them, but they are still happy that they can offer that service to patrons who do like them.  She also told me that although they are very grateful that they were given Kindles, it also creates some problems.  I wasn’t aware of this before, but apparently Kindles are only compatible with e-books purchased from Amazon.  The e-books available through the Romeo District Library are actually available through Overdrive and the Suburban Library Cooperative.  Not all of the e-books available there are from Amazon and so if a patron checks out a Kindle, they won’t have access to all of the e-books. 

The Lending Agreement Form

Additionally, the Kindles create a little more work and worry for the librarians.  Each patron who wants to check out a kindle, must fill out a Kindle Lending Agreement Form.  The form was actually modeled off of the one used at the Clinton-Macomb Public Library for their e-reader lending.  Additionally, the librarian must fill out a checklist.  Not only do they have to verify that the patron qualifies to borrow an e-reader, but the librarian also has to make sure that the device is still working, that all of the parts are still present, and that the titles are loaded on the Kindle.  Because of e-readers, each librarian who helps a patron check one out must know how to use the e-reader, so that requires additional training for each staff member.

Another issue with e-readers at the Romeo District Library is that because of their value and the limited number of e-readers available, not every patron will be qualified to use the Kindle.  The library requires that each user be at least 18 years old and they must be a resident of either the village of Romeo or two of the surrounding townships.  Additionally, the patron is required to pay a $20.00 refundable deposit.  Not everyone will be able to afford to pay this deposit and so I think it really limits which patrons will be able to use the e-readers.  If the e-reader is damaged or lost, there are additional fees that the patron will be responsible for as well, so there’s a possibility that some people may not want to take that risk of checking one out.  Lastly, their Kindles are only available for a week at a time because of their high demand and for some, that may not be enough time to finish an e-book.

I am in no way saying that I think e-readers in public libraries are a bad idea, nor am I implying that I think the Romeo District Library is doing a poor job at providing e-readers and managing their lending program.  The real problems in providing e-readers in public libraries comes from the fact that there are limits to which e-books are used on which e-readers because of the many different brands and companies that sell them.   Another problem is that because of the high cost of e-readers, libraries have to take many precautions with their e-readers, which can lead to patrons having to shell out quite a bit of money to use one if some sort of accident happens with it.

I actually think having e-readers in a public library could be a great idea, especially for those patrons who would love to be able to use an e-reader and have access to the many e-books available.  I just think that having e-readers in public libraries won’t be a practical thing to offer until the costs go down, so all patrons can have access, and the access to e-books, based on e-reader brand, improves.

Sources and important links listed below:

http://www.libcoop.net/romeo/

http://slc.lib.overdrive.com/A732D534-A90C-46DA-A12D-1BED3D28B52A/10/496/en/Default.htm