Public library users response to e-books and e-audio Dr Bob Pymm School of Information Studies Charles Sturt University, Australia

E-books In 2000, predicted US market would be $22 bn by Actually was $179 million. Less than 1% of books sold First appeared in Australian public libraries in 1999 with the launch of Rocket e-book readers – small scale, limited success Tendency to “put them out there and see what happens” rather than market research first

ACT Public Library System Population served 325,000. Nine branches, membership c.130,000 High income, education levels. Low median age. 55% broadband access (2005) Trialed eBookman in 2001; not a success Portable devices seen as posing lots of difficulties – cost, loans policy, uploading content, battery life etc. Decision to go with downloading to home PC only

Setting up the e-book service Choice of Overdrive – link with SirsiDynix a significant factor ( Overdrive developed web pages and links – initial cost substantial. Plus ongoing – c. US$14,000 pa. Problems with software installation and links to existing LMS caused delays

Selection Staff selected 1,000 fiction titles, 750 non-fiction. About half were audio books (e-audio) Concerns over lack of Australian titles (mainly US) Competitively priced – US$12 for e-books, US$45 for e-audio Question of formats – PDFs and Mobipocket acquired – pay for both. E-audio, not available for ipods

Test period Selected users given access for three months and then evaluation Generally positive response. Some changes made to instructions, help screens A low key public launch in August 2006

Usage Based on the October 2006 – January 2007 period (four months): –E-audio averaged 350 borrowings/month (compared to traditional audio – 8,500/month) –E-books (PDF) averaged 200 borrowings/month –E-books (Mobipocket) averaged 45 borrowings/month

Survey A questionnaire linked from ACT e-library web page active during February 79 surveys completed 80% users between 25 and 55

E-books 27% had borrowed more than six titles since the service had commenced 45% one time only borrowers Small number positive comments – “I can take multiple books with me anywhere” More negative ones – “I do not find reading from the screen as comfortable as reading a book”

E-books (cont.) 50% read entire book on screen 25% started and gave up 11% printed some or all of the text 29% used special features such as increasing font size and in-text searching For those borrowing more than one title, fiction the most likely genre 39% against any more purchases; 33% not sure

E-audio 33% borrowed more than six titles 31% borrowed only one More positive comments – though common to any form of audio book Negative comments – mainly re inability to download to ipods

E-audio (cont.) 43% downloaded some or all to an MP3 player 30% downloaded to CD Fiction most popular 23% against further purchases, 31% not sure

General 77% found website instructions OK or better 74% learnt of service through the website Only one person learnt of service through the media

Concerns Range of titles, especially Australian content Lack of compatibility with Apple products Borrowing limits and not being able to ‘return’ titles early Individual technical issues Reading from screen

Conclusions Focus on e-audio Promote e-audio service Revisit statistics following promotional campaign Research e-book market further – are there potential niches to be exploited? Standardise e-book format on PDF only Consider cost/benefits after 12 months