E-books in Libraries!?!?!?!?!

Did you know that you can (most likely) borrow e-books from your public library?  Sadly, in a report done by the Pew Research Center found that only 12% of e-book readers borrowed an e-book from their libraries in the past year.  This then begs the question…. Why not?

The report goes into the answer finding that many people are unaware that the library offers e-book rentals, others cannot find the e-book they were looking for, while even more encountered waiting lists.  I, myself have had to explain to a number of friends and acquaintances the e-book and library relationship.

Publishing companies want money and libraries want to serve their patrons, unfortunately these do not go hand in hand.  Some publishers do not even offer to sell ebooks to libraries, others will only allow a certain number of check-outs before the library must buy the e-book again.  I have a e-reader and refuse to buy books because I work in a library, but it can be very discouraging when you are unable to find the book you need or you’re on a list of 8 people deep.

The other issue is access to ebooks.  Currently it’s a multi-step process that is confusing and time-consuming.  My mom just got an iPad for her birthday and I spent over 1.5 hours on the phone with her trying to walk her through the steps to be able to borrow ebooks from her library.  Now that we know e-readers aren’t going anywhere, we need to make it as easy as possible for people to access ebooks.

Publishers and libraries need to start working together so that library patrons are offered the materials and services they want and deserve.  Libraries also need to begin thinking about ways to market their programs, materials, and resources in order to be seen as a vital part of their communities.

I didn’t get a chance to read the whole report from the Pew Foundation, but if you’re interested click here.