E-book readers slow to borrow from library
E-book readers have been relatively slow to borrow digital works from the library, frustrated by a limited selection and by not even knowing if their local branch offers e-releases, according to a new study.
The Pew
Research Center published a survey Friday that reports around 12 percent of
e-book users 16 years and older downloaded a text from the library over the past
year. Earlier in 2012, Pew issued a study showing that around 20 percent of
adults had read an e-book recently.
Simon & Schuster, the Hachette Book Group and other
major publishers have limited e-book offerings to libraries or refused to make
any available, citing concerns that the ease of free downloads would hurt sales.
Lack of awareness may be another factor. Around 60 percent of those 16 and older
couldn't say whether their libraries had e-books.
Pew's Internet & American Life Project study, conducted
with nearly 3,000 respondents between Nov. 16 and Dec. 11, 2011, suggests that
library patrons trying to borrow digital texts have been deterred by the
selection and by not having the right e-book device. Just over half of
respondents said their library did not have the book they were looking for and
nearly 20 percent found that the device they owned could not receive a given
title.
Full article available
here.
USA Today