Yet another library eBook research project

OCLC is launching a new project titled "The Big Shift: Advancing Public Library Participation in Our Digital Future," in partnership with the American Library Association and the ALA's Public Library Association. The project is being funded by the U.S. Government's Institute of Museum and Library Services, and it builds on a discussion last November hosted by the Los Angeles Public Library.

Activities of the project will include:

• Investigating the nature and extent of challenges public libraries are facing in this area, and identifying possible solutions.
• A convening of public library leaders and others to set specific strategies to ensure public access to digital content.
• Reporting on strategies that all public libraries can use to advance their own work in local communities. 

This is the latest in what seems like an endless list of studies of eBooks in libraries. For every library that's actually trying something new, like the Douglas County Libraries in Colorado, there's several groups studying the problem and hoping to come up with a set of recommendations at some point in the future.

ALA releases "tip sheet" on DRM

The American Library Association's Digital Content Working Group has released a "tip sheet" on DRM. This is intended to be the first in a series of "tip sheets" on topics of interest to the library community. The  "tip sheet" explains DRM in layman's terms, but overall, it takes a fairly anti-DRM approach to the topic.

Print vs. eBooks: Deck chairs on the Titanic?

Earlier today, I wrote about a panel on eBook collection development at this year's American Library Association annual conference. You can read the post, or the original article, for more information, but I found a couple of points very interesting (or scary, depending on your perspective):

• The King County Library System has increased its eBook budget by 60% in each of the last three years, but the library's overall budget has been flat. To get the money for more eBooks, the library has cut its reference subscription database budget in half.
• The Free Library of Philadelphia is trying to expand its eBook collection, even while the library's budget for materials was recently cut by 50%.

Libraries throughout the U.S. are lucky if their budgets have been flat; most have had big cuts to their budgets, even while demand for eBooks grows. To fulfill that demand, libraries are cannibalizing their budgets for print books and online content. Heavy book buyers are purchasing more eBooks, because they're less expensive than print, but moderate book buyers appear to simply be substituting eBooks for print equally, and light book buyers are only just starting to buy eBooks. It's highly doubtful that they'll do anything more than substitute eBooks for print.

So, where does that leave publishers? Book sales in general have been declining for years, and print sales are declining faster than eBook sales are growing. Luckily, the problem isn't as serious as the decline in home video sales for movie studios, or the decline in music sales at record companies. In addition, publishers are capturing most of the revenue shift from print to eBooks, while home video revenues are shifting to companies like Netflix and Redbox, and record companies are still fighting a high rate of piracy. However, that's putting the best possible spin on a very bad situation.

eBooks aren't going to save the book publishing industry. In fact, the only thing that can is a reversal in the industry's long-term secular decline trend, and there's precious little effort being put into that.

Internet Archive's Peter Brantley wants librarians to take a more active role in the digital transition

The Digital Shift writes about a presentation made by the Internet Archive's Peter Brantley at the American Library Association Conference. Here's a summary:

* As self-published titles comprise more and more of the total number of titles published each year, there's more pressure on public libraries to make at least some of them available. However, there's no way for libraries to get eBooks for lending from some of the biggest self-publishing vendors, including Kindle Direct Publishing.

* The Canadian Urban Libraries Council and eBOUND Canada are working to build "a national public library infrastructure for the storage and distribution of digital content that would also manage lending agreements with publishers as well as transactions between libraries and patrons."

* The IDPF's search for a "lightweight" DRM for EPUB, in Brantley's view, could result in a replacement for Adobe's Content Server for libraries. Brantley said “Adobe Content Server is a very poorly supported software that has seen better days. It is not well loved by anyone who uses it, and it also imposes a lot of technical and organizational burdens on libraries.”

* On the basis of discussions that he had at BEA, Brantley believes that some publishers are willing to consider exploring alternative DRM schemes with libraries.

* Brantley pointed to the Unglue.it project and the Library License being proposed by the Harvard Library Innovation Laboratory as interesting ways to make more eBooks available to libraries. Unglue.it uses a crowdfunding model to underwrite reprinting and free distribution of out-of-print titles, and the Library License would grant libraries full digital rights to titles on the basis of time since publication or sales of the title over time.

* Brantley said that the West Coast technology companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft have become major players in the publishing industry--the first three, through their eBook sales, and Microsoft through its partnership with Barnes & Noble.

ALA releases final version of Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2011-12

The American Library Association has released the final version of its Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2011-12. Here's a summary of selected findings:

* For FY2011-12, the average total operating expenditures funding for U.S. public libraries dropped by 2.4%, the third year in a row where available funding declined. Survey respondents anticipate that funding in FY2012-13 will drop by another 5.3%.

* Collections expenditures dropped an average of 1.64% in FY 2011-12, and libraries expect them to drop another 4.61% in FY2012-13. However, the numbers vary considerably by library location: Urban libraries' collection expenditures rose 3.2% in FY2011-12, and suburban libraries' collection expenditures also increased by 12.6%. By comparison, rural libraries' collection expenditures declined 37%.

* 76.3% of public libraries now offer eBooks to their patrons in their facilities, and 76.1% offer eBooks to patrons remotely (for example, over the Web.)

* 39.1% of public libraries make eReaders such as Kindles or Nooks available to their patrons for reading eBooks.

* 14.2% of public libraries have optimized their websites for use on mobile devices.

* 7.2% of public libraries have developed smartphone apps for access to library services and content.

Are library eBook vendors trying to "cut out the middlemen" -- librarians?

The American Library Association's American Libraries blog has a post by Christopher Harris titled "Does OverDrive Really Care About Libraries?". Harris writes about an email that he received from OverDrive as part of its ISTE conference promotions; here's a quote from his article:

"Instead of speaking as a library partner—a company dedicated to helping provide digital books through libraries—OverDrive seems to be presenting itself to the school technology world as a library replacement. 'Lend your students eBooks from a publisher-supported digital library powered by OverDrive,' the ad states. Never mind, this seems to suggest, lending from a school library that includes ebooks; tap into an OverDrive library replacement that your school can buy after laying off the school librarian."

Harris' primary concern is that eBook vendors, faced with declining school and public library budgets, may start selling their collections as a replacement for, rather than an addition to, physical libraries. However, there's scant evidence that library eBook consolidators are bypassing libraries (at least as of yet.)