Today’s NYT:

Breaking Out of the Library Mold, in Boston and Beyond

Interesting article. Read it for a Forbes view on library strategies.

How Public Libraries Are Solving America’s Reading Problem

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2014/03/11/how-public-libraries-are-solving-americas-reading-problem/

“We have a reading problem in the United States.  It’s not that people aren’t reading: in fact the Pew Research Center reports that 76% of adults have read a book in the past year.  Even kids are reading – and some studies suggest that millennials are more likely to read literature than previous generations.  The problem is choice.  Readers are drowning in books.

Too Many Books, Not Enough Time

11,022 books were published in 1950.  That number may sound quaint today, but it’s still a large number.  Read one book a week for sixty years, and you’ll still leave two-thirds of those titles untouched.  Consider then, the jaw-dropping 978,701 titles Bowker told me were published or self-published in 2012.   There’s some double counting in that number (print and eBook copies of the same title have separate ISBNs) but it is terrifying, nonetheless.”

Stephen

How The Internet Has Grown In The Last 25 Years

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-internet-has-grown-in-the-last-25-years-2014-3?

US Libraries Spend More on Audiobooks, DVDs than eBooks

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2014/03/09/us-libraries-spend-audiobooks-dvds-ebooks/#.UyBvw_ldWa8 

“The Materials Survey 2014 looks at what each library spends to acquire new content, and it’s based on voluntary participation from US public libraries. The survey group includes a diverse bunch of libraries with budgets ranging from $22,000 a year to $6.3 million a year which serve a broad range of populations from over a million people in a metro area to under 10,000.

The survey found that paper books made up an average of 59% of libraries’ budgets, with DVDs (12%), audiobooks (8%), ebooks (7%), and other digital material (7%) making up most of the rest of the budget. The average materials budget was up 1.5% last year, and circulation was  up 2%.

As you can see in the infographic above, the survey also shows that ebook spending trended up and audiobook spending trended down as the size of libraries increased. The largest libraries were much more likely to offer downloadable movies, while the smallest libraries (those serving a population below 10,000) devoted a larger share of their acquisition budgets to paper books than larger libraries, averaging 73% spent on paper books vs an average of 59% for all libraries.

The smallest libraries were also the least likely to have an ebook collection, with only 2/3 reporting that they had ebooks they could lend (vs an average of over 90% of participating libraries). They also averaged a greater share spent on audiobooks, though with a difference of only a few percentage points this is less important.

In terns of long term trends spending on paper books held steady in 2013 at 59%, following a 7% drop over the past decade. eBook spending has increased over the past 5 years, especially over the past couple years where it averaged a 20% increase.”

Library Journal

Stephen