I love to read but I can't afford to buy books at anything like the rate I read them. I also live in a pretty small flat and simply don't have room for a growing personal library. These are just two of the reasons I love public lending libraries. However, now that I have a good mobile ebook reader (an iPod touch, perhaps someday an iPad or its equivalent), I'm becoming hooked on 1) the convenience of downloading books directly to my device (no trips to the library to check out/in), and 2) the convenience of being able to take my book with me whenever I'm "out" in such a small, light form factor.
I've been waiting years for this to happen, and it looks as though it may actually come to pass: we may be able to check out ebooks from our public library and read them on our mobile devices. Actually, that's been possible for a few years now. But between the ebook "format wars," the variety of mobile devices and their capabilities (supported formats, displays, downloading techniques, etc.), and the relative dearth of ebooks available in the libraries, it hasn't really been much of a viable alternative to driving to the library to check out--and in--print volumes.
It looks as though that's about to change. Amazon has announced that it's partnering with Overdrive (which has already been working with libraries to enable ebook lending) to make Kindle ebook lending by libraries possible: "Amazon Kindle to open up to library lending." (LA Times) This matters primarily because, as the Christian Science Monitor puts it, "With an estimated 7.5 million Kindles in the US, Amazon enjoys a two-thirds share of the $1 billion digital-book market, according to Forrester Research. Amazon’s new Kindle Lending Library feature will open the floodgates to e-lending." Kindle books--readable via the Kindle app on non-Kindle portable devices, too (thank you Amazon!)--are sort of the 800-pound gorilla of ebooks these days.
Oh, I'm not going to get too excited yet. This has only been announced, not implemented, and according to the LA Times article, Amazon "...did not specify when its "Kindle Library Lending" program would start." It may be some time before my San Diego County Library system has it in place, and awhile after that before they start buying new books in Kindle format--assuming, of course, they have the money in these days of decimated budgets. (Which brings up another conundrum for libraries: how to allocate pittance new-book budgets between print and digital, not to mention between book and media.)
But eventually there will be enough ebooks you can download to your portable device for free from the public library system that more people will be doing that than will be physically visiting the libraries and checking out (and in) dead-tree editions. When that tipping point has been passed, there will be increasing pressure to close libraries. For a number of reasons the prospect greatly saddens me, but unfortunately I won't be surprised to see it happen in my lifetime.
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1 comment:
I hope libraries don't go away but evolve into spacious reading lounges where people can checkout an e-reader, consult with a librarian, and have free access to the internet. Ebooks can make publications available without the overhead cost of physical storage & replacement of damaged books. I love that the blind can have the kindle read books to them. The downside of ebooks is loosing the ability to give a book to a friend when you are done with it.
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