Ebook Summit Kicks Off with Library Ebook Survey Results
"The number one barrier to a patron's reading an ebook, Singer reported, was that many patrons across all three types of libraries are unaware of ebooks' availability in their institutions."
"Nevertheless, the survey, "The Growing Importance of Ebooks in U.S. Library Collections," reveals the inroads ebooks are making at libraries nationwide. It had a total of 1,842 respondents, with 781 from public libraries, 364 from academic libraries, and 697 from school libraries."
"Ebook availability
Academic libraries, in particular, appear to have embraced ebooks, with only 6% of academic library respondents not delivering ebooks to their users; the average number of ebooks available in academic libraries that do provide them was 33,830."
I would find that last part surprising, except that the Free Library of Philadelphia lists ALL downloadable documents as "ebooks". This includes pamphlets and city/state documents. I'm not sure if they consider audiobooks as ebooks.
"Ebook circulation
What of the future? Most respondents agreed that ebook circulation will be on the rise over the next year. Large majorities of public (84%), academic (77%), and school libraries (65%) believed it would increase, while only 1% in each category believed ebook circulation would decrease."
That last, I suspect, may work for the New York Times which, at times (no pun intended) seem to have less awareness of ebooks and ereaders than my cat. Cats love to lay on anything I read.
"The full survey will be available for purchase by the end of October. Individual survey reports on academic, school, or public libraries will be available for $750 each, and
the full report will be available for $1500."
No mention if it'll be available as an ebook.