Libraries Can't Meet eBook Demand

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Phogg

You can get a venti Karma Macchiato for about $4.70 at Starbucks.

Karma for that!

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by abookreader

See? Yes! You can return an ePub early.

In ADE click on the Library view and find the book you want to return. On the left, click on that little triangle/arrow. Select Return book.

Just to clarify, you can return an Adobe ePub early. If you borrow an "Open ePub" (non-DRMed) version, it can't be returned early. Or...that was my experience for the one copy I borrowed.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

While the relationship between publishers and libraries is not ideal, the specific problem described in the article is a stocking problem: the library has not bought enough e-books to meet the demand.

When libraries buy enough digital copies to meet demand, then it is easier to borrow the book from the library then to buy it. Under such a regime, I think book sales would decline, and fewer publishers would participate with Overdrive. So I'm with the wait-list-OK group.

I think that the system where you don't have to go into the physical library to borrow the book will seriously reduce public support for libraries.* My modest proposal for any lurking Simon & Schuster executive is to negotiate with Overdrive a requirement that borrowing their eBooks require some sort of physical checkout in a public library building. This would allow them to sell to libraries without losing the patronage of convenience-minded eBook buyers. And with the public continuing to actually go to libraries, it would help maintain taxpayer, and donor, library support.

_____________________
* If you don't believe this, and are an EPUB person, sit with a US Kindle owner as they check out a public library book, and watch how going to Amazon's web site, with its advertising, is part of the process. And Amazon, with its pay-for Prime lending library, directly competes with public libraries.

[gracie]

A couple things come to mind about this whole problem...

Publishers have been doing ebooks for several years. Part of their JOB should have been to forecast what would happen as demand increased. A year ago we hit the tipping point. It was OBVIOUS to anyone that looked even a LITTLE that demand go absolutely insane this year. I think the publishers deliberately stuck their collective heads in the sand and decided to ignore the trend. 19th century robber-baron mindset in a 21st century world...

Returning library books... Instead of making the default 21 days for borrowing, why not make the default SEVEN days. The borrower would have to change the period to 21 days. Yeah, a few people would be "inconvenienced" when their book stopped working, but if they routinely aren't able to read a book in a week, they'd learn to change the period. How many thousands of books are sitting there, finished, that haven't been returned?

Supply and demand... This whole thing seems most like prohibition. No liquor, lots of illegal liquor. People want to borrow ebooks. LOTS of people - MILLIONS of new e-readers. If the publishers won't make them available, some of those people will go to the speakeasy for the liquor - er pirate sites for their ebooks... If it's not already rampant, I foresee a huge increase in pirate sites, just like the ones for software, music, and films.

The publisher's refusing to make books available to libraries is fueling a HUGE industry in pirated books. JUST like it did for music and films. You want to minimize piracy, make the product so cost-effective and ubiquitous that it's not WORTH the effort to steal.

[Synamon]

Have none of you ever put a hold on a library book? I have. Do you think every book you ever wanted was waiting for you in the brick and mortar library? Of course not. All this complaining that the book you want isn't available or that you have to put a hold on it baffles me. That's how libraries have always worked.

I was curious how "bad" this availability was, so I logged onto my local library today. I signed out 10 books by bestselling authors I like and put another 6 (the maximum) on hold and 30 more in my wish list. That's a lot of availability. Even with libraries lagging the explosion of eReaders, there are books that can be signed out.

I'd say that not always getting instant gratification and using holds seems like a good balance. That system won't cut into the publishers' bottom line much since people who don't want to wait can go buy the book. It's pretty unlikely that people with eReaders have zero inventory of books on their devices, the panic over library books seems exaggerated to me.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by gracie

The publisher's refusing to make books available to libraries is fueling a HUGE industry in pirated books.

You're making what amounts to a scientific hypothesis. If correct, popular books from publishers that cooperate with Overdrive (Random House) get into the darknet more slowly than do similarly selling books from publishers that decline (Simon & Schuster). Maybe someone with a bit more time than I have could test it.

I presume that there are business analysts at big publishers that have already done this. Penguin statements late last year seem to indicate that, if anything, Overdrive availability speeds darknet availability. Of course, Penguin has a bias, so without independent analysis, we don't really know.

[JSWolf]

The problems are thus...

Most people do not know you can return eBooks early or even how to do so. Most people have their borrow time set to the default maximum which if it's 21-days, then you wait 21-days for the eBook to be returned. They don't know you can change the borrow time so they go with the default. So if they borrow a book they kow they can finish in less than 14-days, they'll still go with 21-days if that is what the library allows.

So when you are in the wait list, think maximum wait time for each person in line ahead of you. Then you can figure out how long the wait will be at most.

I do feel that any library that has a 21-day borrow time should make it a maximum of 14-days. I know some books are large or omnibuses. But with the wait time, lending times should not be three weeks.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

My modest proposal for any lurking Simon & Schuster executive is to negotiate with Overdrive a requirement that borrowing their eBooks require some sort of physical checkout in a public library building.

Some people have mobility/transport/health issues. Would not work.

[astrodad]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

Some people have mobility/transport/health issues. Would not work.

Quite true. And if I have to go to the library to get an ebook, I'm not going to be borrowing ebooks.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Truth. In additions the only allegiance they have is to the shareholders. And once they have that first personal million in the bank they couldn't care less about that either. It becomes an exercise in power, which corrupts.

Actually, not true at all. Only true if limited to publicly traded US corporations on the Fortune 500 list and that would be just a little more than a 100 companies. Trust or family owned corporations take a long term view, so does Japanese corporations.

[geertm]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

.My modest proposal for any lurking Simon & Schuster executive is to negotiate with Overdrive a requirement that borrowing their eBooks require some sort of physical checkout in a public library building. This would allow them to sell to libraries without losing the patronage of convenience-minded eBook buyers. And with the public continuing to actually go to libraries, it would help maintain taxpayer, and donor, library support.

This is indeed what publishers in the UK have already proposed:
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/pa...k-lending.html

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Actually, not true at all. Only true if limited to publicly traded US corporations on the Fortune 500 list and that would be just a little more than a 100 companies. Trust or family owned corporations take a long term view, so does Japanese corporations.

Wrong. A corporation is ONLY beholding to the shareholders. There is no such thing as a 'family-owned' corporation. A corporation is definined by law as a publicly held entity that is a person. The incentive is ONLY to the shareholders. The law requires it. The evidence supports it. A private company 'may' be different. But corporations are the root of all evil in our modern economy.

[Kumabjorn]

I was not aware that there was a legal distinction between a company and a corporation. My bad.

[John F]

Originally Posted by cassidym

One of the things I've learned about borrowing eBooks, is the wait is seldom as long as the library projects it to be. I think this is because a lot of people put their name on lots of waiting lists but don't check out each book when it is available. Also, the wait is calculated by the Overdrive software to be three weeks for each person on the list but people don't always keep the book for the full three weeks.

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Oh, my library doesn't show any wait time. I guess that's an Overdrive feature that they chose not to use? Do most people see this on their library's site?

eP

I'm a member at three different ebook libraries. They all show number of copies the library has, how many are available, and how many people are on the waiting list.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

...
I do feel that any library that has a 21-day borrow time should make it a maximum of 14-days. I know some books are large or omnibuses. But with the wait time, lending times should not be three weeks.

I like this idea. But also allow one extra/extension checkout for 10 days.

And since so many people seem unaware of being able to return early, at checkout and wherever possible, show a reminder message to return the book when you are done.

[spindlegirl]

I discovered the "Return" function when I first got my T1. I was poking around the menu to see if I could count the many things my reader could do. I was grateful, since I didn't like one of the library books I borrowed, and wanted it off my reader.