The Zombie Stack Exchanges That Just Won't Die
With libraries in the constant struggle to remain relevant and useful to their patrons and seeing eBook use rise, what are some unique challenges and benefits facing libraries when integrating eBooks into the collection?
KatieR
We are having these issues:
Keeping staff knowledgeable about all the different devices patrons may use to read their eBooks.
Explaining to people that due to publishers, we can't simply lend out our one digital copy to an unlimited number of people (I know -- I've asked our vendor).
With our vendor, if a patron accidentally checks out the wrong format, I have to contact the vendor to ask them to remove the eBook from the patron's account.
In addition to what user130 says, I would add:
That being said, there are certainly benefits. Once Overdrive started offering Kindle format books, our patrons were so so so happy! It's always nice when that happens, and I don't think we have any choice but to keep offering more and more options to people if we want to stay relevant.
Libraries can lend print books because of the legal doctrine of "first sale," which states that copyright owners cannot control what is done with legally-made physical copies of their copyrighted material.
First sale does not apply to digital materials. To lend them, libraries must sign a licensing agreement with the intellectual-property owner or an agent thereof. At present, ebook licensing agreements (as noted above) tend to be heavily disfavorable to common patterns of library usage.
Digital-rights management (DRM) technologies, applied to library-lent ebooks to (more in theory than in actuality) prevent unlicensed copying, often cause extra support and service hassles in libraries; they also prevent many preservation activities, and create a risk that the library may lose entirely content to which it has purchased access.
In addition to user130's keeping staff knowledgeable, I'd say that there's also a need to train patrons. While reading a paper book is self explanatory, there's a steeper learning curve for ebooks. Patrons may need teaching on how to use the ereader in general and will certainly need training on how to use it with the library's software, especially since publishers can and do make libraries jump through more hoops to read an ebook.
Providing access to the ebooks is another important aspect. Do you simply host a collection and let patrons do their own downloading from home or from a app? Or do you have computer stations set up with the software to allow them to download at the library. And do you lend the ereaders themselves?
Touching on dsalo's point, the library does not own the ebook when it is purchased. The library owns particular rights to using it that can often hinge on rules set by the publisher--a limited number of circulations, a set time frame in which the ebook is available, the 'one copy one patron' rule. This also means that library access to purchases through a specific vendor may disappear when leaving the vendor or if the vendor shuts down, losing the money as well as materials.
On the side of benefits, providing ebooks and training will be great for getting the public to see libraries as current & necessary--and not rooted solely in the paper object. eBooks also allow libraries to be 'always' available (at least to patrons with home computer access)--those collections will be open even when the library is closed.
Another issue is how your vendor handles renewals and checkout periods. Ours has the patron declare in advance how long they will keep the book. Patrons can't return it before the declared date- and it disappears from their device when their checkout period has expired. This leads to a lot of confusion, especially since it doesn't match our policies on other media. The preset amount of time means ebooks frequently can't circulate quickly enough to match demand.
On the upside, ebooks do bring people into the library system. Since our offered ebook titles are usually the most popular print books, they also decrease stress on other parts of the system, like check-ins and holds.