After years of claims that eBooks would kill the publishing industry, some media sources are reporting a new, more complex picture. According to reports this week, eBook sales are slipping as more and more readers turn back to print. This is only a current trend, but it speaks volumes of those who, 5 years ago, were getting rid of print collections in libraries and putting all their eggs in the digital-only basket.
[Image by WikiMediaCommons user Maximilian Schönherr]
I have a Kindle. It’s great for one-handed reading on my morning commute (especially the 800+ page tomes that are popular these days), bringing multiple books on a trip, or diving right into a sequel the moment a book is finished. Still, I can’t help but be annoyed by some limitations. Flipping back a few pages can be tricky and cause the machine to crash; maps, family trees and pictures in books are reduced to fuzzy illegible space-holders. Do the pros outweigh the cons? The answer is: only sometimes. I still love the tactile book. The smell, the feel of pages turning under my hand, that sense of satisfaction when you get to the end of the book. Kindles can tell you how far you are through the eBook file, but the feeling is different.
As a librarian, it’s my job to look at these trends and assess how they will impact the future of reading and information gathering. The traditional model of providing only physical books just isn’t viable anymore. Readers want more options. They want digital options, sure, but users are also still buying, borrowing, and reading physical books – and the trend is moving back to physical books in ways that no one really expected. Since it is not possible for libraries to loan eBooks to each other and it is tough to provide eBooks to patrons using a variety of different e-readers. Technical set backs like tough DRM (digital rights management) laws and rising purchasing costs, can sometimes make a paperback the best option. After reading a great book on your Kindle, it can be tricky or impossible to lend that book to a friend.
Reading for research is an entirely different animal than reading for pleasure. Here at the MSK Library, our collection contains both digital and print resources to make sure everyone has access. While many of our 14,000 eBook titles are available to download by our patrons, eBooks not included in our collection are not available through Interlibrary Loan. Whether publishers will make these options more available in the future is yet to be seen.