Libraries struggle with e-books

mediashift reporting:
There are lots of considerations libraries must make: Which e-reader(s) will they adopt? After all, e-readers are tied to their associated bookstores -- Kindle to Amazon, Nook to Barnes & Noble, iPad to iBooks (even though the latter offers apps for the other e-readers). The e-readers not only have different features (black-and-white screens versus color, for example, touchscreens versus keypads) but their bookstores offer different selections. That's a big consideration when you're looking specifically for children's literature rather than just general interest ("grownup") fiction or non-fiction.
But the biggest problem, according to librarian Buffy Hamilton, author of the Unquiet Librarian blog, is DRM. Digital Rights Management is what restricts content from being shared across devices. It means that e-books from Amazon can't be read on Nooks, and e-books from Barnes & Noble won't work on Kindles. It means, oftentimes, that kids can't bring their own devices from home to use for library check-outs.
"The biggest challenge for libraries is trying to accommodate the demand for e-books in a world in which there is no standard DRM," Hamilton said in a recent interview. "While services like Overdrive provide e-book checkout that's friendly to multiple devices (that could be owned by the library or by students themselves) and allow you to track circulation stats, the cost is prohibitive for many school libraries; in addition, the terms of service with Overdrive no longer provide you an option to move your purchased e-books to another platform should you decide to change from Overdrive to another vendor, which basically means you'd lose your investment in your e-book collection."
That's what the state of Kansas faced when it terminated its contract with Overdrive, which highlights the fact that when it comes to digital content, more often than not what we own -- both libraries and consumers -- isn't the content itself but a license to access it. Those licensing rules often restrict lending and sharing altogether, particularly between consumers. But even libraries are finding some of the new licensing policies onerous.
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/09/school-libraries-struggle-with-e-book-loans269.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pbs%2Fmediashift-blog+%28mediashift-blog%29