E-book Presentation 2011
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This document discusses eBooks and their increasing popularity. It notes that Amazon now sells more eBooks than paperbacks, and 66% of public libraries offer eBooks. It provides links to free sources of eBooks like Project Gutenberg and the International Children's Digital Library. The document also discusses how eBooks can be accessed from the Orange County Library System and how their popularity has grown significantly. Finally, it outlines some considerations for collection development of eBooks, including demand, costs, format compatibility, and digital rights management.
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E-book Presentation 2011
- 1. Presented by Natalie Houston Youth Outreach Coordinator Exploring eBooks
- 3. Tipping Point Amazon selling more eBooks than paperbacks 66% of public libraries offer eBooks
- 4. International Children’s Digital Library http://en.childrenslibrary.org Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org Free Sources of eBooks
- 10. eBook Popularity at OCLS Overdrive Circulation
- 11. Collection Development Collection development policy Demand Costs and savings
- 12. Unlimited Access Portability Formats Title selection Accessibility Compatibility with devices Digital Rights Management (DRM) Collection management Considerations
Editor's Notes
- Good afternoon, thank you for inviting me to share some information about eBooks with you. I’ve learned a lot exploring and talking with our collection development department about eBooks. If there are any questions that I can’t answer today, I’ll be happy to take your questions back to the library with me and get an answer for you.
- Question open for audience participation. You are probably more familiar with eBooks than you realize. Who has ever used an encyclopedia on CD-Rom? That is a form of an eBook and part of what has gotten us to where we are today.
- Ebooks have been around since the 1970s – but several things are happening now which have brought ebooks more into the mainstream. Widespread high speed internet, publishers and authors looking for viable sources of revenue, major sellers of ebooks like Amazon and iTunes, and eBook readers are getting less expensive and are now included in many devices like smart phones. 66% of public libraries offer eBooks – this is from a 2010 study and there are several compelling reasons for public libraries to invest in eBooks in spite of budget cuts. I’ll go into more details about the costs and savings for libraries later. Last month, January 2011 Amazon announced they sold more ebooks than paper backs. In 2010 they had announced they sold more eBooks than hardbacks. They are now selling 3 to 1 eBooks to Hardcover books. These are just a few indicators that eBooks are really catching on. There are still hurdles in perception to overcome. Do you have your own reservations? Have you experienced challenges with parents or teachers at your school? Occasionally, we’ll have a parent and child come into the library and have a project on a very specific animal or country. Our print resources may not have detailed enough information for a whole project or the perfect book for them may already be checked out or at another one of our locations. In these cases we often have an appropriate electronic resource. But rather than rely entirely on electronic resources they elect to change their topic. People are still more comfortable with print materials.
- If you are interested in exploring eBooks right away here are a few notable free resources. The International children’s digital library collection includes 4457 books in 54 languages. They are beautiful picture books from around the world for children in preschool to about age 12. They also have an app for iPhone and iPad that you guys can try out shortly. Project Gutenberg is one of the oldest digital libraries, it has been available since 1971. It is a volunteer effort and includes books in the public domain. 34,000 items multiple formats, PDF, epub, HTML, Mobi, etc. These are books which can be reproduced and are copyright free. I’ve made copies of Aesop’s fables to share with families.
- Now on to what the Orange County Library System is doing with eBooks. We currently have about 10 services that offer eBooks. The complete list is available at www.ocls.info/downloadables. I’m only going to discuss a few today that include children’s books and are examples of different types of eBook platforms. The services that I’m not going to discuss primarily include reference books related to business, health, and computers. Obviously our service model is for individuals but several of these services are available for school libraries. I’m going to point out a few things about each of the eBook services, TumbleBooks, Sylvan, NetLibrary, and the big one, Overdrive!
- This is a screen shot of a Tumblebooks story. Tumblebooks is unique is a few ways. The story books are animated. Images fly in and swirl around, the narrator reads along as the text is highlighted. Tumblebooks includes the AR level of the books in the description. Some books also have quizzes to go along with them. These are also available in Spanish in TumbleBooks en Espanol. TumbleReadables is a separate service which offers beginning chapter books, hi interest/low level, classics and young adult titles. TumbleBooks and TumbleReadables are a subscription service for which we pay an annual fee. We do not select the titles which are available. It is accessible from the library and home. An unlimited number of users can read each title. There is no software to download or install. You read the books on your computer in your internet browser. I am pointing these things out because these are a few ways in which the eBook services can differ. Does anyone have any questions about TumbleBooks?
- Sylvan Dell – ebooks focus on science, math, and geography. There are 55 titles available in English and in Spanish. Full color picture books that have the option to hear the text read aloud. This is a service which we are receiving free for a year. Most of the books have accompanying activity sheets.
- Although not specifically for kids, we have access to the NetLibrary from the state libraries. TumbleBooks and Sylvan mostly focus on storybooks and have an accompanying narrator. But like we mentioned when we first talked about eBooks electronic audio books are a big component. Just like books on CD eAudio books are unabridged and recorded by a professional actor. We have access to 6,400 titles through NetLibrary about half ebook and half eAudio books. You read them in your browser. You don’t need to install an ebook viewer. You can create a personal account. You can’t transfer them to an ebook reader. There are not a limited number of copies available. The audio books on the other hand you can download and transfer to an MP3 player.
- Overdrive is our primary eBook source – we currently have over 18,000 eBooks; over 11,000 audiobooks and almost 2,000 videos in our collection. Overdrive is different from all the previous examples of eBook services because our collection development staff select and purchase individual titles which the library then owns. These titles are all findable in our catalog. This is an entry for the eAudio Book “I Miss You, Stinky Face” I wanted to point out a few things. Available copies Plays on Digital Rights Information You can currently check out 20 items in overdrive, place 10 items on hold and items automatically expire and return to the collection after the lending period. No late fines ever! There are overdrive apps for iPhone, Android, and iPad. You never have to connect to a computer if you don’t want to. You can search and download these books right on your phone.
- Here is an idea of the circulation of items in Overdrive over the past two years. Of course over time we have added more items to the collection and the selection has improved. January 2011 the circ is nearly 19,000 items which is more than the circulation of any of our three smallest branches.
- Right now we only purchase eBooks for which we already have print copies in our collection. So the same collection development policy which applies to print books applies to eBooks. Ebooks can be published simultaneously with the print book, only in eBook, or several weeks to months after the print book. The authors – publishers – and vendors still have personal preferences and reservations about ebooks. Unlike books which can go out of print and become unavailable to purchase additional copies, usually once the ebook is available it will continue to be available to purchase. We usually start with one copy of an ebook and then get a weekly report of the holds and can quickly add additional copies of the title. We also receive patron requests daily for ebooks and eaudio. How quick? Once ordered, a book will be available in Overdrive within 3 to 4 hours! Compared to ordering a print book which arrives in 3 to 4 days and needs additional processing before it can be added to our collection. Speaking of processing, this is an expense which is nearly eliminated with ebooks. The staff time and materials it takes to prepare a book for our collection disappear. A staff member still adds the record to our catalog but that is it. There is also no staff time involved in check out, checking in, or shelving ebooks. A huge advantage of ebooks is that they can be checked out when the library is not open! One of our biggest checkout days for ebooks was the day after Christmas and since then we have checked out up to 800 items in a single day. So those are the savings, but what about the costs? We typically pay full retail price for an ebook. For example, a hardcover title could retail for $24.95 with our discount from Baker and Taylor the hard cover would be about $14.10 but if there is a paper back available then the ebook will be the same as the paperback about $11.99. We also pay an annual fee for the Overdrive platform. Our staff mentioned that the pricing model for schools is different.
- So what are the consideration and how do you compare services? Here are a few things to ask questions about. Unlimited Access – are there a set number of copies of a title available or unlimited access? Portability – What I mean is that some ebooks are stuck on your computer – you can’t transfer them to your phone, ebook reader, or MP3 player. This just depends on the service and how it is structured. Formats – What format are titles available in? ePub, PDF, HTML, MP3, WMA? Do you purchase each format separately? Title selection – the vendor may only work with a few publishers Accessibility – search functions, finding what you are looking for, browsing, access limited from home or school, how easy it is to set up an account, transfer to a device. Compatibility with devices – as you saw in Overdrive not all eBook formats are compatible will all ebook readers or viewers. Digital Rights Management – who owns it? How does it get returned? Does it expire? Collection management – what kind of statistics are available to you, do you know specific users etc.?
- If you are interested in learning more about specific devices or downloading eBooks to your own device. The library does offer classes. All the eBook services I’ve mentioned are available to you and your students with an Orange County Library Card. I’ve also brought along several eReaders so that you can touch and see the difference between them. I’ve brought along a Barnes & Noble color nook, a sony ereader, a Verizon Galaxy, an Apple iPad, an Amazon Kindle, and a Playaway. Thanks for having me!