It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine), Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the E-Book
For years we’ve dreamed of the paperless office and foretold the death of the printed book, but my desk stubbornly remains cluttered with paper, my home full of books and my bag weighed down with reports. But finally these electronic dreams seem to be about to come true - e-books have arrived and are available at a Web site near you. What is an e-book?The term ‘e-book’ actually has several meanings. It can mean any text or monograph which is made available in an electronic format. For example, many amateur authors publish their work online in the form of web pages and these online works may be referred to as e-books. Similarly a story sent in an e-mail, made available in Word format or even in plain text could also be referred to as an e-book. Increasingly though, e-book is the term used for an electronic monograph which has been professionally edited and encrypted in some way. This type of e-book is produced by traditional publishing houses like Harper Collins [1] or Schuster & Schuster [2] and requires the use of special software. The software reproduces the electronic text in a format designed to be easy on the eye and prevents it from being copied or printed out. To make things even more confusing the term ‘e-book’ is also used for the dedicated piece of equipment which people may use to read their e-book texts on. The proper term for this equipment is ‘e-book reader’. E-book ReadersThere are three main types of e-book readers. These are
Dedicated ReadersDedicated readers are what most people think of when they hear the term ‘e-book’. These have been designed specifically for reading electronic texts. They are generally about the size and weight of a hardback book and have a large backlit colour or greyscale touch sensitive screen. Most dedicated readers can store up to 10-15 books at one time and may also be able to play sound and video. Users can alter the size of the text display, add notes, do keyword searches and insert electronic bookmarks. Two buttons allow the user to page up and down through the text although a hyperlinked table of contents allows direct access to specific sections of each book. The market leader for e-book readers is at the moment the Rocket eBook [3]. However, the company which owns Rocket eBook, Gemstar [4], has recently launched two newer models called catchily the RCA REB 1100 and the RCA REB 1200. Other competitors in the field include the eBookman [5]. HandheldsHandhelds are also known as Personal Digital Assistants or Palmtop computers. These are small (a bit bigger than a pack of cards) lightweight computers which are designed to provide some of the functionality of a PC (e-mail, calendars, web access, limited text editing) without the weight or size of laptops. The market leaders in this field are Palm [6], Handspring [7] and PocketPCs [8]. These devices can be turned into e-book readers by installing freely available e-book software. Handhelds are much lighter than dedicated e-book readers but have much smaller screens which tend to be of lower quality. They can store fewer books at one time due to their smaller memories but have the advantage of greater functionality i.e. you can use them to do other things than read e-books. PCsPCs can also be used as e-book readers. Again special software is needed to convert the PC or laptop into an e-book reader. This software uses special fonts to make text easier on the eye and encrypts the book so it can’t be copied or printed. The two market leaders for this software currently are Glassbook [9] and Microsoft Reader [10]. What about standards?E-book standards are still in development and currently different e-book software packages use different standards. For example, e-books developed for a Palm based OS system will use different technical standards than e-books developed for use with Microsoft Reader. This is an issue which the e-book industry is currently grappling with and a common e-book standard is currently under development [11]. How do you buy books and what do they cost?Buying e-books is a relatively simple procedure. E-books are bought online usually through an e-book shop although some authors and publishers are experimenting with selling direct to their readers. You simply search the catalogue, select the book you want, add it to your electronic shopping basket and purchase it using a credit card. It is only at this point that the process differs from buying print books online. Instead of waiting a few days for the book to be delivered, the e-book is available within seconds as a direct download. Books may be downloaded to the hard-drive of a PC (which acts as a bookshelf for the e-book) or kept in a virtual bookshelf. Virtual bookshelves are maintained by e-book vendors for their customers and are accessed by passwords. Users simply log into their account when they wish to download a purchased book to their e-book reader. Virtual bookshelves mean that if a user’s PC is stolen they do not lose their whole library of e-books too. Most e-books cost the same or slightly less than their print equivalent. Prices typically tend to be in dollars as most e-book vendors are based in America. For example, Amazon.com [12] is selling the recent new John Le Carre novel in hardback for $22.40 (plus p&p) whereas the Peanut Press [13] e-book version costs $19.60 (but there is no p&p of course!). Another example is Bag of Bones by Stephen King, this is available at Amazon in hardback for $22.40 and in e-book format from Peanut Press for $19.55 - however this book is also available in paperback format at Amazon for $7.19. E-books are therefore comparatively expensive and their lower production and delivery costs are not being passed onto the purchaser. What’s available?There are an estimated 50,000 e-book texts available. This number is increasing rapidly as traditional publishers begin to make their new publications available in e-book format. In addition, organisations like Net Library [14] are buying up the rights to many publications already available in print and converting them into e-books. The choice of books being made available is being influenced heavily by the typical profile of the e-book purchaser. E-book owners are typically technologically minded and likely to be males in their 20s and 30s. Consequently a large percentage of the e-books published are aimed at this market with science fiction and technology books dominating. Integrating e-books into librariesThe challenge for libraries is how to integrate this new format of texts into the traditional library service model. E-books are not physical items and so do not fit into existing acquisition or circulation models. Circulating e-book readersThe initial response to providing library users with access to e-books has been to circulate e-book readers. The e-book readers are loaded with a number of texts, for example Riding the Bullet by Stephen King [15]. These texts are catalogued as usual and included in the OPAC. If a library user wishes to read Riding the Bullet the catalogue record will direct the user to the enquiry desk where an e-book reader will be issued. The e-book reader will have a loan period like any other item borrowed from the library and the library user must return the e-book reader at the end of the period. The library user cannot personally download books to the e-book reader or read the library’s e-books on his or her own reader. Algonquin Area Public Library, USA is an example of a public library already providing this service. A useful FAQ about how it manages this service is available on its Web site [16]. Circulating pre-loaded e-book readers may just be a short-term solution to the issue of how to integrate e-books into the library. By circulating the e-book readers the libraries are providing both text and the equipment to read it. This would be equivalent to a library circulating both a video cassette and a video player. However, as the penetration of e-book readers into the market is still very low the circulation of readers is still required. Circulating e-booksIn the longer term libraries will simply circulate e-books for users to read on their own e-book readers. As e-books are electronic files, library users will be able to download them directly from the library’s catalogue. They may choose to do this in the library itself or most probably via the library’s Web site. This will mean the library user will no longer have to physically visit a service point to borrow or return library books. Each e-book borrowed will be automatically issued with an encrypted certificate. As well as including information about how long the book is available for loan, the certificate will also prevent it from being copied to another reader. At the end of the loan period this certificate will become invalid and the e-book will automatically delete itself from the library user’s e-book reader. The library catalogue will then automatically make a copy of this e-book available for loan again. No overdue notices need to be sent out, no fines need to be collected and the library does not need to be visited. The integration of e-books into circulation systems is likely to be managed in one of two ways:
Stock selection modelsThe e-book gives the library the potential to provide its readers with any book within minutes. At present library users can only immediately borrow what is physically held in the library. If the library doesn’t hold the required book the user will have to wait for it either to be sent from another library in that authority or request it via Inter Library Loan. In an e-book environment if a user requests a book the library does not hold, the library can purchase it immediately and provide the reader with it within minutes. The librarian will simply need to log on to its book supplier’s site, purchase the relevant e-book, download it straight to the library’s catalogue and then issue it to the library user. This process is likely to take only a few minutes. The instant access of e-books has strong implications for the traditional collection development model. Public libraries tend to buy most books using the just-in-case model. Books are bought in expectation of demand. The librarians choose what they think their public wants to or even should be reading. Developing an e-book collection could mean moving to a just-in-time model – with the readers’ demands being met within minutes of their requests. This would mean that the library more accurately buys books which its users want but not necessarily books which librarians think they should have! The development of workable e-book acquisition policies may be a time-consuming issue. Possibly, libraries may still pre-select a large percentage of their e-book collection for their users (based on traditional selection criteria) with a smaller percentage of the stock selected as a direct result of reader requests. ConclusionsFor libraries, the next few years will be challenging - e-books will alter the way in which they circulate, acquire and manage their collections. It really could be the end of the library world as we know it. But if e-books deliver their promise and allow libraries to more effectively and efficiently meet the demands of their users - then I feel fine. References
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Author Details
Sarah Ormes |