This time last year it looked as if ebooks were sweeping all before them in the book market. More recent figures suggest a slowing down. If true, that should make the problems around lending ebooks less urgent for libraries, but they will remain as a creeping trend. It is therefore still important for the government to address the issues in the Sieghart Review.
The other technological trend that is less remarked on is that people are increasingly bringing their own devices into libraries and using them there. This is quite different from the model which people have been used for the past twenty years or more, of users logging on to a library owned computer. It seems that Internet usage is now spreading more to mobile devices. Brent libraries, of course, provide free WiFi. The new Wembley library also has a number of iPads. It will be interesting to see how this trend develops. For instance, will people increasingly want to access the Internet from soft seating rather than desks?
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