eBooks – The New Normal Summit 2011

Library Journal Webinar/Watch Party | Oct. 12, 2011 | Ebooks: The New Normal, How libraries are leveraging the ebook opportunity |#ebksmt

Intro with Ian – the stats and survey results – (Slides here on Friday)

• 108% expected increase in eBook circulation, 43% in schools and 17% in Academic (without some of the biggest publishers).
• Preloaded ereading devices are the growing trend
• ePub and dedicated readers are the preferred format
• Adult fiction, best sellers, adult nonfiction are most popular, growing popular = children’s books
• At schools, it’s children’s nonfiction and children’s fiction are most popular, with graphic novels represented, as well.
• Academics use ebooks for Reference
• Increase in ebook request from users? 660% increase of YES in publics
• Onward buying of all things “e” expected in the next five years, most for Academics.
• Most prevalent model is one use, while most preferred license model is max access, unlimited circs and patron drive acquisition
• For the libraries who are not going to carry ebooks  48% will be adding in the next 2 years, 33% of publics say purchasing ebooks isn’t a priority and only 6% reported taht they WON’T offer eBooks.
• Why not?  cost, not sure which platform will come out on top.
• Public frustration with lack of availability, long holds, difficulty to use and lack of platform support (Kindle)
• Growth in number of libraries offering a digital collection link to their web site went from 52% to 87%.

Summit Keynote Panel

Brian Kenney, Robin Nesbitt, Buffy Hamilton, John Palfrey

Robin = Public Library

• We should provide whichever formats our readers want.
• Author, agent, publishers, distributor, bookstores and libraries = Book Ecosystem.
• Work with the publisher and authors to negotiate for reasonable rights – all formats and both domestic and international rights
• Libraries don’t steal sales and not every author and agent understands that.  Place of Discovery!
• Democracy – eBooks aren’t democratic b/c if you can’t afford an eReader, you can’t read an eBook, but the library is an agent of democracy and value equal access to content. – We Bridge the Gap.
• Death of Borders changed the landscape – what role can libraries play in this new situation?
• Indie Next – voice for independent bookstores.  Where’s the Indie Next for libraries?
• Why?
• Adapt or die! – digital natives demand digital
• 30% of eReader customers never or rarely visit libraries
• Number of devices growing
• By 2014 50% of books sold will be eBooks
• Audiobooks going the way of streaming online…
• Only 9% of eBook audience thinks about going to he library – how do we increase this??
• We support the Value of Reading – build Fan base, RA, engage readers, help folks find stuff to read
• Focus on reading, people are excited about reading – we can overcome the challenges…the sooner the better.
• There are numbers out there to support the notion that libraries are good for book sellers, says Ian.

Buffy Hamilton – Public school Perspective

• eBook formats and vendor support for students, along with devices – Moving Target.
• Funding cuts = need creative sources of funding to
• Ubiquitous access – for all learners – needed, as well as the notion that the eBook as a fundamentally different literacy/reading experience – Find Balance.  Will this be a game changer for reluctant readers?
• Challenges:
• Shifting landscape = confusion.  Opportunity – springboard for learning, don’t be a warehouse, but make the library more integral to the learning experience
• Funding cuts – divisions to equitable access
• Restrictive purchasing policies with the school
• MISSING POINTS – There were a lot more, but I got side-tracked with mapping and migrating Troy’s data from Follett to Koha (sorry, Buffy!)
• Lack of device agnosticism and lack of standard DRM
• Sluggish demand to needs of schools and public libraries – eTextbooks
• Competing interests/concerns between librarians and patrons – like DRM and patron privacy
• How to get in the game and be a player

John Plafrey – Harvard Law School

• Came to the topic from learning perspective.  Learning environment is changing from personal library to something new.
• DPLA Digital Public Library of America – Needs to be Free to All basis / notion.  Greater, not less, access to information and knowledge.  Does the digital age risk going backwards (license rather than buying).
• Need to improve design of virtual spaces and have better connections between the 2 spaces.
• DPLA as a ‘design charette’ of linking virtual and physical spaces
• Again, I got distracted…sorry.

Onsite Discussion:

• Even with lower costs, not everyone will have access to a device.  Smart phones and iPod touches are available to some, but not all.
• Difference between materials and computers – have v. have nots with those.  Many accept that you  have to go to the library to use the computer.  But with eReaders, you can send it home with the patron.  We wouldn’t send home a laptop, but do we send home an expensive eReader?
• Computers as task oriented while eReading is a leisure activity – want to take it home and use it for a long period.
• Issues and concerns surrounding getting eReaders back – especially a problem in low-income cities.  How do you provide equal access, given that risk?   Do you not check them out to kids b/c they are fragile?
• Are the Playaway Views a good test-case?  Find out from Kelly how this goes.  What is the loss rate, for example?
• People using eReaders are using the library LESS – how do we combat that?  If there is some ubiquitous device that comes out, why should they use us?
• Device not as important as how you get the content – needs to be as easy as one-click (Amazon).  Devices will change.  How do we educate the patrons about device v. vendor.
• A visit to the library’s Web site = a visit to the library
• Virtual branch is very important moving forward.
• We need statistics – we need data to know how many of our library patrons are using eBooks (PETER HAXTON)
• Refurbished Kindles – cheap enough to jump in and check one out, then?
• If we ‘wait and see’ – is this going to kill us?  Little kids are already starting to read digital books – new expectations coming soon.  What are the trailblazers doing?
• Tumble books for teachers – kids read on the computer at the school.
• Nooks go home with Student’s in Buffy’s school – she switched away from Kindle
• Personally read an ebook.  The best way to become familiar with this development.

Ebooks: Strategy (Not) Required – Heather MCormack, Stephane Chase, Alene Moroni, Susan Lyon and Robin Bradford

• Small portion of the eReader owners using the library – a lot of energy spent on a small group…so we can slow down and stop chasing our tail.  Look for the opportunities and thoughtful ways to overcome challenges.
• Need partnerships – we provide a door into the world of reading.  Will take time before the patrons understand the technology the way we do…and some are more savvy about it than us!
• Consortia – coordinate purchasing and training and build new partnerships
• Axis360 on Blio platform at King County Library System to go live soon.  Adding additional platform to OverDrive.  Worried that the folks won’t come back.  App access, not library catalog access.
• Readers use it all – apps, computers, devices, Kindle – 38% of ebook checkouts from Overdrive were Kindle after that became available
• Discovery – catalog is most comprehensive (records for all the different formats), platform interface is popular and there are Browse lists created by the library on the platform interface
• Blio is App based – does not yet support ePub format. Slated for early 2012.  Great for tablet computer users who are skipping dedicated eReader.  Buy through TitleSource (B&T’s purchasing platform)
• B&T responsive, but it’s not perfect.  There are other platforms – 3M and Ingram.  B&T provided a balanced addition to their collection.
• eReady? Learning and outreach initiative in South Carolina – Richland County Public Library on OverDrive since 2007, adding eBooks in 2009.  266% growth in number of eBooks.  Also adding 3M as an additional eBook platform.
• Lack of awareness of content in the library.  eReady initiative in 2011 – outreach effort and restaurant take overs.  Owner of restaurant allowed use of the library to demo eReaders using a mobile lab w/ mobile Internet.
• 8 volunteers trained on how to download from the library – partner with neighbor library – business cards
• Advertise events on twitter and facebook, also have a iTunes gift card give-away.  Kindle compatibility is pushing use stats up about 30%.
• Have your Cake and eBook Too – coffee and cake drop in at the library.
• Fictional Bliss – Strategies for filling the digital shelves.  Spikes in use during Dec/Jan Christmas rush.
• Platform-provided CD lists – what’s new, bestsellers, best of, collection must haves, genre lists.  Consider buying from the backlist.  eCollection doesn’t have to match your print collection.  Set manageable goals/chunks.
• You can consider original genre fiction – take a risk on smaller authors and paperpack serials, for example are popular.
• Hold ratios – expectation for faster turnaround with digital contents.  Make it On Demand – may be a different group of readers of digital content.  Second chance.
• Money from grants from donors.  Used to shifting funds to new formats (VHS to DVD) and looking at circ stats to see where you can move funds from (Reference, Music, Audiobooks).  Just start, don’t have to start BIG.
• Q&A –
• Libraries w/ multi-platforms adjust their purchases – full color = Blio, fiction = OverDrive.
• eReady? looking forward to 3M to help patrons with the process from start to finish, without running into Adobe Digital Editions roadblocks!
• Consortia can partner with other similar organizations – literacy, equity in tech access, book promotion
• Where do you start?  How do you select a vendor?  What can you afford and how can you maximize scarce resources |
• TO DO: Find out more about eReady? Project…it sounds very good.
• Kindle Fire – will there be a content shortage?  Hold lists are staying steady at Indy.

Ebook Evolution: How They’ll Change Public Libraries

• Monique – Douglas County Libraries (CO) – We’ve reached the tipping point for eBooks – sales have doubled.
• Power wall – super displays of print = 60% of their circ – how do you do this with eBooks?
• Touchscreens – eBook content and easy access.  Browse book covers on virtual power wall, using same display criteria as physical power wall.
• Very visual search results. – Beta, will roll out in October.  Their own software to do this.
• (Sorry, can’t understand her…which is sad, because this is interesting.)  One stop shopping for OPAC account info and eBook materials.
• iDCL app created, too.  App takes to the Powerwall site.  Server manages DRM.  Arrives to app.  Created their own reader, it appears…
• Other tools integrate poorly with the catalog and deny ownership of the titles to the library.  Direct purchasing from publishers and OWN the content.  One person’s full time job is to call publishers.
• Immerses patron into an experience that is positive.
• Their software includes a social networking/Facebook element that fosters conversations about books.
• “The library has become a social network with physical and digital branches.” (or something like that).
• Nate Hill – Move library from READ to READ/WRITE.  
• Support the PRODUCTION of Knowledge with as much zeal as we promote the consumption of knowledge.
• Libraries are about Collections, Conversations and creating Context – both physical and digital libraries
• Knowledge is generated by conversation – Lankes
• Changes in the paradigms from creator > distributor > cannon.  With the Internet, you can self-publish music and authors can self-publish books!
• Media has gone from View to View/Edit, Read to Read/Write, from Listen to Listen/Remix
• Ebooks are a TRANSITIONAL media format – Reading an old book on a new device is like listening to the radio on your television.  Opportunity for eBooks to take a whole new direction.
• Service Responses to the Digital Content Wave – Uni project and Library Lab (LibLab)
• Uni Project – portable reading rooms – ‘temporarily transform almost any available urban space into a library branch – take books where they are needed most.
• LibraryLab – www.librarylab.org – design pattern of 11 modules that support the production of knowledge.   A Hackspace for Knowledge – collaborate, digital design (photoshop lab)
• Change to a Distributed Library System – put your services where they are needed.  Full-service, branches, uni pop-up branches and LibLabs and Embedded Librarians at some of these.
• Eli – Libraries are Screwed.
• Codex is outmoded.  Ebook pricing bubble of $9.99 is going to $1.99 eventually then $.99 to free with advertising…to free but the last chapter will call $9.99 (tee hee)
• Music industry revenue – DRM has already become outmoded.  They’ve moved past it.
• Freemium Games are growing from 39% to 65% (top 100 grossing games).
• Libraries are Free (bad brand) – when the App store also provides Free books…what will we provide?
• Libraries should provide stuff that ISN’T available elsewhere!
• Unique Experience.
• Puppeteer came to give program on how to use a greenscreen to make your own videos!  Become a firebender at the library!
• Facilitate creation in your community – Super awesome lego contest – Creative works recognized formally in front of their community.
• Let kids break stuff
• Nerds Fighter – come to the library…and they came.
• Unique Content – Unique to your community – newspapers digitized and archives and home movies and hidden collections!!!
• Partnership with local institutions – Musical society – performance at the library recorded and unique content at the library
• Produce podcasts – new and unique content.  Interviews!  Your local celebs.
• Unique Collections – Sharing makes sense.  You have to be able to share musical instruments, telescopes and Cake pans (relia)  How long until you can get those digitally?
• Sweet spot = medium cost + short duration + low frequency (unique collections)
• Badges from Summer game – solve a zelda puzzle, great Scott badge (only get if you search “great scott”)
• play.aadl.org – gaming at the library.
• Diversify your value now to hedge against rapid demand shifts!
• Damn, that was fast.
• Next Person
• Amanda Hocking self published with great success – Polly Courtney, Stephen King, others also self-publishing…
• Libraries need to collect self-published boks – established authors, new collections, print-on-demand services
• Patrons will PAY for convenience
• Alison – Ebook Evolution – Marketing is telling your organization’s story
• Expand our story beyond books.  What story are we going to tell?  Tell about books on the shelf or exciting spaces and imaginative activities.
• Promote your staff, civic leaders…even though the brand is still books – survey says so…
• Can NExpress poll our users and find our own ebook use stats and impact stats?  Basehor did one.
• If it’s easy to use – they’ll come back!
• “Keep our Library Strong” levy passed 2:1 at Columbus metropolitan library (OH).
• Building for the future – collaboration space
• Content Collaborators – who do we hire, what tools do we need, what does the space look like and how does the service model change?
• My Library | Young Minds | Life Skills – Columbus strategic goals
• Hartford – Social |Cultural | Economic | Educational – new pilars for their library

The End of the Story: The Future of Fiction in an Electronic Age – M.T. Anderson

• Videocast – cool.
• Story: Lost Australian girls found because the iPhone had signal and they posted to FB and a friend called authorities…Girls forgot they could use their iPhone as a phone??  Take devices for granted.
• Impact of shift towards eBooks on Authors – Economics of authorship are changing, too.  Who writes and what they CAN write.
• Libraries and authors are in a symbiotic relationship.  What is the future of narrative and stories.
• Readers who read both print and digital = 33% (That’s me, I read both).
• Sorry, I’ve lost interest.

Discussion –

• 3M / Kindle ready to go says Rep at Missouri Library Association
• eReader petting zoos are important to have prior to X-mas – Basehor has a comparison blog and a Page of Free Ebooks.
• LPL is going to display readers (attached).  How do we manage credit cards – You can use gift cards and cheap Visa credit cards from Wal-mart.  iTunes / eReaders.  How does this work with patron-driven acquisitions?
• I want to borrow touchscreen Nook from Lawrence – and a Kindle Fire from whoever gets one first!
• Colorado – Douglas County – A model worth following?
• eDiscover the Classics – put in Project Gutenberg records in the catalog.  What other free content can you add??  Baen Sci Fi publishers – are there other vanity presses who would be willing to do this?  How do we link-check?  Lawrence asked permission to add their materials.
• Does Koha have a link checker?  Issue with online links embedded in the Catalog.
• Unique Content – Muppet storytime from Legends at Tongie to tie into movie!
• Rossville Remembers – showed 262 pictures and the community shared information and filled in the blanks.  Part of the Humanities Council Heritage Grant with Kansas Memories.  Lots of interest, people calling after the fact to help identify the images.
• Morey is going to do a Scavenger Hunt to identify photos located in 2 area businesses.
• Couponing workshops – the Library as a place to DO STUFF.  Adult crafts, kids programming like Imagination Destination series at Bonner supported with Jazz on the Lake funds.
• Game nights – intergenerational programming, senior programming (Pitch/Bridge), teens play games.  D&D at the Library.
• Podcasts don’t require an audience – just interview your local authors or local politicians
• Tongie and Basehor Libraries need a rivalry…to match the school’s rivalry.
• Unique collections: Code reader, tools, small animal trap, cake pans, Halloween costumes, instruments, Haunted house stuff (Richmond), ?? What else?
• Partnerships for eBooks – Hospital manuals as an eBook, Funding buy-in and support learning – partnership with Police or Fire Dept (sell LearningExpress and the tests).
• Tongie getting Mango to learn language (pricing on population).  Partner with HS, homeschoolers and the Christian.  Big seller at Leavenworth. User friendly, provides marketing materials, and App.