According to the Vancouver Sun the Vancouver Public Library is riding a wave of new memberships, and this is due, at least in part, to ebooks.
The library has seen 60K new memberships in 2008 – 2009, up from 42,000 the previous year. The library attributes the increase to the new popularity of ebooks.
“It’s one of our fastest-growing branches — the virtual library,” Kavanagh said, adding that the library’s website usage is up 20 per cent for 2010. “The e-books in particular, we think have really made a difference.” … Deb Hutchison Koep, deputy director of the West Vancouver library, said Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn (the latest in the Twilight series) has five e-book copies with eight holds, but of the seven print copies at the library, two are on the shelf.
The library uses PDFs and Epubs. Lots more information in the article.
Meanwhile, am article in the Toronto Star today reports MY library is thinking of installing vending machines at subway stations ti dispense physical books to commuters. I thought I was being just a techie by thinking that was backward, but a lot of the commenters on that story wondered why they didn’t just promote the ebooks instead of investing all that money into a physical-based infrastructure.
There are several mitigating factors here. Not everyone can afford/affords ereaders and/or computers (there are also anti-tech folks out there). If there’s no Internet at home, one has to depend on the library and getting there may not be an option. Library hours may be restrictive…..besides….many people prefer holding and reading books. The more formats a library has to offer, the more people it will reach.