A talk given by Tom Peters at the Kanawha County Public Library's staff development day, February 23, 2011

1. In the Clouds, With a Personal, Portable Computer, By Professor Plum: Clues Concerning the Impact and Opportunities of the eReading Revolution on Libraries and Library Staff A talk given by Tom Peters at the Kanawha County Public Library Staff Development Day Charleston, West Virginia, February 23, 2011

2. Talkin’ About a Revolution! These slides are online at http://www.tapinformation.com/KanawhaTalk201102.htm

3. A Portable eBook Revolution is Underway Right Now

4. Revolutionary Fits and Starts Seventies: Paperless Office Late Nineties: Failed eBook Coup 2001: Segway

5. Amazing Revolutions Underway Global mobile phone revolution. 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions in 2010. 76.2 subscriptions for every 100 pe0ple worldwide. Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/KeyTelecom.html Portable eReading revolution.

6. My Two Professional Fears Mobile Revolution (Fear of missed opportunities) Portable eReading Revolution (Fear of being muscled out)

7. People and Tech Revolutions What can we learn from history?

8. When We Name a New Technology, We Project the Past into the Future Horse  Iron Horse Carriage  Horseless Carriage Phone  Smart Phone Book  eBook (Wordprocessingmay be the exception that proves the rule. Why didn’t we call it eWriting?) These naming propensities help us in the short term, but hurt us in the long term.

9. The Cloudiness of Cloud Computing Just about everybody is always connected to the Internet, unless they consciously choose to be offline. What does this mean for the development of library experiences (content, systems, services)? How will eReading in the cloud work?

10. Reading What do we know? Where is it headed?

12. Auditory Reading: analog or digital, prepackaged, downloadable, or streaming

13. Tactile Reading: braille (printed or digital)*************************************

15. Situational Reading School Work Avocational(Reading for Pleasure) Incidental

16. Let’s Focus on Avocational Readers In any given year, a slight majority of adult Americans claim to have read anything for pleasure (i.e., not related to work or school) 50.2 % of adult Americans (approx. 113 million) engaged in literary reading in 2008. Source: NEA Report, “Reading on the Rise” (January 2009). Available as free PDF file at http://www.nea.gov/pub/pubLit.php

17. U.S. Portable eReading Devices: U.S. represents approx. 75% of world market. Q3 2010: 2.7 million units shipped worldwide Worldwide in 2010: sales $1.9 billion (11 million units). Sources: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2011/02/yankee_group_e-.html and http://www.digitalhome.ca/2011/01/media-tablet-and-ereader-sales-continue-to-grow-at-a-torrid-pace/ Software: Scads of apps for netbooks, tablets, smartphones, gaming devices, desktops, etc. Content: U.S. trade wholesale ebook sales in Q3 2010 were almost $120 million. Source: http://www.idpf.org/doc_library/industrystats.htm

18. Not-So-Bold Prediction The future of sustained reading for pleasure will be primarily portable eReading.

19. What Does This Portend for Libraries & Library Staff Members? New user expectations. New sources of content. New genres and formats. New services for individual readers & groups. New “competition” from non-library sectors. New skill sets for staff members.

20. Portable eReading In the U.S., with or without Libraries

21. Portable eReading for Pleasure in the U.S.: Now a 4-Horse Race? Amazon Kindle Apple iPad Barnes & Noble Nook Color Google eBooks (cloud reading)

23. Apple iPad (doesn’t exhibit at library conferences)

24. Barnes & Noble (doesn’t exhibit at library conferences)

25. Google eBooks (doesn’t exhibit at library conferences)

26. OverDrive

27. Adding more mobile apps

28. Adding content

29. Simplifying the circ process

30. Certifying devices as library-model-friendly

31. Using the same DRM system as Google eBooks

32. Blio (Baker &Taylor, Kurzweil, and NFB)

33. Launched (to end-users running MS OS) on 9/28/10.

35. BookServer(Internet Archive) (approx. 1.6 million titles in ePub and DAISY formats)

36. Sony Reader (over 1 million titles, mainly public domain Google Books)

37. Barnes & Noble Nook(over 1 million titles)

38. Amazon Kindle editions (over 800,000 titles)

40. Left to Their Own Devices Mobile eReading experiences require some sort of portable device.

42. Mobile Phones

43. Dedicated eReading Devices

44. Portable Music/Media Players

45. Netbooks

46. Tablet Devices

47. Portable Gaming Devices

49. eBook Lending Services BooksForNooks.com BooksForMyKindle.com BookLending.com (formerly KindleLendingClub.com) Booklends.com (still in private beta) eBookFling.com, powered by BookSwim.com

50. This Is All Faintly Disturbing

51. How did Libraries Get Into This Fine Mess?

52. From Stressed to Success

53. Libraries and Library Staff Move Boldly into the eReading Era How to overcome our fears and anxieties concerning the future of public libraries in the mobile eReading era?

54. Understand the Stakeholders Authors Agents, Rights Holders, and other Inscrutables Publishers Booksellers Librarians Library vendors IT companies Readers

55. Libraries Serve Communities of Readers Who are these readers? Why do they read? How do they read? Where and when do they read? Printed books all are designed and read in the same basic way. eBooks are presented and read (interacted with) in a wide variety of ways. Library staff need to explore these ways.

56. A Matter of Focus eBooks (content, file formats, DRM, etc.) eReaders (devices, screen tech, batteries, etc.) eDistribution (3G, 4G, wi-fi, bluetooth, etc.) eReaders (humans) eReading (a process; a human activity)

57. What to do? (SDD)

58. Action is Needed, but What Type is Not Self-Evident Painting, mowing, and shoveling snow produce immediate, discernible results. Libraries need to undertake “murky work” for continued success in the eReading era.

59. Action Plan: General Strategy Gain experiential knowledge of the various portable eReading experiences. Imagine how existing library services and new ones could enhance these experiences. Beef up the collection of eBooks. Streamline the process for the user. Pay attention to all stakeholders, but focus on readers and authors.

60. What You Can Do Later Today Tech Petting Zoo: Pick up these devices and play with them. Download some free eReading software and content to your PP ICE of choice. Begin at least one complete portable eReading experience. Read and talk about this portable eReading revolution with friends, family, colleagues.

61. What Should Library Staff Do? Explain and assert the value of Public Good information institutions Re-educate Publishers about how libraries add to a healthy culture of reading Strengthen alliances with Readers and Authors Explore new lending models for the mobile eReadingera.

62. Library Call to Action Individually, Libraries must: Become actively engaged in market developments Continue experimenting with devices and services that support portable eReading (e.g., WVdeli) Collectively, Libraries must: eReader Bill of Rights Develop a library-friendly PP ICE? Federal legislation to protect and promote the library lending model for digital content?

63. eReader Bill of Rights: Just One Plank… The reader controls how a book is experienced as a sensory experience. Not authors Not rights holders Not publishers Exhibit A: The tussle over the text-to-speech function on the Kindle.

64. What Are Library Orgs Doing? COSLA Study (first half of 2010) http://www.cosla.org/documents/COSLA2270_Report_Final1.pdf ALA Office of Info Technology Policy eBook TF (first half of 2011)

65. COSLA Report on Portable eReading and Public Libraries Consolidate/leverage Pub Lib purchasing power Consolidated access point for Pub Lib content Develop a device certification process Document how Public Library use contributes to a culture of reading (and book buying) Help local authors. Support self-publishing More leadership about reading’s future Public Libraries as labs for new reading experiences

66. What Happened to Prof. Plum? Rustication of Expertise Experts in our midst Deinstitutionalization of research and expertise Rapid Diffusion of Content Creation

67. Dive Into the eReading Revolution

68. In the Computing Clouds, with a PP ICE, by Professor Plum

69. Read More About It Cloud Computing: Thomas, Keir. 2011. “What Cloud Computing Means for the Real World.” PC World Website (Feb. 4). Available online at http://bit.ly/ihyaDv PP ICE Devices: Peters, Thomas A. 2011. “Left to Their Own Devices.” The Reference Librarian 52 (1/2): 88-97. Rustication of Expertise and the Diffusion of Content Creation: Peters, Tom. 2007. “The Rustication of Expertise” Blog post on the ALA TechSource Bloghttp://bit.ly/g5samm

70. Thank You for Your Time and Attention Tom Peters Founder and CEO TAP Information Services tpeters@tapinformation.com 816.616.6746 www.tapinformation.com