An Ebook Pilot Project Tests Collaboration of Publishers and Libraries

Library Journal reporting:
An ebook project in British Columbia, whose one-year beta phase is drawing to a close, is providing some insight into the digital divide as well as the value of a collaborative relationship between libraries and publishers. However, the project could not resolve a major conundrum---proper compensation for authors and publishers.
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The mandate was to build the capacity of publishers and authors to work within a digital infrastructure. At the same time, the participants would gather information about the capacity of libraries to provide equitable access to ebooks.
Demand has been strong, organizers said, although detailed numbers will not be available until the end of June. But on the library side the realization has sunk in that equitable access is going to be a problem, since not all libraries were able to support the technology.
"In the news you only hear about those institutions that have the infrastructure to support ebook distribution in their libraries and those end users who are equipped with their mobile devices and ebook readers and who are engaged in reading through new technology," Palmer said. "But that's not necessarily the case across the board for the whole community. There really is a discrepancy in the infrastructure in the different libraries across the province in terms of supporting ebook use through their library...so you can't see a pure continuity in access and availability of infrastructure. We're not there yet and it's something to work toward," she said.
Pricing and compensation prove nettlesome
On the publisher/author side, the question of compensation for their work eventually could not be ignored.
"The beta will come down at end of June," said Margaret Reynolds, the executive director of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia (ABPBC). "We have a contract with our publishers only for a year. We could try and extend it but we feel it has served its purposes in terms of introducing such a collection to a range of libraries and addressing some of the technical challenges. We need to move to something else and we can't continue to provide material without compensation," she said.
To keep the project going past June, ABPBC is working on a new model that will address pricing and compensation.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/890820-264/an_ebook_pilot_project_tests.html.csp