Librarian Megan Fox upbeat on e-books in Computers in Libraries talk

Megan Fox, a savvy librarian well plugged into the e-book and mobile computing scenes, says e-books are back.

Libraries should prepare for e-books and also start creating content for mobile devices, according to Megan. I agree with her optimism expressed yesterday at the 2006 Computers in Libraries conference in Washington, D.C., and reported in an Information Today blog and Blog without a Library. Of course, today’s short-term stats are still rather discouraging. E-book sales continue to be just a molecule of global p-book sales and are especially pathetic in the U.S. compared to Korea, even if you think growth rather than sheer volume.

So what would I add to Megan’s reported comments? Well, librarians shouldn’t invest big in hardware without testing out the units on a very small scale on real, live patrons. Also, they should start taking e-book standards much more seriously than most do now–or see e-reader software dumbed down by status-quo-loving conglomerates. Not to mention the DRM gouge issue.

In the areas of hardware and software alike, the need of librarians and patrons will vary, but among the machines to consider over the next few months will be:

• The iLiad (pricey but probably the E Ink machine with the best screen–and by far the favorite of TeleBlog readers)
• The Sony Reader–a suggested choice if Sony makes more of a commitment to genuine e-book standards rather than trying to pass its pathetic BBeB format off as one.
• The Jinke E Ink machines (at least one of them is cheaper than the $350 Sony, although Jinke probably lacks Sony-level deals with major publishers right now).
• The Origami-class devices, at least when prices come down to the $500-$600, a good possibility in the next 3-6 months.
• The Cybook, whose technology is dated, but which is especially good for visually impaired patrons.

I find the Cybook to be more readable than my old Sony Librie E Ink machine was. The Cybook comes bundled with Mobipocket, the best of the proprietary e-book-readers, and also includes uBook–just the ticket for displaying free books from the public domain.

The $100 laptop: Library fodder in near future?

What’s more, I’d hope that librarians would also consider dark horses in this race. The original TeleRead proposal called for a well-organized procurement program to drive down the costs of e-book-friendly devices for libraries and schools, and internationally the MIT-originated $100 laptop project is using exactly that approach. Perhaps libraries can use the concept domestically, as some states are contemplating in the case of the MIT machine. Nope, the MIT device wouldn’t sell for $100 here in the States and probably not abroad either, at least not at the start; but it could be an interesting way to increase libraries’ purchasing power and help wean them off an over-reliance on Windows software.

Roll-out E Ink Displays

Beyond taking time to ascertain patrons’ true needs, librarians should bear in mind that some truly dramatic changes are ahead in hardware.

Next year, for example, we’ll see E Ink machines with roll-out screens, such as the Readius.

Now–about the F word

Meanwhile, as noted, librarians shouldn’t fixate on hardware at the expense of such basics as standards for e-book formats. I’d love to see librarians stand up to vendors on the issue of e-book standards. New gizmos and and content creation may be interesting, but it’s essential for standards to happen if e-books are ever to be a serious medium, especially from library and archival perspective.

Beware of quasi standards from the usual suspects that won’t mean anything if there are catches such as DRM offered at gouge-level costs. OpenReader, which will come without DRM but whose first implementer, OSoft, will offer it as a low-cost option with decentralized administration, is especially keen on hearing from librarians.

Library leaders getting OpenReader demos–and you can have one, too

Andrew Pace, Jenny Levine and Steven Cohen are among the library leaders who’ve seen demos of ThoutReader, which in a much-changed form will be OpenReader’s first implementation, and we invite other librarians to follow up–whether they work for the Library of Congress or a small-town library. These demos are a chance for both OpenReader and its implementer, OSoft, to obtain valuable feedback.

In that vein, the ringleaders of OpenReader love the idea of librarians participating in the standards-setting process, when I personally would like to see happen in a true standards group rather than the IDPF–more of a marketing organization for big software vendors. Yes, OpenReader is willing to farm out the process. OpenReader founder Jon Noring is hoping that the first draft of his specs will be ready in the next few weeks, and I’d love to see an entire group of experts take it from there–without “leadership” from a software conglomerate, the kind that afflicts the IDPF. Too bad that Allen Renear of the University of Illinois lacks the time for heavy involvement. That is the kind of setter we’re looking for, and we OpenReader types will cherish suggestions from the library world.

Rooting for the triumph of the e-book

Meanwhile I’m rooting for Megan and the rest of us e-book boosters to be right in our long-term optimism. The e-book biz is still suffering from the hype of 2000 when Anderson Consulting told us that e-books would have a tenth of the market by 2005.

Keep checking Megan’s own site for material from material from her talk, expected to be posted on Monday; and meanwhile here’s an excerpt from the Information Today blog’s summary of her talk:

The second day of CIL opened with a keynote on “Planning for a Handheld Mobile Future” by Megan Fox, Web & Electronic Resources Librarian at Simmons College. It’s clear that an entirely new way of accessing information and providing library services is about to burst upon us. The mobile future has become an absolute necessity. There are 1.4 billion cell phone users in the world today, 109 million of whom are in the US. Almost all of today’s phones are capable of Web surfing, taking pictures, instant messaging, etc., and there are many other types of mobile devices in use as well: PDAs, iPods, GPS devices, tablet PCs, ultra-PCs, gaming devices, and smart phones.

Increasingly, smart phones are appearing in libraries; some of the new ones incorporate calendars, address books, Web browsing, full keyboards (some of them slide out from the phone, keeping the overall size of the device small), and a mobile version of Windows. Electronic book readers are making a comeback with new super-reflective screens and easy to read typefaces. Microsoft is about to introduce a new ultra-mobile PC with a 7 inch display, USB ports, Wi-Fi capability, and a touch pad interface with larger buttons to accommodate fingers (no more need for a stylus).

An aside: I had a delightful dinner last night with Tom Peters of Tap Information Services. Tom, a long-term e-book believer whom TeleBlog followers know for his valuable chatcasts on good books, is one of the librarians who Get It–capital G, cap I. He’d be a great e-book speaker for next year’s Computers in Libraries, and if Megan Fox can give an update at the time, then so much the better.

Related: A TeleRead poll on the issue of whether e-books are back.