Presented at the NEFLIN Technology Conference, June 16, 2011. Special thanks to Al Carlson for providing his segments for me to present.

1. Empowering the Reader in a Digital World Chad Mairn, Novare Library Services

2. http://www.slideshare.net/chadmairn Interactive notebook: http://goo.gl/PrpCf

3. Program Goals Distinguish between dedicated and non-dedicated e-readers. Answer the “e-books: Fad or Trend?” question. Untangle the web of acronyms for e-publication (e-pub) formats and DRM schemes.

4. Program Goals Highlight e-pub’s strengths and weakness for libraries and for end users. Explore how e-textbooks fit in to this emerging landscape. Propose new models for library service in a digital environment.

5. Program Goals Provide you with some practical patron assisting tools. Give you some homework and an opportunity to change the world.

6. The form of the book has changed over time.

7. What is a Book?

8. What is a Book?

9. What is a Book?

10. What is a Book?

11. What is a Book?

12. The form of the book has changed over time. The ‘book’ is the content, not the package!

13. So, what happens when the package undergoes a drastic change?

14. Just as digital music turned this…

15. …into this

16. E-pub turns this…

17. …into this

20. So, will these be replaced by…

22. And what happened to LPs? Are they dead?

26. Recap A “book” is the content; an e-book is just the next new package. The new package will last until it is replaced by a better package. We won’t revert to the previous package. History suggests that—as libraries—we won’t be ready. Let’s be ready!

27. What is a Dedicatede-reader? n models A device optimized for reading eBooks Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Sony Reader

28. What’s so special about them? Reflect light the way paper does (Outdoor reading). E-Ink has no backlighting so it is easier on the eyes and can be printed on any surface. Long battery life, especially if other features are turned off. Small format with huge capacity.

29. A few “dedicated” e-readers

30. Kindle 2 and Kindle DX The Kindle DX can hold 3,500 books. If each title weighed 2.5 pounds then it could hold 4 tons of books (Information today, May 2010)

31. Barnes and Noble Nook The Nook was the first eReader with digital lending between the Nook, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, PC, Mac OS, and Android Smartphones.

32. Sony eReader

33. Copiae-readers are considered the “first social eReading experience designed so you can discover, connect and share what's meaningful.”

34. Skiff eReader

35. HP’s Flexible Display This mylar-infused sheet will hold an image without power.

36. What’s a non-dedicated e-reader A device designed for some other, larger purpose that can also read e-publications. PC, Mac, iPad, netbook, iPhone, Android phones/tablets, Internet-enabled DVD players/TVs, gaming consoles etc.

37. Steve and his iPad

39. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks/download-reader.asp

40. Some Android e-reader Apps Laputa Google eBooks Kobo Kindle

41. Which one is better? Dedicated Non-dedicated Excellent for quick, casual reading. Can read while multitasking. Excellent for extended reading and/or pleasure reading. You can “fall into” the book, and the mechanism does not interfere.

42. Is it OK to have both? Yes!

43. So, what will e-readers look like a few years from now?

44. I have no idea …

45. Formats and Digital Rights Management (DRM)

46. ePublication Formats We have an alphabet soup of formats: AZW, PDF, EPUB, MOBI, TXT, DJVU, LIT, etc. For a thorough explanation/comparison, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats The big ones for us are EPUB, PDF and AZW (Kindle). “Everyone” else uses EPUB and PDF Microsoft uses LIT, but hardly anyone cares Official ePub logo, International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)

47. Libraries and format OverDrive uses the EPUB and PDF formats Anyone not familiar with OverDrive? NetLibrary uses PDF, HTML, and DJVU formats for various documents. (EBSCO is changing this!) Anyone not familiar with “NetLibrary?”

48. Dueling Formats The cassette/CD format difference is easy for our patrons to see and understand. But .EPUB vs .AZW… ? Not so easy.

49. Dueling formats AZW EPUB

50. If format were the only issue… www.calibre-ebook.com

51. Same Format, Dueling DRMs EPUB w/ Adobe’s ADEPT DRM EPUB w/ Apple’s FairPlay DRM

52. Dueling Formats and DRMs EPUB using Abode’s DRM AZW using Amazon’s DRM

53. So, what’s this DRM thing? Digital Rights Management. A software “lock” that controls access to a file (e-book, e-music, e-movie). You must have the correct software “key” to unlock it.

54. Is DRM a good thing or is it an evil thing?

55. Yes!

56. Like speed limits and banking regulations, DRM schemes can be a good thing and can protect an author’s livelihood. Like speed traps and unreasonable lending practices, DRM schemes can infuriate and frustrate our readers.

57. DRM schemes are a possibly necessary evil. Current treebookcheck out is primitive DRM. DRM schemes can be beaten, and it’s not illegal to know how. We can be the e-book source with the least annoying DRM and often none at all.

58. https://readersbillofrights.info/

59. I am upset! This is so frustrating! I don’t care what it is called; I JUST WANT to read an eBook!

60. A reader who has figured it out

61. Recap There are dedicated and non-dedicated e-readers; both are wonderful. Any devices we see now will be quaint in a few years. E-publications come in a variety of (often) incompatible formats. They are protected by various forms of DRM.

62. E-pub and Public Libraries

64. Old days--My library has a Web site!

65. Near future--My Web site still has a library!

66. Delivery—Instant home delivery. No need to visit the library. Or wait.

68. How will e-pub affect Public Libraries? What happens to Ownership? Storage on “OverDrive’s” servers Check out via “OverDrive’s” software Access via “NetLibrary” web site (Are we sure that “we” own this book?)

69. How will (or does) e-pub affect Public Libraries? Publishers’ reluctance to sell to libraries Term limited e-books Limited range of vendors

70. OverDrive WIN Eliminate the need to deal with various file formats. Reduce staff time for collection development and help-desk support. Offer support for Kindle Library Lending. Add in-copyright eBook samples for immediate access. Enable patron driven acquisition. New 'always available' eBook collections for simultaneous access. Launch 'Open eBook' titles, free of DRM

71. Homework Devise or negotiate a purchasing plan that creates a “win” for publishers, vendors, librarians and patrons Hint: 90% of it already exists

72. Recap E-pub offers huge benefits to public libraries, but also some threats to libraries as we now envision them. We need to figure out how to exploit e-pub’s power without being destroyed by it.

73. E-textbooks Al & Chad Chad & Al

74. Consider this e-textbook pricing breakdown … 32.3% — Publisher’s paper, printing, and editorial costs 15.4% — Publisher’s Marketing Costs 11.6% — Author Income 10.9% — College Store Personnel 10% — Publisher’s General and Administrative Expenses 7% — Publisher’s Income (after tax) 6.8% — College Store Operations 4.9% — College Store Income (pre-tax) 1.1% — Freight ExpensesSource: http://laurafreberg.com/blog/?p=13 32.3% (paper, printing) + 22.6% (college store) = 54.9% of the cost of textbooks. So, why aren’t we using eTextbooks?

75. E-textbooks 95 % of McGraw-Hill’s offerings are electronic, but their focus is on print. Why? 75% of college students surveyed prefer print textbooks, citing print’s look and feel + its permanence and ability to be resold. (Book Industry Study Group's Student Attitudes Toward Content in Higher Education survey, 2011) Torrent sites are starting to get more popular for e-textbooks (Isohunt, TheEbooksBay, TextbookTorrents, Piratebay, and on and on and on …)

76. E-textbooks Electronic books will be widely adopted in college settings within one to two years. (2011 Horizon Report) According to the National Association of College Stores only 3% of textbook sales are digital, but they expect it to grow to 10-15% by 2012. (Campus Technology, 3/2011) Florida looks at taking school textbooks completely digital by 2015 (St. Petersburg Times, 2/17/11) Profs: Kindle no threat to college textbooks: Students find e-reader cheaper but hard to use (Arizona Republic, 7/6/10)

78. Amazon.com has e-textbooks for Kindle, but they are limited (e.g., no color).

79. CourseLoad integrates with Learning Management Systems and does not depend on specific devices for students to read and interact with the content.

80. Flat World Knowledge is where “educators choose the book [and] students choose format and price.” Remixablee-textbooks.

82. The Application requires 46MB of hard disk space; books range from 50KB to 1GB per title. (Source: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nookstudy

83. CourseSmart Amazon.com

84. Looking ahead Browser-based books = truly device agnostic! With HTML 5 eBooks will become more interactive; content can be stored offline and then synced via the “cloud.” Books in Browsers 2010: The Future of Reading on the Web conference was held October 21, 2010 at the Internet Archive.

85. Would a streaming Netflix-esque subscription model work for libraries or would it bypass them?

86. Recap E-books are powerful and complicated. They can fundamentally change libraries as we know them. Nobody fully grasps the full range of opportunities and threats they offer. Lots of people are bewildered and confused. So… How should we—as Librarians—respond?

87. Appropriate Library Response to these Problems

88. Issues like this that keep us relevant and employed. This is powerful and FUN! We are seeing evolution in action. Show me the rules that says “Libraries may not convert EPUB to AZW for patrons!” Or “Never, ever mention calibre or FeedBooks!”

89. How do we stay in the game? OverDrive model We exist but with a changed role Amazon and Apple models We don’t exist EBSCO NetLibrary model We may exist. We don’t know yet. Other models Maybe we should create our own Create a model right now…

90. Summary Good e-pub news Thousands of free e-books A MARC record makes it “yours” Potential for dramatic cost decreases Huge increase in ability to serve patrons Opportunity for entirely new service models Local authorship opportunities

94. Visit: http://sites.google.com/site/epublishingtrendstblc/

95. Google “sources of free e-books”

97. Empowering the Reader in a Digital World NEFLIN Technology Conference, 6/17/11 Chad Mairn, Novare Library Services

98. Contact Information