Offering e-books to your users: some costs and benefits to consider

Citation

Gibbons, S. (2002), "Offering e-books to your users: some costs and benefits to consider", The Bottom Line, Vol. 15 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.2002.17015bad.001

Offering e-books to your users: some costs and benefits to consider

Offering e-books to your users: some costs and benefits to considerKeywords: Electronic publishing, Libraries

What is the cost of an electronic book? After directing two year-long Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants with public, academic and school libraries in the Rochester, New York, region, I can say with certainty that an e-book costs more than its list price. I can, however, say with equal confidence that a library will reap numerous benefits from e-books, several of which are not immediately apparent. The costs and benefits of e-books will differ from library to library, depending on the needs, resources and goals of the institution. If every penny of your budget has been allocated before the fiscal year has even begun and/or every staff member is already stretched to the limit, then this is probably not the time to introduce e-books. However, if your library is searching for ways to extend and improve your services and/or generate some positive PR, then e-books may just be your answer.

Quick overview of e-book technology

As is typical with almost any article on e-books, a clarification of terms is required. I will be using a cost-benefit analysis to examine e-books that are displayed on dedicated e-book devices. By dedicated, I mean that the devices can only display e-books and cannot also be used as a date-book, MP3 player or calculator. These devices include the Rocket e-book Reader, the SoftBook and their replacements, the RCA REB1100 and the RCA REB1200. According to Chris Rippel's "Libraries with e-books" Web site (http://skyways.lib.ks.us/central/e-books/libraries.html), there are over 70 libraries in six countries circulating one or more of these e-book devices to their patrons. The 4,500+ available e-book titles are primarily suited to the adult fiction and non-fiction readers of a public library, with authors including Stephen King, Robert Ludlum, Jude Deveraux and Mary Higgins Clark.

Reading an e-book on a dedicated device is not the equivalent of reading a paper book, but neither is it the same as reading from a computer screen. Depending on the model, an e-book device can hold a dozen or more titles at one time. All of the content can be personally annotated and bookmarked, using the accompanying stylus, and searched at the word level. The Rocket e-book and REB1100 include a built-in dictionary that looks up a word with the touch of the screen. All models come with variable font sizes and adjustable back-lighting and contrast, which make for a very comfortable read. Of the over 100 patron surveys collected by the Rochester LSTA grants, no one reported any eye-strain or discomfort, and 70 percent reported reading one or more complete titles (survey responses available at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/main/e-books/index.htm).

Perhaps the largest obstacle to the integration of e-book devices into libraries is the tight encryption system employed by the device manufacturers. When an e-book is purchased, it is encrypted so that it can be read only on a single, unique device – not just a specific model. In other words, if you loan an e-book to a friend, you must loan your device as well. This encryption system places significant limitations on the flexibility of a library's e-book collection. Because e-book titles cannot be transferred among a suite of e-book devices, the selection of titles available to a patron on a single device is significantly reduced, unless the library purchases a copy of every title for each of its devices. The most common means by which libraries deal with this encryption restriction is to create genre-specific devices. In other words, one device is devoted entirely to mysteries, while another has only science fiction content. In this way, a patron can at least select the genre of most interest to him/her.

Cost of e-books

The cost of an e-book extends beyond the list prices of the content and devices. Time and access to e-commerce acquisition methods are also crucial resources:

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  Cost of content. Over a two-year period, the LSTA grants purchased 183 unique, e-book titles. The average price of the e-books was $13.87, which was approximately 35 percent lower than the hardcover list price of the same work.

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  Cost of e-book devices. The current retail price for the RCA REB1100 is $150 and the RCA REB1200, which has a color screen, is $399. Contact Keith Wehmeyer of Thomson Multimedia Inc. (wehmeyerk@tce.com) to inquire about possible library discounts. Since few color images are available in the content formatted for these devices, it is difficult to justify the additional cost of the REB1200.

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  Acquisitions "challenges". As I discovered through the LSTA grants, it is difficult to purchase e-book devices and next to impossible to purchase e-book titles without a credit card. Purchase orders simply do not do the job in an e-commerce world. Since most of the libraries with which I worked either did not have or were not permitted to have credit cards, the grants were financially run on my personal credit card. It was rather disquieting to have so many people using my credit card, as well as stressful, worrying about whether I would be reimbursed before my credit card bill, which sometimes ran into the thousands of dollars, was due.

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  Additional staff time. Although our initial batch of e-book devices arrived in early February 2000, we did not start circulating them until late April. We used those three months in order to give the staff ample time to "play" with the new technology and become familiar with it, to create detailed circulation policies and procedures, to develop a way to neatly "package" the device and its peripherals for circulation, and to locate and cluster together the necessary hardware and infrastructure (i.e. computer workstation with a USB port, sufficient storage and a fast Internet connection).

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  Patron training. Although only 15 patrons (19 percent) reported any difficulties using the devices and only one patron could not solve the difficulty by reading the "Quick Start Guide," the equipment is not so intuitive that a patron could comfortably use the device without a short training session prior to check-out. This usually took five minutes per patron.

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  Longer check-in procedures. One of the nice features of the e-book device is that it allows for personal annotations. Since this was the first time that patrons were permitted to write in a library book, they did so with great enthusiasm. As a result, check-in procedures had to include steps to clean up the personal markings left behind by the user, as well as run an inventory of all peripherals, and recharge the battery. This increased the time of the average check-in by approximately five minutes.

Benefits of e-books

Those involved in the Rochester LSTA grants have been pleasantly surprised by many of the benefits that have surfaced over the past two years:

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  Lots of good press. Although many Americans have heard about e-books, thanks in large part to Stephen King's e-publishing projects, few have had the opportunity to actually read one. The availability of e-book devices has spawned a great deal of positive press for the Rochester libraries involved in the LSTA grants. The New York Times, the major Rochester newspaper, several community newspapers and the local TV news stations have all featured some aspect of the e-book project. Due in part to its participation in the e-book grants, Gates Public Library was awarded American Libraries Pied Piper award (Vol. 32 No. 5, p. 85). Since few, if any, other public institutions have taken the lead in educating their communities about e-book technology, libraries have an opportunity to stand out and be noticed by its constituents, local tax payers and purse-string holders.

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  Instant large-print books. The e-book device offers readers a choice of two fonts, and they can toggle between the fonts at the touch of a button. The larger of the two is larger than the font size usually used in a print book. For some patrons, the e-book device's larger font size was sufficient to replace their need for a large-print book. e-book devices can be marketed by a library specifically as an alternative to the wait for the publication and availability of the large-print version of a title.

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  Assisting those with low hand dexterity. For some patrons, particularly those with arthritis in their hands, holding open a book and the fine hand dexterity needed to turn the pages is quite difficult, if not impossible. E-book devices may enable those with low hand dexterity to read a book. The devices can be propped up with something such as a pillow or book, or a simple cradle can be created with some plexiglass. Turning the page requires only the press of a button that is over 1 1/2in. wide. E-book devices can make reading an almost hands-free experience.

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  Setting the stage for better service. As Chris Rippel, Head of Continuing Education for the Central Kansas Library System, points out, e-books set the stage for improved library services ("What is the purpose of e-books in libraries?", 4th Annual NIST Electronic Book 2001 and Show Conference Proceedings, n.p.). Imagine a scenario where a patron is able to obtain within minutes a title not previously owned by the library. Once located, the purchase and acquisition of an e-book are almost instantaneous. E-books can potentially reduce the weeks of waiting for a title to be purchased and processed by the library or borrowed from another library to only a few minutes. Kalamazoo Public Library is already doing this with their digital audio books. If a patron requests a title that fits within certain parameters, the library staff have been authorized to purchase the title immediately. This customer-driven service has empowered the library staff and delighted patrons (http://www.kpl.gov/av/audible.pdf).

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  Altering the stereotypes. Far too often, libraries are defined by shelves of dusty books and librarians as technological Luddites. E-books provide an excellent opportunity to alter these stereotypes. The "digital age" will not mean the death of libraries, if libraries strive to remain relevant. As Roger Chartier of Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales states: this can be accomplished if "[l]ibraries can be attentive to the needs or confusions of readers and can play an essential role in the teaching of the instruments and technology." ("Readers and readings in the electronic age", http://www.text-e.org/).

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  Introducing staff to new technology. I believe that, within the next two to three years, the e-book format and standards wars will be over, and it will become possible for libraries to circulate e-books as easily as they currently circulate VHS and DVDs. Introducing your library staff to e-books on a small scale now will only make the eventual, full integration of the format in the future go that much smoother. Introduce e-books to your staff in evolutionary, not revolutionary stages.

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  Partnerships with e-book industry. Although the e-book industry may not be ready to accept this, the reality is that few consumers are willing to pay $150-$300 for a new gadget without first trying it out. Although retailers, such as Best Buy and Circuit City, are selling REB1100 in select stores, I can guarantee that few if any of their sales staff have ever used the device. Moreover, these retailers are certainly not going to invite you to take the device home for a two-week free trial. Libraries provide their patrons with a no cost opportunity to try out this new technology and have all their questions answered by a knowledgeable educator. Throughout the grants, we frequently heard patrons say that, now that they have had an opportunity to try an e-book device, it is going on their Christmas or birthday wish-list. No other private or public institution is going to provide the e-book industry with such excellent marketing. This should open the door to future industry/library partnerships, such as the one currently under way between Audible.com, a digital audio book distributor, and Kalamazoo Public Library, MI (http://www.kpl.gov/av/audible.html).

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  E-book-only titles. Stephen King's Riding the Bullet was the first title by a major author to be published only as an e-book. To this day, there is no legally copyrighted paper version of King's work. Riding the Bullet is not alone in the world of e-book-only titles. For instance, Frederick Forsyth and Elmore Leonard have both published short stories only in e-book format. Orpheus Emerged, a recently unearthed novella written by Jack Kerouac in 1945, was published by Kerouac's estate only as an e-book. Therefore, if your library wishes to own the complete corpus of Stephen King, Frederick Forsyth, Elmore Leonard or Jack Kerouac, just to name a few, then it must add e-books to its collection.

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  E-book-enhanced titles. E-book-enhanced is the terminology that I use to describe e-books that are also available in paper format, but the e-book version contains material not included in the paper version. For instance, John Heilemann's Pride before the Fall: The Trials of Bill Gates and the End of the Microsoft Era is available both in paper and as an e-book. However, the e-book version contains several hundred pages of legal documents, including Gates's depositions, which are linked from within the main text of the book. Also, it is not uncommon for the e-book version to contain additional chapters or essays, such as David Baldacci's Wish You Well, which includes an essay by the author explaining the origins of the book. This added material might be superfluous to some collections and crucial to others.

Conclusions

The recent sputterings of the e-book industry (i.e. netLibrary declared bankruptcy) have led some to believe that, in spite of the initial hype, the general public is not ready for electronic books. The results of the Rochester LSTA grants indicate that this is not the case. After having the opportunity to read several books on an e-book device, library patrons were asked in what format they wanted to read their next book – e-book or paper. Of those patrons 40 percent chose e-book and an additional 15 percent indicated no preference. In other words, once they had an opportunity to read an e-book, more than 50 percent were willing to repeat that experience (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/main/e-books/index.htm). This suggests that the current slow growth in the e-book industry is due to an inability to get the technology into the hands of consumers rather than a general lack of interest in the technology – and such a barrier is likely to be overcome with promotional give-aways and additional high-profile e-book-only titles such as King's Riding the Bullet. The question is not if but when will your library begin to integrate e-books into the collection?

Susan GibbonsDigital Initiatives Librarian, University of Rochester Libraries, Rochester, NY, USA