Continuing the Conversation: Integrating E-Books and E-Readers into Your Library

We just wrapped up the first session of Sue Polanka’s workshop Integrating E-Books and E-Readers into Your Library. There’s no doubt that E-Books and E-Readers are a hot topic for librarians right now (not to mention for the general public as well), and discussion during the workshop certainly reflected that.

With over 250 people attending the workshop, there was certainly room for more discussion than we had time for in 90 minutes. Here are a few questions that were asked during the workshop. Please continue the discussion of these, and any other questions you might have in the comments area. Sue will be chiming in.

• How are E-books being incorporated into collection development plans?
• Who has the responsibility to archive E-books?
• Will E-book platforms be available for mobile devices? Just on mobile Web? As apps? Something else?
• What percent of your materials budget are you planning to spend on E-books?  Is there a best practice out there?
• How do you convince a skeptical staff to buy in to implementing E-books?

The Preliminary Readings for this Workshop Were:

Acquiring eBooks by Lisa Sibert and Carolyn Morris from No Shelf Required: E-Books in Libraries by Sue Polanka, pages 95-124 http://www.alaeditions.org/%20No_Shelf_Chapter_6

Ebook Summit: Our Ebook Challenge http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/887220-264/ebook_summit_our_ebook_challenge.html.csp

COSLA: eBook Feasibility Study for Public Libraries http://www.cosla.org/documents/COSLA2270_Report_Final1.pdf

E-book Distributors for the Public and School Library Market http://www.booklistonline.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=3070294

In Survey of Academic Librarians and Ebooks, Pointers Toward a Better System http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6722546.html

Off The Shelf: eBook Aggregators http://www.booklistonline.com/ProductInfo.aspx?pid=2710528

Resources Mentioned During Today’s Session:

• Vendor Evaluation Matrix: bit.ly/f0z7UP
• E-books and Libraries:  A Stream of Concerns by Meredith Farkas - http://bit.ly/e2Sjks
• COSLA Report (public libraries): http://www.cosla.org/documents/COSLA2270_Report_Final1.pdf
• Collection Management, 2010, Volume 35, Issues 3 & 4
• No Shelf Required: E-books in Libraries, ALA Editions, 2011
• No Shelf Required II:  The Use and Management of E-books, ALA Editions, Forthcoming
• Libraryrenewal.org: http://libraryrenewal.org
• No Shelf Required – www.noshelfrequired.com
• Teleread: www.teleread.org
• Resource Shelf: www.resourceshelf.com
• eBooknewser: www.mediabistro.com/ebooknewser/
• The Digital Reader: www.the-digital-reader.com/
• Go-to-hellman: go-to-hellman.blogspot.com
• ALA TechSource blog: www.alatechsource.org/blog
• LJ/SLJ ebook Summit: @LJSLJebookSummt

Sue's Slides: