E-books Making Inroads

The name chosen for this blog ("It's Not Just Books") is from a slogan for the Pleasant Valley Free Library originally suggested by Building Fund committee leader Karen Minturn.  She and the committee had in mind the rise of lending DVDs, tapes, and other materials as well as the importance of libraries as a community Internet resource.  At that time, there was just a hint of a future that might involve lending books in digital form for reading on a device such as the Kindle, iPad, Nook, or one of the many new e-readers beginning to flood the market.

Just yesterday, however, Amazon, the online bookseller, announced that their sales of electronic versions of books have surpassed those of "dead-tree" books for the first time. Of course, Amazon is behind the Kindle, still the leading e-reader, so their experience probably does not carry over to sales by land-based bookstores.  Even so, last month Google and independent bookstores announced an alliance, scheduled to start this summer, that would bring a new Google-based reader (probably on the Android operating system, which I see has already spawned an e-book reader available in China) into the mix. Google would sell e-books online, so I am not entirely sure how the members of the American Booksellers Association, Google's partners in this enterprise will benefit. But that should be revealed soon.

Libraries are moving into e-books slowly.  A major event in the Hudson Valley will be a conference of various types of libraries, including school and college library directors and staff as well as members of the Mid-Hudson Library System, on September 29 at the E-book Summit.

Today the plans for availability of e-books through the Pleasant Valley Library are still under discussion.  But already the e-book option is one of the considerations as the Building Committee considers the future of the physical plant at the Library.  The committee and Daniela Pulice, the Library Director, have concluded that the building-expansion plan developed about ten years ago no longer reflects the needs of the rapidly changing situation for the readers of today (and in that sentence, by "readers," I meant people and not devices).