eBooks not for everybody

[CazMar]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

A point that may be of interest...

Here in Somerset, the council saw the library service as a soft target, and put in train a swathe of cuts to libraries, hours, staff, the lot.
Then an eagle-eyed objector spotted a legal requirement on the council, to provide a satisfactory full service.
At considerable cost/risk, and a large protest movement in papers and media. a group formed to take the Council to court.
They won, and the authority has withdrawn plans, even suggested it will expand some features.
The People won, the "representatives" bowed to the result.
A lot of verysharp eyes now will be making sure they don't try it again.

I can remember all too well when they tried to actually close down the Adelaide City library - the politicians didn't know what had hit them. They have never tried to do this again!
And don't worry HarryT, Adelaide is a wealthy city thanks to enormous state mining royalties so they really can't cry poor or cut other services - perhaps they could cut their lavish entertaining! But I take your point with other parts of the world. However for many elderly people books are one of the few pleasures and interests they can still enjoy.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I guess the thousands of out of copyright books that can be downloaded onto an e-reader for free from places like Mobile Read just would not work for her.

There's a good chance they wouldn't. A lot of people with those sorts of reading habits are only interested in one type of setting: contemporary. It's alright if there are ghosts, monsters, impossible inventions or mental illnesses that don't remotely exist in reality, but if it's more than ten years in the past or future and not by a favored, still-publishing author, no thanks.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, of course they are, but so are lots of other things. If the council has to cut its budget, the library service has to take its share of cutbacks along with everything else.

I can't speak for that library system, but I've found that the types of services that some libraries provide are more important during economic crunches than they are when the city is prospering. To offer a few:

• Offering literacy programs than those offered to children in school
• Offering literacy and ESL instruction to adults
• Offering human, printed, and online resources for job seekers
• Offering business databases and international news to businesses
• Offering a safe place for the homeless

These are, of course, important at all times. But they are even more important when schools and adult education programs are unable to keep up with increasing demand. They are even more important when people are looking for work or small businesses are struggling to survive.

Now there are bplaces that libraries, like any business or government service, can cut back. Yet I have found that budget cuts tend to be about eliminating services rather than finding efficiencies. And when you're cutting services, you have to be very careful since you don't want to make the problems worse.

[morriss003]

I still don't have an ereader or a tablet. When I need one, I'll buy one.

[Sydney's Mom]

My local library has a lukewarm ebook selection, but keeps buying kindles with 75 current books preloaded. These are constantly on loan, and hopefully, it will mean that the ebook selection is expanded. I haven't set foot in a library in years, except to get a library card or pick up a knitting book. Since I was recently kicked out of CPL (not me personally, just all reciprocal borrowers) that means I will only be using my local library's anemic ebook offerings.