Search This Blog

Thursday 30 August 2012

EBooks Transforming Public Libraries

Dan Jarvis has quite rightly demanded a report into the effect of ebooks on public libraries in the UK, but I am not sure that people have realised just how dramatic the change is in both speed and scale. 

Physical sales have declined in the last years as ebook sales have gone up by 366%.  Although ebooks still only account for 6% of the market at present, maintaining anything like that rate of growth for say two or three years would mean that the majority of books sold in this country will be ebooks by 2015.  In other words, printed books are likely to be restricted to niche areas of the market within (say) five years.  I would imagine that there will also be a spreading of ereaders, along with a drop in prices as more units are sold.

At present, it would be entirely possible for public libraries to be cut off from what will soon be the majority of book titles.  There is no compulsion to offer free ebook lending, as I pointed out a while ago.  Indeed only a minority of authorities offer ebook lending at the moment in England, either free or for a fee (although increasing numbers are planning to).  However, there is currently no compulsion to do so, and all authorities are being hit by the current government's programme of savage cuts, which forces them to concentrate resources on what they are obliged to do.  Unless free ebook lending becomes part of the "comprehensive and efficient" library duty, public libraries will simply wither away. 

Over time, I would expect publishers to increasingly publish in electronic format only, which would lead to a shrinking of the number of titles available in print, further hollowing out library services that don't lend electronically.

Thus, the outcome from the ebook taskforce may decide whether this country retains libraries as a free lending facility or whether they go the same way as books from Boots.

No comments:

Post a Comment