Making CENTS out of the e-reader

By now you would think publishers would have worked out the kinks over e-books. Apparently not! According to a report recently published in The Toronto Star, another publisher has amended its rule. The article pointed out "Penguin initially announced it was pulling all library e-titles downloaded on Amazon’s Kindle device over security concerns, but last week amended it to library access to its new Penguin e-books instead." With the e-book service libraries are starting to see a rise in the numbers of e-books being borrowed, but is it fair that public libraries be caught in this war?

The answer is NO. When the Toronto Library refused to buy any more books from Harper Collins, the library kept its word. For Harper Collins they might considered the Toronto Library as 1% of the purchasers so it was not a big lost to loose their service, however, that 1% has a much larger reader base that will be exposed to other authors, but they won't be from Harper Collins. With holidays fast approaching the Toronto Public Library reported over the holidays last year they noticed an increase borrowing over e-books, as people had received e-readers as gifts (In 2009 e-books borrowed was up to 196%, for 2010 the numbers jumped to 288%). With all the issues surrounding e-books one has to wonder who is impacted more but the publishers decision, the reader or the libraries.

Source:

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1093871--book-publishers-curb-library-access-to-e-books