eBooks in Libraries: An Unsatisfying Relationship?

Hello again, this week I’ll spare a few paragraphs to talk about one of the blogs on Librarian by Day. This article, titled ‘Should Libraries Get Out of the eBook Business?’ (posted 07/03/2012) is by Bobbi Newman and can be found here, http://librarianbyday.net/2012/03/07/should-libraries-get-out-of-the-ebook-business/ (viewed 27/08/2012). 

I found this post quite by accident but wanted to use it because I’m interested in eBooks and I’ve not heard much about the situation with eBooks in libraries. 

Newman’s stand in this blog is that libraries are wasting money providing a mediocre service to their patron and that there are quite a few reasons library eBook services are not up to par; publishers refusing libraries the right to loan their eBooks, patron’s getting frustrated with eReader devices, and there being numerous eReaders (with different file type compatibilities) warring for control of the market. Newman talks about the problems and frustrations these things cause librarians and patrons alike and uses these to back his opinion that libraries should pull out of the eBook business until things in the industry have settled down. 

I thought it was a good, well-thought out argument and while I cannot fully support his opinion I can see what he’s talking about. Checking out a few libraries eBook catalogues I could easily see how little was available, and how little I was interested in those books that were. The article incorporates several links to appropriate sites and information including a fairly short list of publishers that are currently allowing libraries to share their products.

 Hopefully things will work out soon because after looking at this evidence, particularly from a patron’s point of view, it hardly seems a satisfying service at this point.