Finally back from Toronto and,
after a chance to settle in again after my travels, I have returned to the
blogosphere with another post. As an
attendee of this year’s OLA Super Conference, the past few days have been
eye-opening, inspiring and overall, incredible.
Many of my sessions led me to think critically about the profession and
discover the types of issues that I will confront in the library environment –
many of which pertained to the current and future roles of the distance user,
both as a general learner and as a library patron specifically.
One session I attended addressed
the topic of e-books within the public library.
During this time, representatives from Toronto, Vancouver and Hamilton
public libraries were all present, each offering information on their current
position with e-books and how the challenges of these new e-resources were
being dealt with in a library setting.
This presentation included some interesting statistics on e-book usage
from patrons – a welcome background for someone who is currently not employed
in a public library, such as myself, and thus, does not see the effects of
e-books on a daily basis.
The presenters also talked a lot
about the publishing industry, drawing on the difficulties that exist with many
of the larger companies. Though Harper
Collins Canada is willing to provide e-books, their capacity (26-uses-per-title)
is creating a strain on the public library system’s budget. Penguin’s choice to start restricting e-book
access to libraries also caused some difficulties, though the publishing
companies that blatantly refused to sell to libraries at all arguably created
the largest challenge. The opinions of
independent publishers were also discussed, along with concerns about the
Overdrive system (an e-book distributor used by most public libraries). Though a lot of information was given during
this session, I felt it was organized in an easily accessible way. Additionally, this session was highly
prevalent to the future of public libraries, and therefore, was one of my
favorites during my time at OLA.
While reflecting on this session, however, I couldn’t help
but become frustrated. The idea of
purchasing an e-book and allowing a patron to borrow it seems like such a
straightforward concept. Ironically, the
public libraries’ current position with publishing companies, accessibility,
finances and e-book distributors demonstrates that librarians will have a
challenging year ahead of them. Though I
know many people (non-librarians) have speculated that e-resources will
eventually make libraries obsolete, this session enforced the idea that this is
not the case. From the presentation, it was
clear that librarians are dedicated to gaining additional access to e-books, in
order to ensure that their patrons remain satisfied and that these challenges have
not led to closed doors, but instead, opportunities for further discussion.
As library materials, e-resources are highly useful for
distance learners, given their ability to be accessed remotely. The efficiency of e-books was highlighted by
one speaker in particular, who drew attention to the time and effort saved through
this new media. If a hold is placed on a
print book, there is a huge delay between the time it is returned by one user
and deposited into the hands of the next.
The book is usually sent to the main library, where it is sorted, before
being redistributed to the new patron’s branch of choice. In addition, the patron may not travel to the
library to pick up their hold until 3 or 4 days after it has arrived, making
the delivery process even longer.
However, the arrival of e-books has completely changed this process. In the case of Vancouver Public Library, an
email is sent to a patron, explaining that their e-book hold is ready for
pickup. They are given 3 days to collect
their item before it continues circulating.
As a former library employee who has physically transferred giant boxes
full of books from one location to another, I am extremely appreciative of this
advancement. Additionally, I can
understand how patrons will benefit from a stronger and more effective e-book
collection, especially as remote users.
I wish the current librarians out there the best of luck with upcoming
negotiations.
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