Thread: Why e-books, e-audiobooks could be harder to snag at your local library
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Old 07-05-2019, 06:08 AM   #64
John F
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First, thank you for sharing the numbers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg View Post
The close-to-final cost was $3.1 million:

http://www.mainlinemedianews.com/mai...7eeeab764.html

If you look at page 11 here you'll see that in 2010 there were 34,358 books plus 5,794 in off-site storage:

https://www.lmls.org/wp-content/uplo...ual-Report.pdf

I can't find any super-clear statement about this on the web, but the renovation actually reduced the shelf capacity by about 5,000.

Another consideration is that an eBook has, for eBook readers, the same value as a large print book, and those take up an above-average amount of shelf space.

There are of course semi-hidden costs for eBooks as well as for paper, like training librarians.
So 40,000 books. Under the new Random Penguin model of ($45 rental for two years), that would be 20,000 * $45, so $900,000 every year for books.
Current for "Collections" is $590,000. Total operating expenditures for the library is $4,700,000. Staff cost is $3,300,000

I'm not sure about Steve's library, but it looks like the report includes several small libraries.

For my library...

I'll have to guesstimate on the number of pbooks, as the total number for collections is 54,500 for "physical books, magazines, audiobooks, DVDs, music CDs, puppet, and games". I'd say a conservative estimate would be 30,000 books. So...

Books 30,000, Under Random Penguin 15,000 * $45 would be $675,000 a year for books. Current for all material ("materials books videos") is $45,709. Total expenses 335,903. staff cost is $245,000.

Note that we are a single small town library.

So for our library, I agree with our librarian that it doesn't make sense for our library to buy Random Penguin ebooks.

Please note that my posts haven't necessarily been about long wait times for books/ebooks at libraries.
Last edited by John F; 07-05-2019 at 06:10 AM.
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