Tag Archives: E-books

2012 Study highlights provision of innovative technology despite budget cuts

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With the release of the 2011-2012 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study, libraries have access to current national and state data and supporting anecdotal evidence that can help library staff and trustees advocate for support for technology infrastructure and resources.

The new report highlights how strategic vision and careful management have helped U.S. public libraries weather the storm of the Great Recession, supporting their role as a lifeline to the technology resources and training essential to social inclusion and full participation in the nation’s economy. However, the report underscores the competing concerns that face America’s libraries: cumulative budget cuts which threaten access to libraries and services, increasing demand for technology training and the chronic presence of the digital divide.

 Key findings include:

  • 62% of public libraries report that they are the only source of free public access to computers and the Internet in their communities, with an increase to 70% in rural communities.
  • For FY2012, 57 percent of libraries report flat or decreased operating budgets, while at the same time, 60 percent of libraries report increased use of public Internet computers.
  • 76% of libraries offer access to e-books, an increase of 9% from last year.
  • 39% percent of libraries provide e-readers for check-out by patrons.
  • 91% of public libraries provide free Wi-Fi, and 74% of libraries report use of Wi-Fi increased in 2011
  • For the third year in a row, 40% of state libraries report decreased state funding for public libraries.
  • 65% of libraries report having an insufficient number of public computers to meet demand, this increases to 87% in urban libraries.

More key findings are outlined in the Executive Summary, the key findings handout, and this infographic:

 We hope you’ll take the time to look through the full report, which includes state-by-state analysis on public library technology resources, and an illuminating qualitative component from interviews with library directors and staff in Georgia and Idaho.

 Over the new few weeks we’ll highlight different sections of the report, as well as introduce you to the resources we’ve developed to help you use the PLFTAS data to advocate for your own library.

 Thank you to the staff at the 7,252 public libraries that completed this year’s survey. The time you took to provide the data in this report offers valuable information for national, state, and local policymakers, library advocates, researchers, practitioners, government and private funding organizations, and others to understand the impact, issues, and needs of libraries providing public access computing.

On-line resources available to help libraries plan e-reader lending programs

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A question about the availability of downloadable e-books was added to the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study in 2006. At that time, 38.3 percent of libraries reported offering the service. In the results for the 2010-2011 study, that number increased to over 67 percent.

New to this year’s survey, we learned that nearly 28 percent of libraries provide mobile devices (e-readers, netbooks) for check-out to patrons. In the 2011-2012 survey (launching September 6), e-readers have earned a solo survey category, and no doubt there will be an uptick on libraries reporting availability.

Is your library considering an e-reader lending program, but don’t know where to start? Help is here and more is on the way.

Rob Caluori, IT manager for the Westchester (NY) Library System recently gave a presentation on starting an e-reader program that proved to be so popular he converted it into a web video for repeat performances. We’re certain you will feel much more confident moving forward after watching Starting a Successful eReader Lending Program @ your library.

At 1 p.m. CDT on Sept. 21, the Public Library Association (PLA) will host a live, hour-long webinar, Check out E-Readers! Sacramento Public Library Did It and You Can Too!, as part of PLA’s “Public Libraries at Work” monthly webinar series.

The Sacramento (CA) Public Library (SPL) recently received a grant from the California State Library to form a partnership with Barnes & Noble and develop a plan to check out e-readers to the public.

Five panelists from SPL will share how they built the e-reader loan program from the ground up. Webinar participants will gain insight on the unique challenges of collection, copyright and CIPA, staff training, marketing and assessment, as well as receive tips to successfully implement a similar program at their libraries.

 

Mapping the Public Library Technology Landscape

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One of the things I’ve always appreciated about the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study (and its earlier incarnations) is how it paints a landscape of the successes and challenges libraries encounter in deploying and sustaining technology infrastructure and resources on behalf of the millions of Americans we serve.

The study covers a lot of ground – ranging from the number of available public computers to barriers to improving bandwidth speeds to specialized Internet-based services ranging from e-government to e-books – complemented by qualitative research from interviews with library directors and survey responses from state library agencies.

Because there is so much information stuffed into the study report, the research team has been working to share “bite size” portions of the data and/or place our findings into a larger context with issues briefs (and more issues briefs), templates and maps.

I would like to call out the maps, in particular, because we’ve just added three new ones: WiFi availability, patron technology training and e-book offerings by state (in addition to library support for job seekers and e-government).

E-books map

Our hope is that these resources make it easier for local public libraries and state libraries to use and share the data with others. Please – “steal” these resources! You can use the maps to illustrate how libraries in your state are leading the pack (Hawaii, Maryland, North Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia libraries were most likely to report offering e-books, for example) or to show how libraries may be lagging their peers in some areas. (I used an earlier version of the job resources map in our presentation at the National Association of Counties conference.)

What maps, mapping or infographics would you like to see in the future? If you’ve created visuals or maps using our data, we’d love to hear about that, too.

p.s. We can only create these materials because thousands of public libraries participate in the study every year. If you haven’t responded to the 2010-2011 national public library survey yet, please do!

Library e-book growth outpacing most other categories

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I’ve been wondering to what extent books on tape and CD paved the way to the rapid adoption of e-books.  I’ve also been wondering the extent to which “born digital” library users are driving commercial development of readers and content packet formats.

The number of public libraries *not* providing access to e-books continues to decline, down about 10% this year from last according to the 2009-2010 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study (PLFTAS) (see figure C-21). Nearly 42% of libraries reported providing in-library access to e-books in 2009-2010 and about 55.6% support remote access (via the Web). When you consider availability by metropolitan area, the proportion increases significantly.

  • Nearly 62% of urban libraries provide in-library e-book access, and nearly 76% support remote use.
  • 46% of suburban libraries provide in-library e-book access, and about 64% support remote access.
  • 31% of rural libraries provide in-library e-book access, and nearly 42% support remote access.

In an article prepared for the July/August 2010 issue of Public Libraries, the Public Library Association member magazine, I compiled e-book holdings and electronic materials expenditures reported by public libraries for FY2005-FY2008. The following is excerpted from the PL article:

Further, e-book collections in public libraries grew to 13.9 million in FY2008[i] from 8.9 million in FY2005[ii], an increase of about 36%. This e-book growth outpaces all other collection categories other than electronic serials, which increased nearly 90% between FY2005 and FY2008. While print has fluctuated, video increased 23%, and audio climbed about 19% over the same time period. Comparison of e-books with other parts of the collection is presented in the following figure.

E-book collections grew 27% in FY2006 from FY2005, another 16% in FY2007, and another 6% in FY2008. Are libraries providing enough access?

Geoffrey A. Fowler and Maria C. Baca writing for WSJ.com note that according to a study funded by Sony Corp, “A study of 1,200 e-reader owners by Marketing and Research Resources Inc. found that 40% said they now read more than they did with print books.”  They also cite an Association of American Publishers (AAP) study indicating 176% increase in electronic book sales in 2009.(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575448093175758872.html)

ALA found in its most recent household survey conducted by Harris Interactive (http://www.ala.org/ala/research/librarystats/2010HarrisPoll.pdf) that among those who have used their public library more in the past six months nearly  half  (43%)  of  those  between  the  ages  18‐24,  and  one -third  (32%)  of  those  between  ages  35‐44  have  increased  use  over  the  past  six  months. The survey also found more people are visiting their libraries by computer (through the library website), and 35% of people who have logged on to their library did so more often in the past six months.  With an increase in younger users, more likely to fit the e-book demographic, will libraries see more requests for e-books?

What is your sense of library users and e-books – are they reading more? Is the portability of the reader and mixed content support (e.g., books, newspapers, etc.) driving this?

Tell us what you think!

[i] IMLS. (2009). Public libraries survey: Fiscal year 2007, p. 70. Table 13. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from, http://harvester.census.gov/imls/pubs/pls/pub_detail.asp?id=122

[ii] National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2008). Public libraries in the United States: Fiscal year 2005, p. 20. Table 8. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from, http://harvester.census.gov/imls/pubs/pls/pub_detail.asp?id=116#