Hao Qun(郝群)-Senior Librarian, Fudan University Library
Co-author with Chen Chaoqun and Xu Lin
With the increase of e-books’ types and quantities, and the popularization and development of e-book readers during recent 10 years, more and more libraries begin to provide e-book service to readers. This prompts the library to take into consideration of the characteristics of the e-books and the preferences of the users. Libraries are exploring a new working mode. Example: on November 21, 2008, NetLibrary released a survey result about the electronic collections in Britain. The OCLC eContent team found that three-fourths of the academic libraries and half of the public libraries prepared to increase their e-book collection in 2009, even if they are in great shortage of funds. On December 27, 2009, Amazon announced that its e-book sales prevailed over physical books for the first time. Based on 2000 to 2010 domestic and foreign monographs\papers\meetings about “Library e-book services”, and the e-book reader lending practices, this article discusses the contents of e-books, technical patterns, distribution and business models and other key factors. On this basis, this article also discusses the impact caused by e-books to library collection, cataloging, management, service and training of personnel .The article stresses on the following four points: ①On the surface, the emergence of e-books is a kind of new electronic devices. But, in-depth view, it is not simply a breakthrough in information technology, but a publishing\reading and learning revolution. They are generating an increasingly important influence on library management and services. ②Libraries need to change the traditional working mode to keep up with the fast development of mass e-book resources, and to enhance the value of library services. ③Librarians must keep an open dialogue, willing to try new models and plans to promote e-books’ integration, transmission and distribution in the existing library system and services. ④Although e-book seems to have a rapid development and a bright future, it cannot completely “beat the paper books to death” for quite some time. Now the library should take more effort on exploring how to achieve the balance between the e-book service mode and the paper book service mode.
Presentation [PPT]