JS reporting:
NEW YORK (AP) E-book readers have been relatively slow to borrow
digital works from the library, frustrated by a limited selection and by
not even knowing whether their local branch offers e-releases,
according to a new study.
The Pew Research Center published a survey Friday that reports around
12 percent of e-book users 16 years and older downloaded a text from
the library over the past year. Earlier in 2012, Pew issued a study
showing that around 20 percent of adults had read an e-book recently.
Simon & Schuster, the Hachette Book Group and other major
publishers have limited e-book offerings to libraries or refused to make
any available, citing concerns that the ease of free downloads would
hurt sales. Lack of awareness may be another factor. Around 60 percent
of those 16 and older couldn't say whether their libraries had e-books.
Pew's Internet & American Life Project study, conducted with
nearly 3,000 respondents between Nov. 16 and Dec. 11, 2011, suggests
that library patrons trying to borrow digital texts have been deterred
by the selection and by not having the right e-book device. Just over
half of respondents said their library did not have the book they were
looking for and nearly 20 percent found that the device they owned could
not receive a given title.
Officials from the American Library Association have been meeting
with publishers in an effort to work out a system that would satisfy
both sides. On Thursday, Penguin Group (USA) announced a pilot program
with the New York and Brooklyn library systems that will make e-books
available six months after they first go on sale. Penguin had suspended
its e-book program with libraries last year.
One statistic reported by Pew should please publishers and
librarians: Those who borrow e-books from libraries tend to read more 29
books a year than readers who don't use the library (23 books). But
library card holders also are more likely to borrow, as opposed to buy, a
book compared to those without library cards.
http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/national/study-released-on-library-ebook-borrowing1a456473c1754ec2a555c777b833f138-159970395.html
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