The inclusion of eBooks in public, academic and school libraries is an area of rapid growth. The article “eBooks and elending issues paper” states that 43% of Australians had downloaded digital content in the last quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012. Given that this paper was published in 2013 we can presume that the rates of digital content downloading has significantly increased since this paper’s publication ten years ago.
My current library provides access to eBooks via a portal on the LibPaths homepage. The eBook collection does not appear to be fully integrated in the cataloguing system but rather is offered via a separate search engine. Students and teachers have access to all materials by using their student/staff login and downloading the ePlatform app on their device. Loans are available for a two week period. My school library appears to use a specialist school library supplier (Wheeler’s) to supply all their eBooks and audiobooks and there are far more fiction books than non-fiction books available on this platform. My school also provides eTextbooks via the platform “Box of Books” and this is accessible to teachers and students via our learning platform “Canvas” rather than through the school library portal.
The inclusion of eBooks in library collections poses many challenges with regard to content. In many instances the publication of a physical resource and the access to an eBook is not always simultaneous. Often there is a lag time of some months. This poses a problem with access to information which is a fundamental role of the teacher librarian. Some publishers will also restrict the access to content for patrons or make the purchase of eBooks far more expensive than their hardcopy counterparts which impacts on the ability of the library to provide these resources and the patrons’ ability to access digital resources.
Another consideration when including eBooks in library collections is licensing considerations. Some publishing houses and aggregators will allow libraries to purchase single copies of items whilst others insist on providing a subscription package. Whilst this may be a more economical method to build a collection it does interfere with the librarians selection process.
Procurement of digital resources can also pose serious challenges. Procurement needs to be flexible enough for libraries to have a number of different options to meet patrons’ needs. Libraries need to be able to purchase single titles, subscribe to packages of eBooks, pay per use of eBooks or offer patron-driven acquisition to ensure that the collection meets the needs of the community. Often this is challenged by the providers as they have a monopoly over certain titles, can delete certain items and prevent material from being able to be accessed after a certain time period.
How eBooks are incorporated into the existing library collection is yet another area that can be problematic. eBooks should include high-quality metadata but often the publishing houses provide poor quality metadata and it is difficult for the library to use this data to correctly catalogue these items. Digital resources need to be effectively integrated into library cataloguing systems in order to make them easily discoverable to patrons. Greater standardisation and interoperability is needed so that these resources are able to be accessed across a range of devices to ensure that librarians meet their responsibilities in providing access to information for all and to bridge the digital divide.
Poor interoperability not only affects the patrons’ ability to access information but licensing agreements can also impact the free access to information. Publishers are understandably worried that breaches of copyright, piracy and other examples of misuse is easier with regards to digital content. Digital rights management policies have been put in place to place limits on the number of times an eBook can be accessed before the library is required to repurchase, place limits on the number of patrons who can download an eBook at any one time and also restrict the time that patrons can access eBook content.
These issues will all need to be taken into account in my future role as a teacher librarian. eBooks are already becoming the new norm in library collections and I foresee a time when these resources will potentially replace hardcopy versions.