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E-Books: Are They Right for Your Library?

© Gillian Davis

If you've been to any library conference lately one of the hot topics inevitably was e-books. If they're not in your library yet, you're no doubt considering adding them. This article will present pros and cons and things to consider when deciding if e-books are right for your library.

First, it will be useful to point out some starting places for e-book information. LibraryHQ has an excellent annotated list of e-book related sites and resources that will get you started with basic information. Also, be sure to check out Chris Ripple's article Can e-books improve libraries?, which presents some excellent points to consider in terms of e-books and libraries. If you want to check out what other libraries are doing, there's a list of libraries with e-books worldwide.

The main issues to consider involve technology, and probably most importantly, practicality.

Practicality

Let's address practicality first. You may wonder, "are patrons going to want to read books off of computer screens?" That is, are e-books really feasible, are they what people want, will people enjoy reading them? From what we've seen in libraries who've implemented e-books, the answers to these questions seem to be both yes and no.

For certain groups of patrons - students, technical professionals - e-books seem a great solution. Instead of carrying large, heavy textbooks from class to class, carrying around a small compact device containing the equivalent in content is a real improvement. Similarly, users of technical manuals and how-to's could benefit from the capability to incorporate large amounts of material into one small device. Also, the fact that e-books are searchable is especially handy for these types of users.

But what about average public library patrons? It seems to most of us that curling up with a nice paperback for our leisure reading is preferable to reading text off a screen. But according to Roberta Burk in her article "Don't Be Afraid of E-Books" (LJ April 15, 2000 p. 42-45), there is a public library audience for e-books – namely, those who enjoy series books or books in a particular genre. For these library patrons e-books are handy because they allow patrons to obtain all the books in a series at one time, load them on a small device, and take them home and read them at their leisure.

Technology

Another major issue to consider is technology. First, the library must decide which e-book reader format to purchase. Two of the major dedicated e-book devices are the Rocket eBook Reader, and the SoftBook Reader. There are also device independent formats available via the Web, such as those sold at netLibrary, but then a library must decide how and in what way to allow patrons to download e-books. Deciding which device(s) to purchase can be particularly challenging as new readers and formats are coming out all the time. The Open Ebook Standard is a step in the right direction in terms of standardizing readers and formats, but it's not there yet. As such, it is difficult to know whether it is best for your library to take the plunge and jump in and buy now, or, to wait and see what might develop next in the world of e-books.

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