Librarian by Day » eBooks

Working with eBooks? Please Take this Pew Survey

Bobbi Newman — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:51:53 +0000

Actually there are two surveys – one for those working in libraries and one for patrons. If you work in a library and work with ebooks please take a few minutes to take the first survey. Please share the second survey with your patrons.

The surveys will be live April 16 through May 18.

The survey’s are part of a the research Pew is conducting on the role of libraries in the digital age (disclaimer: I serve on the Library Advisory Board). The next report will be available this summer (the first one was released in April). Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, will provide an update on the Pew library research on Sunday, June 24, at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim.

Survey One

This survey is targeted at librarians and other people who work at public libraries that lend e-books. We would like your input; please take the survey, it takes about 15 minutes. It is available here: http://libraries.pewinternet.org/participate/survey/e-book-lenders

Login: your prefered email address
Password: please email Kathryn Zuckuhr (kzickuhr AT pewinternet.org) for the password with Pew Library Password as the subject. If you prefer you may also email me for the password.(bobbi.newman AT gmail.com)

Survey Two

The second survey is for patrons who check out e-books from their local public library. It is available here: http://libraries.pewinternet.org/participate/survey/e-book-borrowers. It also takes about 15 minutes. This survey is not password protected.

Pew has created a brief message (available below) that you can share via your website, e-newsletters, social media and other dissemination methods, as well as a flyer and code that can be used to embed the survey on your library’s website. To get the Web code and/or flyer, please contact Kathryn Zickuhr at kzickuhr@pewinternet.org.

Template for Patron Survey:

The Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project is conducting an online survey of library patrons. We ask that you take the survey to help us out. All responses will be confidential. The survey should take about 15 minutes.

To take the survey, visit: http://libraries.pewinternet.org/participate/survey/e-book-borrowers

The Pew Internet Project will also be doing other general surveys of library patrons, as well as non-library-users who own e-readers or tablet computers. If you would like to participate future surveys, sign up here to be notified.

To learn more about the Pew Internet Project’s research on e-reading and libraries, which is entirely free and available to the public, visit libraries.pewinternet.org.

Background Information

The ALA, IMLS, COSLA and other library leaders are advisors on a national research effort studying the changing role of public libraries in the digital age, as well as the experiences and expectations of public library users. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project to conduct surveys and provide analysis related to reading and e-reading; the changing world of public library services and the choices public libraries must make; and a typology of who does – and does not – use public libraries. As many of you know, Pew is a national leader in this kind of research, and their reputation and reach are high and wide – and the Project is interested in learning about the work and opinions of public librarians. We believe this effort will provide the kind of data-based information public libraries are demanding to proactively meet changing community needs and advocate for the future.

And, like all research efforts, it can’t happen without you. The first major report in this series was just released and examined the “rise of e-reading” and how people find and consume long-form digital content. That report is available online at libraries.pewinternet.org.

The next report in this research series will look specifically at people’s experiences in public libraries, especially their use of e-books and other digital services. To inform this research, Pew is supplementing its usual nationally representative phone surveys with two online surveys to draw out the deeper, richer stories behind the data.Similar Posts:

Ebook Readership Increases, Still Only 21%

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:31:39 +0000

Before you get too excited about the 21% who have read an ebook in the last year compared it with the 22% who reported not reading a book at all.

That compares with 22% who told us they had not read a book in the previous 12 months or didn’t answer a book-reading question in December 2011.

That number, the number of people NOT reading books at all in any format, it’s going up too.

Where did I get this fun and exciting data? Yesterday Pew released it’s report on The Rise of e-Reading. The report is full of data related to ereaders, ebooks, and the general reading and book borrowing habits of Americans. the whole thing deserves reading. (Full disclaimer – I serve on the Library Advisory Board for this research)

Specifically related to libraries (emphasis added by me):

When readers were asked about the most recent book they read in any format, print, audio, or e-book: How had they gotten it? Almost half (48%) of readers age 16 and older said they had purchased it. About a quarter (24%) said they had borrowed it from a friend or family member, and 14% said they borrowed it from a library.

One area this report does not address is why? Why did only 14% borrow from the library? Because the waiting list was too long, the title wasn’t available, or the process was too complicated or some other reason?

In a December 2011 survey, we found that a majority of print readers (54%) and readers of e-books (61%) prefer to purchase their own copies of these books. Meanwhile, most audiobook listeners prefer to borrow their audiobooks; just one in three audiobook listeners (32%) prefer to purchase audiobooks….

Again we don’t know the answer to why for this data. Is it because the check out time is too short, the library doesn’t have the book, the process was too complicated, the wait was too long or some other reason?

Some noteworthy general facts (emphasis added by me):

(21%) report that they have read an e-book in the past year

Personally I was happy to see this number as I was taken to task repeatedly for my estimate of 29% (most felt it was far too low)

Those who have taken the plunge into reading e-books stand out in almost every way from other kinds of readers.

Foremost, they are relatively avid readers of books in all formats: 88% of those who read e-books in the past 12 months also read printed books.

Compared with other book readers, they read more books.

They read more frequently for a host of reasons: for pleasure, for research, for current events, and for work or school.

They are also more likely than others to have bought their most recent book, rather than borrowed it

They are more likely than others to say they prefer to purchase books in general, often starting their search online.

This is not particularly surprising but it is good to see the data confirm suspicions.

Those who own e-book readers and tablets are avid readers of books in all formats. On any given day, 49% of those who own e-book readers like the original Kindles and Nooks are reading an e-book. And 59% of those e-reader owners said they were reading a printed book. On any given day, 39% of tablet owners are reading an e-book and 64% were reading a printed book.

Looks like print isn’t dead after all

The availability of e-content is an issue to some. Of the 43% of Americans who consumed e-books in the last year or have read other long-form content on digital devices, a majority say they find the e-content is available in the format they want.

So 57% are having difficulties finding content in the format they want.

It is also worth noting the social, economic and racial lines of e-reader and tablet ownership

This report is part of the larger Pew Internet and American Life Research funded by the Gates Foundation on Libraries in the Digital Age. As a librarian and a member of the Library Advisory Group for this research I was thrilled to see it get its own URL and section on the website at www.libraries.pewinternet.org

You may notice that this website looks and feels a bit different from the home site of pewinternet.org. As part of our multi-year study of the changing role of public libraries in the digital age, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we felt it was important to give this work its own “room,” so to speak. You will still be able to find all of these reports and presentations at our home site, but you’ll also have libraries.pewinternet.org as a one-stop shop for everything that Pew Internet does that relates to libraries. Marry Madden

This report lays some good groundwork for future research and reports. We all know issues surrounding ebooks are taking up a great deal of our time and energy, and now we have good data about who is using ebooks and ereaders.

You can subscribe to the library blog via RSS, or all Pew updates on Twitter or Facebook.

Over the next year, Pew will be sending out surveys to four groups:

Library patrons
E-reader or tablet users
Library e-book borrowers
Librarians

If you fall into any of these groups and you are interested in being a part of our research, you can learn more here.

Additional Commentary On The Report:

E-book Consumers Read More Books Says Pew Report Similar Posts:

Should Libraries Get Out of the eBook Business?

Bobbi Newman — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:14:32 +0000

Or get out at least until there is a better system?

I know what you are going to say, I can hear it already – “We can’t! Our patrons demand ebooks!” Except the truth is our patrons want a lot of things we can’t give them – to always be first on the waiting list for the new James Patterson, to not pay fines when their books are late, for the library to be open earlier or later, or to have a system besides Dewey because despite using it their entire lives they still cannot figure it out. When it comes to ebooks, we cannot give them what they want, not really, we cannot give them books from Simon and Schuster or MacMillian or new books from Penguin or Hatchet, and not more than 26 times from HarperCollins, and probably not many books from Random House. What we can do, what maybe we should do, is spend their tax money wisely, and I am no longer convinced that spending it on the current ebook system is a wise move.

The Demand:

First let’s look at the demand. As librarians we spend a great deal of time thinking and talking about books and subsequently ebooks. But the truth is we spend far more time focusing on ebooks than the population. Reports vary on the actually percentage of the population that actually own an ereader but general consensus agrees that after the holiday season this year it is only about 19 percent of the population that owns an ereader, if you factor in tablets that number rises to 29%. Of course there is no guarantee that those tablet owners are reading ebooks on their device, but I’ll be generous and go with 29%. Ok, you say but we still have to serve that 29%.

The Supply

But what are we serving them? One only has to look at Library Journal’s A Guide to Publishers in the Library Ebook Market to realize it’s pretty slim pickings. So we’re providing a mediocre access at best.

The Process

Plus if you have the fortune to be the person at your library who is responsible for helping patrons with ebooks and troubleshooting problems you know that the process is a nightmare. In order to borrow library ebooks a patrons must have a compatible device, a home computer capable of running Adobe Digital Editions, a high-speed internet connection, and enough tech savvy to set everything up and get it to work correctly. If all goes well, wonderful! But if one thing goes wrong, woe to the librarian providing support over the phone. Honestly the process is a nightmare. The most beautiful thing to happen to the ebook lending process was the partnership with Amazon that allowed it to happen wirelessly.

A Mess

The whole thing is a hot mess. A hot mess that is consuming our time, our resources and a our money. We are in the midst of the ebook wars, just look at the number of proprietary systems and file formats.

Or look at the regular headlines about publishers fighting with Amazon over pricing, the latest being Amazon yanks 5,000 titles from Independent Publishers Group, a Chicago book distributor.

I can’t help but wonder if Guy LeCharles Gonzales is right when he writes:

Stop buying ebooks across the board, at any price, under any terms. Let publishers fight it out with Amazon, and when the dust finally settles (it will) and a viable business model appears (maybe), begin negotiating anew, on solid ground, with whomever’s left standing.

In the meantime, libraries can redirect those precious resources and finances being flagged for ebooks towards more tangible initiatives in their respective communities.

Surely every library has a service gap or three to fill that’s more valuable than overpaying for temporary licenses to files and platforms they don’t own, that may or may not work on their patrons’ devices of choice, and whose pricing can fluctuate more wildly than that of crude oil and Netflix stock.

Maybe libraries should just stop buying ebooks until there is a real, viable solution to the situation. Do not mistake me, I do not think we should stop looking for a solution or stop advocating on behalf of our patrons, but I do think perhaps we should stop throwing good money at a bad solution.

I am certainly not the only one thinking about this, Andy Woodworth offers a list of alternative uses for your ebook budgets. I have suggested it before and I will suggest it again, take a look a Library Renewal.

We need a solution to the library/ebook problem, we need a seat at the table in ebook discussions, but right now libraries (and our patrons) are just collateral damage in the ebooks war.

Karen Schneider points out in her recent post about publishers, ebooks, and libraries:

Note that publishers have had their eyes on libraries for a long time. A pioneering librarian, Marvin Scilken, led the charge to expose imbalance in bookstore/library pricing decades ago, which resulted in an agreement on library pricing that no doubt has stuck in publishers’ craws ever since. (See his Wikipedia bio, cf. the section “1966 Senate Hearing on the Price Fixing of Library Books.”) Depending on who is in office, there would have to be some similar sympathy these days. Studying those hearings and their arguments might be useful. (Just like studying librarians of yore is valuable. Definitely at least one entire week in my Fantasy Library Class.)

How Marvin proceeded, and succeeded, might be a very useful research question to pursue in the ALA library and ALA archives — and could be a great class project for that class I don’t have time to teach. But one thing’s for sure: the good work Marvin did in 1966 is now being upended. Then again, maybe, in its own way, it can be repeated.

I have been thinking for a while now that we will not find a solution by politely saying “please, sir, I want some more“. After all we (as a society not libraries) did not get the first sale doctrine out of the goodness of someone’s heart, it came from a court case. Maybe we need to stop asking. It wouldn’t be the first time.

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Random House eBook Price Hike Round Up

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:20:39 +0000

Normally I would be all fired up and writing a post of my own on this, but right now I just feel defeated. So here’s the break down.

What Random House said

Titles available in print as new hardcovers: $65- $85
Titles available for several months, or generally timed to paperback release: $25-$50
New children’s titles available in print as hardcovers: $35-$85
Older children’s titles and children’s paperbacks: $25-$45

What it looked like in reality (new prices went into effect on Thursday)

Eisenhower in War and Peace $40 Wednesday, $120 on Thursday (print version a little over $20 (it retails at $40).
Blessings by Anna Quindlen – $15 on Wednesday, $45 on Thursday

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Mea Culpa on Penguin and Libraries and An Alternative to OverDrive

Bobbi Newman — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:07:35 +0000

I feel I need to make a clarification on yesterday’s post title How to Talk to Your Patrons About Penguin & Other Publishers Not Loaning eBooks to Libraries - Penguin did NOT stop doing business with libraries. They stopped doing business with OverDrive.

As Publisher’s Lunch Points out:

As we have reported multiple times, but does not seem to have seeped out into general reports or public consciousness, multiple publishers have told us that Overdrive’s implementation of their Kindle library lending–in which library patrons are sent to a commercial, third-party retailer, in this case Amazon–is in their view a direct violation of Overdrive’s contracts. Remember that in November, Penguin said clearly it “informed suppliers to libraries that it expected them to abide by existing agreements to offer older digital titles to libraries only if those files were held behind the firewalls of the suppliers.” Not the firewalls of retailers. Also in November, Penguin said it had “subsequently been informed by Amazon that it had not been consulted by Overdrive about the terms of Penguin’s agreement with Overdrive,” which, you can reasonably infer, does not allow Kindle lending the way Overdrive was executing it.

It just so happens that OverDrive is the dominate business model for public library ebook lending. So what do we do? Yes, I still recommend the scripts I shared yesterday, I think it is important that we are explaining to patrons articulately and succinctly why we don’t have the books they want. There are other publishers on that list who are not doing business with libraries, and publishers who are regularly changing the terms of their business deal with OverDrive and libraries.

The other thing we need is a reasonable alternative to OverDrive, one publishers will work with. So I am suggesting you take a look at Library Renewal.

Library Renewal is a non-profit that is for libraries, by libraries and with libraries. Their mission is to create a sustainable, reasonable platform for e-content delivery for libraries. You can find out more about them on their about page, make a donation to support them either by purchasing cool swag or by making a cash donation. If you are a library director consider being a partner library.

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How to Talk to Your Patrons About Penguin & Other Publishers Not Loaning eBooks to Libraries

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:48:08 +0000

[edited 2/11/2012] I feel I need to clarify that Penguin did not stop doing business with libraries, they stopped doing business with OverDrive, read more here.

And how to get them to talk to the Publishers.

I’ve had this post in my drafts for a long time. I originally planned to include it in my November post Penguin Pulls eBooks From Public Libraries Dropping it Down to 1 of the Big 6 Publishers Playing Nice With Libraries, but cut it at the last minute. Thanks to Sarah’s post about Penguin’s decision to end it’s contract with OverDrive. I’m digging it out and polishing it off. In the comments from 9 Reasons Publishers Should Stop Acting Like Libraries Are The Enemy several people asked for a script for patron conversations regarding publishers that don’t loan their ebooks to libraries. Please remember this script is JUST a suggestion, but it is always in the best interest of libraries to remain professional and courteous.

Possible scripts for your conversation with your patrons when they ask why the library does not have an ebook from a publisher who has chosen not to lend to libraries:

I completely understand your frustration, unfortunately [insert publisher] has chosen not to allow public libraries to loan their ebooks. If you would like I can provide you with contact information for [insert publisher].

I know, I wish we had [insert title] too! Unfortunately [insert publisher] has chosen not to allow public libraries to loan their ebooks. If you would like I can provide you with contact information for [insert publisher].

Possible scripts for patrons talking to publishers.

Hi my name is [insert name] I am a patron of [insert library name]. It has recently come to my attention that [insert publishers] had made the decision not to loan ebooks to public libraries. I am writing/calling to express my concerns. I am a library patron but I am also a book buyer. In the last year I purchased [insert number] print books and/or [insert number] of ebooks and/or [insert number] of audiobooks. I am writing/calling to ask you to reconsider working with public libraries.

There are just suggestions, consider them a starting place. If you have others please share!

pdf of script and contact info.

Contact information for publishers

Macmillan Publishing
75 Varick Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 226-7521
customerservice@mpsvirginia.com

Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
(212) 698-7000
http://simonandschuster.com/about/contact_us

Hachette Book Group
466 Lexington Avenue #131
New York, NY 10017
(212) 364-1100
customer.service@hbgusa.com

Penguin Group
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 366-2000
ecommerce@us.penguingroup.com

Brilliance Audio
1704 Eaton Drive
Grand Haven, MI 49417
(616) 846-5256
libsales@brillianceaudio.com

HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212-207-7000
feedback2@harpercollins.com

9 Reasons Publishers Should Stop Acting Like Libraries Are The Enemy

Bobbi Newman — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:00:27 +0000

1. Libraries let people read your books.

I know, I know, you think that if it weren’t for libraries more people would buy your books, I have bad news for you, if it weren’t for libraries people would read less not buy more books. There is no guarantee that the people who read a library copy could, or would, choose to buy your book. Let’s face it no one who is willing spend 4 months on the waiting list for their favorite author is going to buy that hardback copy and probably not the trade paperback or paperback either (have you seen the price of mass market paperbacks lately?). Instead of seeing that library book as money out of your pocket consider it another book sold that wouldn’t have been and more importantly consider it the gateway drug to your author. Millions of people discover their new favorite author through their local library.

2. Libraries introduce people to your books

For children we are a magical place where they can check out 20 or 50 books a week and take them home to read or for parents to read those books. We do story times and other educational and fun programs for children instilling a life long love of reading. This wouldn’t happen anywhere else. Without this introduction to books at an early age you would not have so many adult customers.

As adults its called Readers Advisory. It’s that thing we do when someone comes to us and says they’d like something to read. For the record we do it better than Amazon, because we’re real people who listen and read too, not some formula. Let’s face it you need readers advisory because people ( especially in this economy) aren’t willing to gamble money on a new author.

3. We celebrate books and authors everyday, all year long.

Book clubs, displays and more! We throw these huge parties celebrating your books and your authors at our libraries. We encourage others to read your books, buying multiple copies, and then we sit around talking about them for hours. We create displays to promote your books helping more people discover them. All of this leads to sales.

4. Archives

We keep copies of your older books that the bookstores have sold at discount prices or gotten rid of. We will buy additional copies when the ones we have get old or lost or stolen.

5. Publicity

Yes we’ve already covered readers advisory, book clubs and story times but what about, newsletters, new books, returned books. We also do huge city-wide read-a-longs in our communities, invite authors for readings and signings. With the predicted death of physical bookstores you’re really going to need a place to host those authors signings, especially in the smaller towns.

6. We WANT to buy your books.

In the day and age when you are so worried about piracy, we are offering to pay and we are offering a reasonable method for people to read your books without piracy. We’ve even agreed to your ridiculous anti-piracy methods that make the process cumbersome and frustrating for everyone.

7. We love books too.

Sure not for the same reasons you do, but we want there to be a future for books too.

8. Who else is going to pay those ridiculously high database and journal prices?

Not the general public or the students. The library can barely afford them, you’re raking us over the coals here guys.

9. Library users are your best customers.

Yep, its true. A recent study by Library Journal and Bowker PubTrack Consumer reports

Our data show that over 50% of all library users report purchasing books by an author they were introduced to in the library,” Miller noted. “This debunks the myth that when a library buys a book the publisher loses future sales. Instead, it confirms that the public library does not only incubate and support literacy, as is well understood in our culture, but it is an active partner with the publishing industry in building the book market, not to mention the burgeoning e-book market.

Don’t forget the white paper released by OverDrive on How eBook Catalogs at Public Libraries Drive Publishers’ Book Sales and Profits

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Penguin Pulls eBooks From Public Libraries Dropping it Down to 1 of the Big 6 Publishers Playing Nice With Libraries

Bobbi Newman — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:25:53 +0000

image by Andy Woodworth

Yesterday the big news online was Penguin Groups decision to withhold new titles from OverDrive, meaning new Penguin titles are no longer available for library patrons to check out. Additionally Penguin has requested that OverDrive no longer allow library patrons to check out existing Penguin titles on Kindle devices and apps.

Penguin’s Official Statement emphasis added by me

Penguin has been a long-time supporter of libraries with both physical and digital editions of our books. We have always placed a high value on the role that libraries can play in connecting our authors with our readers. However, due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions, we find it necessary to delay the availability of our new titles in the digital format while we resolve these concerns with our business partners. Penguin’s aim is to always connect writers and readers, and with that goal in mind, we remain committed to working closely with our business partners and the library community to forge a distribution model that is secure and viable. In the meantime, we want to assure you that physical editions of our new titles will continue to be available in libraries everywhere.

OverDrive’s Official Statement (which of course came after the Penguin statement because OverDrive always responses late, sorry guys but you do) again emphasis added by me.

Last week Penguin sent notice to OverDrive that it is reviewing terms for library lending of their eBooks. In the interim, OverDrive was instructed to suspend availability of new Penguin eBook titles from our library catalog and disable “Get for Kindle” functionality for all Penguin eBooks. We apologize for this abrupt change in terms from this supplier. We are actively working with Penguin on this issue and are hopeful Penguin will agree to restore access to their new titles and Kindle availability as soon as possible.

All existing Penguin eBook titles in your library’s catalog are still available and additional copies can be added.

Honestly I just don’t understand this. As Kate Sheehan puts in on Twitter

You don’t have to work with libraries, but if you’re not going to, at least give us a reason that isn’t insulting to our intelligence.

Penguin doesn’t state which “security” issues they are concerned about, but I think it is safe to assume it has something to do with piracy. Apparently public libraries are full of pirates? Sorry I’m goning to have to agree with Wilda Williams on this one

Given how cumbersome downloading library ebooks sometimes can be, real hackers aren’t going to bother with libraries.

And really Penguin? You’re gunning for public libraries when there are much bigger fish to fry?

OK, I really want to write this post without it turning into a rant. Let me attempt to do so.

We are assuming the security issue is piracy because that seems to be the main concern with ebooks. First I did a quick check on a couple of popular torrent sites and I can confirm that The Help and a number of other ebooks from the homepage of the Penguin website are available to download from both. If Penguin is attempting to keep their ebooks from being pirated the genie is already out of the bottle on that one. I can also confirm that many titles from Simon & Schuster and MacMillan are available on torrent sites. Based on this I think we can conclude that allowing library patrons to read your ebooks on their device does not lead to pirating since neither MacMillan or S&S allow libraries access to their ebooks. Second, we know that most people don’t pirate because they are nefarious criminals walking around with handlebar mustaches tying damsels in distress to railroad tracks,they pirate because a reasonable legal option isn’t available. Now we can debate all day about what constitutes a “reasonable legal option” but since we already know that DRM does not work wouldn’t it be better to stop beating that dead horse, especially at the expense of a public institution like public libraries? After all we’re on your side, why aren’t you on ours?

The Big Six

Now let’s talk about the Big Six. If you’re not familiar that would be Hachette, HarperCollins, MacMillian, Penguin, Random House and Simon & Schuster.

Both MacMillion and Simon & Schuster have refused to make their ebooks available to public libraries since day one.
Hachette Book Group stopped offering its frontlist ebook titles to libraries in July.
HarperCollins – last year HC announced their 26 check out policy.
Penguin – right now new titles aren’t available while they work out security concerns
Random House – happily works with libraries. Yay Random House!

I encourage you to share your opinion with them respecrivelly regarding this decision. I also encourage you to share their contact information with your patrons who voice concerns about the unavailabiilty of their titles

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Why Amazon’s Lending Library is Not a Threat to Public Libraries

Bobbi Newman — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:36:21 +0000

I had no idea that Amazon’s announcement would signal the end of the world, or at least the end of public libraries, or as my friend & colleague Andy puts it, the library apocalypse or I would have included this in yesterday’s post.

First let’s talk numbers about the Amazon Lending Library*

Prime costs $79 a year, that’s roughly $6.58 a month.
You must have a Kindle (not an app) to use the Amazon Lending Library, those start at $79.
There are 5,000 titles available, (here’s a breakdown by genre)
None of the six largest publishers in the U.S. is participating.
You get one book per month, that doesn’t roll over.

Now library ebook/book numbers (I’m not even going to get into other library services and the availability of a real live person to help you)

No additional cost, its covered by taxes
You can use any number of devices for ebooks and no device at all required for print
Untold numbers of titles available
3 of the largest US publishers allow ebook titles in libraries, all allow print.
Unlimited books per month

Now let’s talk some other numbers.

12% of U.S. adults own an ereader. Not a Kindle, an ereader, which includes all other dedicated ereaders.
46.2 million Americans live below the poverty line
20.5 million Americans are living at 50% or less than poverty line, they are the poorest of the poor.

Now let’s look at the doomsday perspective - the numbers just do not add up. Let’s take the number of ebook readers -12% and be SUPER generous and assume that means that 10% of the population owns a Kindle, that’s 90% of the population that doesn’t. Now you have to assume that the 90% a) can afford a Kindle & a prime membership for every household member and b) wants a Kindle. Those are some pretty big leaps that I’m just not taking with you.

You also have to assume that having access to the Amazon Lending Library means users would stop using the public library system. Also inaccurate. For some one book a month might be enough. But, as someone who as worked in libraries and bookstores most of my life I’m pretty sure that’s not an accurate depiction of an avid reader.

Don’t forget that publishers (and writers) have a dog in this fight too. They’ve already stated they don’t care for this model for ebooks (though they were referring to libraries when they said it) and last time push came to shove with Amazon the publishers won.

* I know some people are getting all up in arms about the use of the word “library”, I’m choosing to ignore it even though Webster’s first defintion of library is “a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale” because it has come to mean so much more and I’m not getting in pissing contest over semantics when there are larger issues here, including that it doesn’t matter what Amazon calls itself, it matters how people see it.

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Amazon Announces Kindle Lending Library for Prime Members

Bobbi Newman — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:13:13 +0000

If you have been paying attention you knew it was coming. The Kindle Lending Library from Amazon. If you own a Kindle, yes you have to have a device not an app, and a Prime Membership you can now borrow books from Amazon.

More Info

Kindles start at $79
Prime Membership is $79 a year.
You can only borrow one book per calendar month.
Right now there are about 5,000 titles.
The book currently being borrowed can be read on multiple Kindles.
devices, as long as they are registered to the same eligible account, but cannot be read on Kindle reading apps.
One book can be borrowed at a time, and there are no due dates. You can borrow a new book as frequently as once a month, directly on your registered Kindle device, and you will be prompted to return the book that you are currently borrowing.
If you have already borrowed a book in that calendar month, you are not yet eligible to borrow a new book until the next calendar month. There is no “roll-over” or accrual of unused borrowing eligibility.

My 2 cents: Honestly I see this hurting publishers and authors far more than libraries. Sure for $80 a year getting to borrow a book a months is a good deal, especially bestsellers. But as someone who has worked in libraries and bookstore almost my entire life I know that a significant demographic library borrows buy books too. Those are the people I use using this service, the ones who already bought the bestsellers because they didn’t want to wait for it. Of course now they can’t donate that used copy to the library. But they’ll still visit the library for other reading material and programs.

What do you think?

PS I’ve been checking the price points of books that are available and so far none of them is over $7.99 and nothing from my wishlist is available.Similar Posts:

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