The Herald-Review has an article about this focusing on the Decatur Public Library. Here’s a snippet:
In all of 2009, Decatur Public Library young adult librarian Eleanor Wood got “maybe three” phone calls about the availability of e-books ….
“Now the calls are coming constantly,” Wood said before Christmas. “Especially with the holiday coming, I get people calling at least once or twice a day, asking which e-readers work with the new LibraryOnTheGo system.” …
… Richard Stokes, head of the library’s adult division, believes this Christmas will be remembered as a turning point in changing how people read.
“I think this is the Christmas that begins the true rise of the electronic reader, which should have a great impact on people’s reading habits,” he said. “I’m getting at least an e-mail a day with questions about them. The iPad coming out has been a game-changer, too, and sent a lot of publicity toward e-readers and forced them down in price somewhat.”
Interesting. My dad lives in rural Illinois and if you want to visit an actual bookstore, you have to drive 45 minutes to Decatur. So I’m not seeing e-reading beginning to take off there. I’d be curious to see what portion of it actually extends out into rural areas where — forget early adoption — rapid adoption comes only after the tipping point.