Surveys of eBooks in US Libraries

“Ebooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point, Library Journal and School Library Journal’s September 2010 cutting-edge virtual conference on ebooks, brought 2500 librarians from public libraries, academic libraries, and school (K-12), along with publishers, vendors, and thought leaders together to discuss the impact of ebooks in the library market.

The conference opened with highlights from an extensive ebook survey conducted in August 2010 by LJ and SLJ, reaching over 1800 of the publications’ readers. Now you can purchase these reports for critical information on ebooks and how they serve a variety of needs for library patrons in public, academic, and K-12 markets.

Between 2002 and 2009, ebook sales had a compound annual growth rate of 71%, the highest of any book category. These valuable reports include the most up to date information on usage buying and borrowing patterns available.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE
•INFORMATION ON EBOOK COLLECTIONS (number of ebooks available and categories)
•EBOOK ACQUISITION, LICENSING, AND CIRCULATION (purchasing terms)
•EBOOKS, PRINT BOOKS, AND ACQUISITION BUDGETS (current and future budgets)
•LIBRARIES AND EBOOK VENDORS (vendors patronized and preferred)
•EBOOK HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
•PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS (all data broken down by size or type of library and acquisition budget)

REPORTS AVAILABLE COVERING THE FOLLOWING MARKETS
•Survey of EBook Penetration and Use in U.S. Public Libraries
•Survey of EBook Penetration and Use in U.S. Academic Libraries
•Survey of EBook Penetration and Use in U.S. School (K-12) Libraries

No Shelf Required blog has some sample data in this post.

Click here for a free download of the public library report’s TOC and executive summary introduction pages.
Click here for a free download of the school/K-12 library report’s TOC and executive summary introduction pages.
Click here for a free download of the academic library report’s TOC and executive summary introduction pages.

I have read the reports (Gale was a participant and sponsor of the virtual conference) and find them quite useful as a glimpse into this important evolving format at this point in time.

Stephen