Public Library Use of eBooks

Book excerpt: This study gives highly detailed data on the eBook purchasing and use habits of a sample of 70 public libraries. The survey helps its readers to answer questions such as: how much are public libraries spending on eBooks? How much do they spend on specific vendors and publishers such as OverDrive, Baker & Taylor, EBSCO, Recorded Books, Gale and Harper Collins, Penguin/Random House and many others. The study also gives detailed data on the extent that various eBook use and purchasing models account for library eBook spending, providing data on ownership models, pay per view models, subscription models and others. The study also provides data on the growth rate of each type of model. The report also looks at how libraries use public domain eBooks. The study also provides detailed data on the use of eAudiobooks, relating expenditures, growth rates, and the number of titles held. In addition the report looks at the extent to which public libraries are able to make available eBooks for best sellers, and their overall strategy for reconciling their print and eBook collections. The study also looks at the growing use of tablet computers in public libraries, at the uses and abuses of eBook use statistics, use of electronic directories, the direction of eBook prices, and many other issues in public library eBook selection and management.