This recent op-ed in the New York Times by Anthony W. Marx, the President of the New York Public Library, trumpeted that with Hachette Book Group (which includes Little, Brown) announcing it will (as of May 8, 2013) offer e-books of its titles to libraries, the future of being able to get e-books from libraries seems more-or-less assured:
"This is a big step, as it represents, for the first time, a consensus among the Big Six, at least in principle, that their e-books should be made available to library users."
Anthony cites some remarkable statistics (did you know that circulation since 2008 in New York's neighborhood library branches has risen 44%? Or that e-book readership in NY rose 168% from 2011 to 2012?)
As Anthony says, "Many issue still need to be sorted out" in terms of prices, terms of licenses and which e-books are part of the inventory libraries can get, but it's an upbeat assessment, stressing that the challenge to keep in mind is:
"to ensure that the information revolution provides more, not less, access for the public"
It's well worth reading.
E-books in libraries. It's the future. And it's happening now.
Illustrate and Write On,
Lee
I posted at Pen and Ink that I'd been getting my books electronically from the library. It was only recently I found out about this resource. They have a nice selection of children's books at LAPL and Burbank and SML.
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