September 3, 2014 – Katie Greenock, SSP Communications Committee Member – Libraries worldwide are acquiring e-book resources for lending, but rates of availability slow significantly outside the most developed areas for e-book adoption overall, according to a report by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). Even in regions where e-books are widely adopted by libraries, usage may vary depending on variable legal and commercial lending regulations.
The IFLA report defines the United States as the most developed area for e-book adoption but also cites increased usage in regions such as South America, western Europe (particularly France, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries), and Japan (4).
Yet despite this increase in usage overall, the report finds that enhanced e-book adoption in the publishing marketplace does not always predict a strong correlation to library adoption on a global level. For example, it states that “a large majority of Japanese public libraries do not provide eBooks at this time” and that “eBook availability in EU libraries varies significantly from country to country depending upon factors such as the funding available for library purchasing, indigenous publishing practice, library governance structure and preferred licensing regimes” (6, 7).
The notable exception to these statistics is the United States, where 89 percent of public library systems offer e-book lending options to patrons (8). That said, 91 percent of U.S. libraries with e-book collections are subject to publisher-enforced terms intended to protect e-book sales, such as single-user access, which have had an impact on usage numbers (8). However, the addition of publisher-friendly initiatives, such as the introduction of an optional buying button on electronic resources, has not been shown to yield significant revenue for publishers through the library-patron marketplace (10).
Because of these restrictions, subscribing to non-library-based e-lending services, such as Oyster and Amazon’s newly unveiled Kindle Unlimited, may start to seem more appealing and less restrictive than borrowing library e-books, particularly to those users with higher levels of disposable income. Consortium purchasing, and even sometimes distribution, of e-books is also an increasingly popular option, particularly in European library systems.
Globally, groups such as the Book Industry Collaborative Council in Australia and the American Library Association in the United States continue working to maintain symbiosis between publishers and libraries on this front and to find mutually agreeable solutions that support broad e-book access while protecting revenue streams that allow the creation of new and innovative content and delivery formats (15–16).
It is likely that the future of e-book distribution lies in collective and license-based models, whether those perpetuated by library systems, third-party vendors, or commercial enterprises, and as the best options prevail, the less-developed global e-book marketplace will follow suit.
Work Cited
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. 2014 IFLA E-Lending Background Paper. 30 July 2014.
Further Reading
Albanese, Andrew. “Report: Libraries Struggling with E-books.” Publishers Weekly. 4 August 2014.
Digital Book World. “IFLA Report: Library Ebook Lending Worldwide Lags Behind U.S.” Digital Book Wire. 1 August 2014.
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