As Kindles, Nooks spread, local borrowing of e-books increases
It was a boom year for readers both electronic and human, as the latter bought, or received as gifts, the former in droves.
Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook, Sony's Reader and other such devices that enable bibliophiles to supplement their literary diets with e-books were, by all accounts, the hottest gifts of Christmas 2011.
By now, Christmas' newly minted e-reader owners probably have purchased a book or two and taken their new literary medium for a spin. But here's something else they can do with their new toys: Use them to borrow books from valley libraries.
Southern Nevada library directors say they have noticed increasing numbers of e-books being checked out in recent months, and that the convenience of borrowing library books via e-reader even seems to be creating a growing number of regular library patrons.
Lauren Stokes, virtual library manager for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, has been teaching classes about e-readers for just about a year and says she has been seeing participants who "haven't been to a library in years. It's a big jump that started last year, and it has just continued to grow this year."
The Las Vegas-Clark County district actually has been offering e-books and audiobooks to patrons since 2004, Stokes said.
However, because there weren't many e-readers on the market back then, "the audiobooks became very popular and e-books were just kind of there."
That began to change as more e-reading devices -- including Amazon's popular Kindle, which was introduced in late 2007 -- hit the market.
But those early-generation Kindles also underscored the frustrating quirkiness of any new technology: The Kindle at first wasn't compatible with library e-book collections.
However, that finally changed in September when OverDrive Inc., the company that houses the e-book collections of the Las Vegas-Clark County, Boulder City, North Las Vegas and Henderson library districts, "made a deal with Amazon to allow e-books to go on the Kindle," Stokes says. "That just opened the floodgates, and we saw a huge, dramatic leap in e-book checkouts."
How huge? The Las Vegas-Clark County district circulated about 53,344 e-books during the entire July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011 fiscal year, Stokes says, while 66,888 e-books were circulated from July to December of 2011 alone.
"We're noticing every year (that e-book circulation) is going up," says Kathy Pennell, director of the North Las Vegas Library District.
The district has been offering e-books for loan since 2009, when e-books made up about 1 percent of total circulation, Pennell says, and "about 3 percent of our total circulation (now) is downloadables."
From Dec. 25 through early this week, more than 2,200 e-books have been downloaded in the district, Pennell adds.
Lynn Schofield-Dahl, director of the Boulder City Library District, estimates that about 2 percent of the district's patrons use e-readers and that between 250 to 300 titles are accessed from the library's e-book collection each month.
E-book loans still represent just a small part of the library's average monthly circulation of about 10,000 books, Schofield-Dahl says. "I would say it's a steady, but not a dramatic, thing."
What has been dramatic, however, is the increase the Boulder City library has been seeing in the use of Kindles during the past few months. Schofield-Dahl says the library's e-reading universe now is made up of "about 50 percent Kindle (users) and 50 percent others. Before Kindle jumped on board, I would say it was about 50 percent Nook-Sony, at least here in Boulder City."
While it's too early to tease out the possible effect Christmas gift-giving may have had on e-book circulation over the past several weeks, "I can tell you, just from my experience working the reference desk, I've seen a lot more people who come in and say, 'I got this for Christmas, what can I do with it?' " Schofield-Dahl says.
Gayle Hornaday, assistant director of Henderson Libraries, says district patrons checked out about 2,600 e-books in December 2011, versus about 700 in July.
"I can see that, since Christmas, the ownership of Kindles has really mushroomed," Hornaday says. "I don't think that had anything to do with what the library has to offer. I think it has more to do with the widespread familiarity of Amazon."
The bottom line: For the first time, Southern Nevadans who own just about any e-reader on the market can now browse, select and download to their devices books from all four local library districts.
In Southern Nevada, the North Las Vegas and Boulder City library districts contract with the Las Vegas-Clark County district to distribute e-books to patrons, while Henderson maintains its own e-book collection.
All purchase licenses for the e-books they offer through OverDrive, which is "probably the major book provider to libraries. They also offer the most compatibility with the most (e-)readers," Hornaday says.
Patrons begin e-book checkouts by accessing their home library's e-book Web page. Then, they'll browse the library's e-book collection, place their books in a virtual checkout cart and, when they're ready to check out, click a button.
Things may become a bit tricky from then on, however, because various e-readers work in varying ways. A Kindle user will then be taken to Amazon.com, where they'll log in and check out their book, which is then delivered directly to their device. Other users with other e-readers may have to download a library book to their PCs first and then sync the PCs with their e-readers.
"They all work a little differently," Stokes says.
However, every local library district offers online videos, instructional guides and how-to pages to guide new e-reader users.
The Las Vegas-Clark County district also offers periodic classes for e-reader users, as well as troubleshooting help by phone (call 507-6300).
E-readers are like any other technology, Schofield-Dahl says; once you learn to do it, it's easy.
"Just be patient with yourself and patient with the device, and give yourself time to learn how to use it," Schofield-Dahl says.
Pennell says some e-reader owners probably aren't aware that a whole universe of reading material now is available, for free and at their digital fingertips, through local libraries.
"We had a meeting not long ago, and someone said to me, 'Pretty soon, you'll be able to check things out from the library,' " Pennell says. "I said, 'We've been doing that for several years now.' "
As e-readers become more affordable and more voracious readers dip a toe into the electronic waters, that surely will change.
And, just as surely, libraries will find ways to accommodate the desires of newly minted e-patrons.
"Libraries have been evolving for hundreds of years and will continue to evolve to take into account trends in society," Pennell says.
Contact reporter John Przybys at
jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.
PLUSES AND MINUSES
Potential setup headaches aside, readers may discover that they like the ease e-readers offer in browsing local libraries' collections.
There's the convenience of checking out and returning e-books 24/7, without having to drive to the library or even leaving the house. Also, using a library's e-book portal to search titles or authors is way easier than browsing library stacks (even if it does, perhaps, eliminate the serendipity of a book hunt).
There's the elimination of the guilt associated with spilling coffee on or losing a library book (although we'll leave to you the financial stress of misplacing or breaking a pricey e-reader).
And, for readers who never remember to turn in library books on time, there'll be no more fines to pay, because e-books simply become disabled on an e-reader once the loan period expires.
Yet, library e-books also are, in other significant ways, just like the paper-and-ink volumes readers find on library shelves. For example, libraries must purchase, in effect, individual copies of specific e-book titles, just as they do regular books.
"We do not have access to every single title available through OverDrive," explains Lynn Schofield-Dahl, director of the Boulder City Library District. "We buy the titles we think are going to be most used by patrons so we can match our patrons' reading practices to what we buy.
"For instance, in my library, I don't have a lot of reader-users who are interested in nonfiction, so I wouldn't be spending a lot of money on (e-book) nonfiction materials. Most of my people who are using e-materials are reading popular fiction, so that's where I'd put most of my money."
That means your library may not have a book you're looking for in e-book form, even if it might have the book in print form. It also might mean that earlier books in a popular series won't be available in e-book form, even if the latest books in that same series are.
"Basically, we've started with the most current (books) and, as funds permit, we'll go back in time and pick up those, especially, series books and add them in," says Lauren Stokes, virtual library manager for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. "But, right now, we're concentrating on the newer books that are coming out."
Given the finite number of e-books any library will have access to, don't be surprised if you end up on a waiting list for a popular title. Stokes says about 150 Las Vegas-Clark County patrons right now are waiting to check out some popular e-books.
Some patrons "are a little surprised by that," Stokes says. "They think, 'Well, it's a digital book. Why can't a thousand people have access to the same book at the same time?' It's because we haven't bought 1,000 of them."
There also are "some pretty severe limits on what's available as an e-book," adds Gayle Hornaday, assistant director of Henderson Libraries. Some publishers don't offer e-books of their titles, or offer only some of their titles as e-books, or choose not to sell e-books to libraries.
In fact, Hornaday adds, "you'll find that you may see (a title) available as an e-book on Amazon, but not available as an e-book to the library."
