Author Archives: Jim Duncan

Library Services in the Digital Age

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- Submitted by Jim Duncan, State Library

“Patrons embrace new technologies – and would welcome more. But many still want printed books to hold their central place…

“The internet has already had a major impact on how people find and access information, and now the rising popularity of e-books is helping transform Americans’ reading habits. In this changing landscape, public libraries are trying to adjust their services to these new realities while still serving the needs of patrons who rely on more traditional resources.”

Read more of the Pew Internet study findings

ALA President, Maureen Sullivan: ALA, E-Books and You

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- Submitted  by Jim Duncan, State Library

“This is a time of significant transformation,” says Maureen Sullivan, ALA President, in her video communication on the importance of e-books and digital content, a message to American Library Association members, libraries and the world. This video is 3:38. Below, we’ve linked the sites she mentions.

Web sites referenced:

 

Digital Lending, In Agreement

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- Submitted by Jamie LaRue, Douglas County Libraries

“This last week, the Douglas County Library (DCL) system announced that they had acquired 10,000 ebook titles from the leading self- and independently-published e-book distributor, Smashwords. At an average of $4.00, this required an expenditure of $40,000 to purchase, not merely license, a large number of ebooks for the readers of Douglas County, nearly doubling the number of titles that DCL owns to 21,000. The deal was culminated through the legal equivalent of a sketch on a cocktail napkin, not a 330 page contract with multiple addenda.”

Read the full article at Publishers Weekly

Douglas County Libraries Adds 10,000 Titles

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- Submitted by Jamie LaRue, Douglas County Libraries

“On December 31, Douglas County Libraries (DCL) acquired 10,000 e-book titles from the world’s largest distributor of self-published works, Smashwords, bringing the total number of e-book files that DCL owns to 21,000. All of the content purchased from Smashwords, including books in popular genres such as fiction, romance, mystery, and science fiction, is available for borrowing by library patrons.”

Read the full press release here from DCL.

NEW: Commentary via Publishers Weekly.

Vendors to Have Sitdown With ReadersFirst Library Coalition

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- Submitted by Jim Duncan, State Library

Jamie LaRue from Douglas County Libraries will be among those in attendance…

“The top distributors of ebooks to public libraries along with some of their counterparts among ILS vendors are going to sit down with leading librarians from the U.S. and Canada at the end of this month to discuss how the technology and business model for electronic lending should develop.”

Read more at The Digital Shift

Pew Report: E-book Reading Jumps; Print Book Reading Declines

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- Submitted by Jim Duncan, State Library

“The population of e-book readers is growing. In the past year, the number of those who read e-books increased from 16% of all Americans ages 16 and older to 23%. At the same time, the number of those who read printed books in the previous 12 months fell from 72% of the population ages 16 and older to 67%.”

Read more of this Pew Internet report…

Latest DCL Price Comparison Report Released

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A new year, and little has changed. Still, fewer than half of the best-selling books on Amazon are available for purchase by libraries in an e-book format. Of the titles that are available, some are priced more than five times higher for a library to license than it is for a consumer to license.

Read the first 2013 pricing comparison report to be released by Douglas County Libraries, and consider the details…

E-Books Destroying Traditional Publishing? The Story’s Not That Simple

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- Submitted by Gene Hainer, State Library

“Traditional publishers are traveling a long and confusing road into the digital future. To begin with, here’s the conventional wisdom about publishing: E-books are destroying the business model.

People expect them to be cheaper than physical books, and that drives down prices. But the story’s not that simple…”

Continue reading the full article on NPR or listen (4 min 25 sec) via All Things Considered (mp3 download).

Unlucky ’13: 10 Predictions of How It’s Gonna Get Worse for New York Publishers

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- Submitted by Jamie LaRue, Douglas County Libraries

“Maybe the Mayans had the American publishing industry in mind when their calendar conked out. If you thought 2012 was a bad year for traditional book publishing, and it was, you’ll be nostalgic for it by the end of 2013. How bad will it be? Real bad. Here are my 10 dismal predictions for the New Year…”

Read Michael Levin’s full opinion piece at the Huffington Post

Douglas County Libraries Partners with Impelsys on Dashboard

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- Submitted by Rochelle Logan, Douglas County Libraries

Douglas County Libraries (DCL) in Colorado is testing a new acquisitions dashboard developed in partnership with Impelsys, a company that works with publishers to deliver and market eContent.

The dashboard will allow DCL’s collection development and acquisitions staff to receive new title metadata directly from DCL’s publisher partners.

Read the full press release here.