Following my already-blogged-about Mobipocket vs Adobe e-book Deathmatch, I revisited my public library Web site, wondering if perhaps in my overly techie head, I had made things more complicated than they really were.
I spent a solid hour tooling around the e-offerings of the Toronto Public Library. My conclusion?
Yes, I was right; it’s really that hard. And if even a gadget geek like me can’t hook in with this, the library won’t ever get the average patron on board.
Interface babel
The first unnecessary complication is that the e-offerings are split into three separate collections. So you must log in three times, search three times, and use three different proprietary software interfaces to access the full collection.
- The OverDrive service has novels, non-fiction, movies and audibooks in various protected formats (Adobe, Mobipocket, Secure WMA which is not iPod-comptabile) that the user may download.
- The NetLibrary service has similar offerings, but the key difference here seems to be that you can’t download anything. You have to read the e-books on-screen right then and there, and you can only listen to audio, not save it for later.
- Finally, the Safari service has technical books from O’Reilly Media on subjects such as IT and computers.
Let’s say you’ve figured out which of three is most likely to have offerings which interest you. Now you’re into the format wars.
Is your portable audio player compatible with the protected WMA format? There is a “Click here” to find out.
Can you handle Mobipocket? “Click here”‘ again. So many screens to click and check and verify and set passwords from, and then type the passwords in.
Is there no way to centralize all of these collections into one database so the user can log in one time and access the whole enchilada? Is there not a standardized file format we can agree upon that everyone might use?
Dream e-library: Three musts
My dream e-library would have three things:
First, a database should exist to grab information from the different collections under one interface, under one password, under one log-in.
Second, there should be sensible options for what you can do with files once you’ve found them. You could reserve a physical copies to pick up from your local branch, download an e-copy on the spot, visit amazon.com to buy your own (with a cut going to the library under Amazon’s affiliate program) and perhaps enjoy a few amazon.com-inspired extras.
The latter could include such possibilities as, ‘Users who downloaded this book also bought…’ or basic social networking capabilities. If, for example, my mother used the library, I could save her as a friend and e-mail her recommendations.
Third, I would like the system to be expandable. Currently, not one of the three services at the library lets you flag new content since your last visit. I suspect that’s because the library never updates it at all, or at least not frequently enough. This is a vicious Catch-22 where the library doesn’t spend more money because nobody’s using the e-content, but people are not inspired to use it because it’s tedious and difficult and there is never anything new.
My final verdict? This is a really tough one for me. I would really like to say that I would be one of those pioneers who pushes the envelope on this. But it’s just so much easier right now to get my content elsewhere.
There are quite a few problems with searching and getting items from overdrive. I will be writing a separate post about that. It is very tricky, but a few enhancements can help. They rely way too much on browsing than searching.
Hi,
Thanks for your detailed commentary on Toronto Public Library’s eBook offerings. The issues you identify are real – librarians, too, would like a simpler way to find, download, and read eBooks, but we are limited by what the marketplace currently makes available to libraries.
eBooks are still a relatively new format in library collections. Toronto Public Library has been offering Safari eBooks since July 2006, the NetLibrary eAudiobook service since March 2007, and OverDrive since November 2007. We chose these subscription services based on the quality of their content, while recognizing that using the eBooks is more complex than we would wish. Although offering several different services can make the options a bit confusing at first, we feel that each service has something of value in terms of the content and formats available. Other eBook vendors such as Audible.com do not offer subscriptions to libraries, but we keep tabs on the marketplace and will evaluate new services as they become available.
In response to some of your specific points:
You can in fact download the NetLibrary audiobooks. See our website for instructions.
We are working to have all titles included in the library catalogue. This will provide a centralized place to find eBooks from all the different services.
We are hoping to be able to offer a single sign-in for most of our online services in the near future.
File formats and the attendant DRM restrictions are based on each eBook vendor’s service model and agreeements with publishers. Unfortunately, we don’t have a say in this, although we can certainly pass on feedback from our customers.
I’m happy to report that it is not the case, as you speculate, that we are not updating the eBook collections and that “the library doesn’t spend more money because nobody’s using the e-content.” In 2007, we added two new collections (NetLibrary eAudiobooks and OverDrive), and we will continue to select new materials for these collections in 2008. eBooks are one of our fastest-growing services – use more than doubled from 2006 to 2007.
Thanks again for your thoughtful feedback on our eBook collections. We’re still a long way away from the "dream e-library" you describe, but I hope we’ll overcome some of the challenges and move a bit closer in the near future.
Sandra Gornall, Services Specialist, Electronic ResourcesToronto Public Library
I have used the downloading services through the TPL and have had some difficulty with the licenses downloading with eaudio. I can open them in my WMP and sync with my PDA but then I cannot play them as the license is not available. I have emailed TPL on this and I feel confident that it will work and that I’ve just not done something correctly.