Future of eBooks in Libraries

For some time now the Mid-Hudson Library System has offered eBooks on loan, which can then be read on a Nook or some other eBook  readers.  As I noted earlier, Amazon has announced that they, too, will make eBooks available to Libraries for reading on the Kindle starting later in the summer. But some book publishers are re-thinking their policies for eBooks, and the new thoughts are not beneficial to library lending.  Harper Collins has started the new trend by saying that they will limit eBooks sold to libraries to 26 loans, after which the book will self-destruct.  Obviously Harper Collins has concluded that a popular book, taken out for two-weeks at a time for a year, had fulfilled its duty to its purchaser (although, given the timeline, perhaps I should say renter instead of purchaser).   Other publishers will sell rights to libraries to use an eBook for an unlimited time but--and Harper Collins does this, too--only one person may check out an eBook at a time.

It has been observed that the form of book we commonly think of as a book, which is more properly known as a "codex" (many single sheets bound together so that a reader turns pages to read it), is an outmoded technology.  The book itself has gone through many technologies--cuneiform tablets, papyrus scrolls, parchment scrolls, the codex, and now the eBook.  They are all ways to create a book. The technology for books goes through thousands of years, but we have similar examples of change in our lifetimes--a recorded song might be on a wax cylinder, on vinyl, on an 8-track tape, on a cassette, or on a CD, but it could still be the same song by the same artist. The question libraries now face is whether the codex will be like the vinyl record, still revered and collected by some, or like the 8-track tape, relegated to garage sales.  In either case, the era of the codex seems to be winding down, and the library as we know it will have to change.  Looking at another outmoded technology, consider the ice house and daily delivery to the icebox, which vanished when everyone could buy a refrigerator and even make their own ice.

I believe that the library will undergo a slow change into something else.  There is already ebrary.com, which is not local but which offers short-term rentals of books.  I already can download practically any title that is no longer copyright protected into my cellphone as well as my computer (I am not yet the owner of an eBook reader, thinking that the eBook reader may be the 8-track tape of book delivery).  I don't know exactly where the library is headed, but it will have to change.

Coming Soon: Your Library on Kindle

There are two approaches that have been tried with software--(1) keeping total control over a new technology and (2) letting everyone who wants to be in on the deal use it freely. Although these are totally opposite, both seem to work.  A familiar example today is the way Apple has chosen option 1, for example with the iPhone, compared to the way Google has chosen option 2 by allowing any phone manufacturer to adopt the Android software.  Either way is successful, provided you actually have software the people want, but a company may have problems if it has not made a clear choice.

In the field of eReaders, the Kindle has been one of the success stories.  Amazon started off with a strategy similar to Apple's, using software that was closely held.  Other eReaders were more open from the start.  Although there are different softwares behind such eReaders as Sony and the Nook,  they are relatively easy to adapt to each other, so most eBooks were available for all eReaders--except for the Kindle, which was still very proprietary.  Seeing this, when library systems such as the Mid-Hudson began to make eBooks available for borrowing, they used the system that could be read on most eReaders.  The Kindle was out. There was a similar problem with the iPad, which could not read books from libraries directly, but soon App suppliers provided work-arounds to allow iPad users to access library books.

Finally Amazon recognized that it was making a mistake.  Libraries buy a lot of books, and the eBooks from Kindle were locked out of that market.  Amazon announced yesterday that it would allow libraries to offer books on Kindle later this year.

Library use of eBooks is growing rapidly--the New York Public Library said that the rate of borrowings this year was up 36% over a year prior.  Publishers are still trying to work out how adding eBooks to the mix will affect sales.  Harper Collins has put a limitation of 26 loans (one year of two-week check-outs) for an eBook before the library system will have to repurchase the book. Simon and Schuster and Macmillan are not allowing libraries to lend their titles as eBooks at all.  My view is that all publishers will have to come around, just as Amazon has, because of the number of books that libraries buy each year--although limitations on use similar to the one from Harper Collins may also become more widespread.

With all the complications, if you have wanted to get a Kindle but were probably going to buy a different system because of the library situation, that limitation will not stand in your way much longer.

Your Digital Library

Some years after Ben Franklin founded the Library Company of Philadelphia 1731, perhaps the first successful library in the United States, although the first public library may have been a hundred years earlier, he wrote "Libraries have improv'd the General Conversation of Americans, made the common Tradesmen & Farmers as intelligent at the Gentlemen from most other countries, and perhaps have contributed to some degree to the Stand so generally made throughout the Colonies in Defence of their Privileges."

The free library is thought to have been an American invention. But of course those early libraries were entirely about printed books--and magazines and newspapers.  The library of today has long been a source of music, the spoken word, film, and often games or works of visual art.  But today many persons do all of their reading at their computer, smartphone, or "pad" or e-reader. Similarly they listen to music or radio and watch film and art--and certainly play games--from a digital source.  In this regard, the United States may no longer be the leader. Several European countries have digitized hundreds of thousand books, magazines, newspapers, radio and television broadcasts, and photographs to form National Libraries online.  We may be behind, but we are not out of the running, however.  Millions of books have been digitized by Google, Kindle, and other purveyors of ebooks.  Books that are out of copyright can usually be obtained for free. The most ambitious of these is Google Books.

While current ebooks can be purchased from several sources, another important way to obtain digital versions of the kinds of material usually handled in other media forms by library is from your own Pleasant Valley Free Library with help from the Mid-Hudson Library System.  Just go to your Pleasant Valley Library Website  and look for the box on the lower left that says "Download Audio Books and eBooks."  That link will take you to a maddenly slow presentation by Overdrive that tells you how to borrow current books, audio books, and even motion pictures using the Overdrive system.  Give it a try.

Apps for Downloading eBooks from Your Library

The move to using smartphones for many experiences previously handled in other ways continues at an amazing pace.  For a few months now members of the libraries in the Mid-Hudson Library system have been able to download eBooks on readers such as the B&N Nook.  Now you can use a system known as OverDrive to download books on a smartphone in two different formats--for reading, EPUB ( stands for Electronic Publishing and is a standard e-book format which is used by all popular e-book readers out there, including Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Reader, iPhone/iPod Touch, and more. ePub files have .epub extension) and for listening,  the more familiar MP3, the most common form of audio file.  As you probably know, smartphone applications come as small programs generally known as "apps." (Following information provided by Mid-Hudson.)

OverDrive has released apps for the iPhone, iPod and iTouch, and Android-based smartphones and tablets, providing additional support for eBooks from OverDrive libraries. Patrons will be able to download both EPUB eBooks and MP3 audiobooks directly. New users can search for "OverDrive Media Console" in the Apple App Store or Android Market, while current users will be alerted to update the existing OverDrive app on their devices. 


OverDrive Media Console v2.0 for iPhone and Android also provides major enhancements that improve the end user experience.  The eBook reading experience includes user-inspired features for bookmarking and adjusting brightness and font size. Second, both apps offer a built-in 'Get Books' feature. If you have already downloaded audiobooks from your library with a previous version of the app, your library will be displayed when you select 'Get Books'. With a single click, you can reach your site once again. 


If you are new to library downloads, you can quickly find your 'Virtual Branch' website and save it for single-click access going forward. Currently the iPhone app will work on iPad with iOS 4 and enables the full browse, check out, download experience. However, an optimized version for iPad - with improved resolution and additional features - is coming soon, along with apps for BlackBerry and other mobile devices. For more information on OverDrive's apps with eBook support, visit http://www.overdrive.com/software/omc/

Previously, Mid-Hudson shared an eBook Devices Cheat Sheet for library staff. Now OverDrive has created a patron version! http://overdrive.com/files/ebook-cheat-sheet.pdf