An E-book Primer

Sarah Ormes

UKOLN

University of Bath

Bath, BA2 7AY

UKOLN is funded by Resource, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Further and Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.

Emails.l.ormes@ukoln.ac.ukURLhttp://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

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What is an E-Book? (1)

A text or monograph which is available in an electronic format.

• Novel on a Web site• Short story available in Word• A collection of poetry sent via e-mail

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What is an E-book? (2)

Professionally produced and edited text available in an e-book format.

• Encrypted• Formatted• Can’t be printed• Possibly an electronic version of a

commercially available print based book

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What is an E-Book? (3)

An electronic device used to read e-books.

• Dedicated • Handheld• Desktop

Dedicated e-book readers most typically referred to as e-books.

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Dedicated Readers (1)

Specifically designed to be used for reading e-books.

Main two available:• RCA REB 1100• RCA REB 1200• Produced by Gemstar

Others on the way though…..

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Dedicated Readers (2)

REB 1100 (Rocket eBook)• Weighs 17 oz• Stores about 20 books• Size of a paperback• Monochrome touch

sensitive screen• Cost - $299

REB 1200 (Softbook)• Weighs 33 oz• Stores about 20

books• Size of a hardback• Colour touch

sensitive screen• Cost - $699

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Dedicated Readers (3)

• Advantages– Large screens– Large memories– Change fonts– Sound and video

• Disadvantages– Limited functionality– Heavier– More expensive– Something else to carry

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Handheld Readers (1)

Handheld readers are already widely in use but used for other purposes.

Digital Personal Assistants (PDAs)• Psions• Palm Pilots• Pocket PCs• Handsprings

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Handheld Readers (2)

• Requires the installation of e-book software

– annotations– page scrolling– searching

• Software freely available– Peanut Reader (Palm OS)– Mobipocket (Palm OS)– Microsoft Reader (Pocket PCs)

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Handheld Readers (3)

• Advantages:– Something you already carry– Lightweight– Change fonts– Backlit screens

• Disadvantages– Small screens– Limited memory space

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Desktop Readers (1)

• PCs and laptops using special software to make reading off a screen easier.

• Software options– Glassbook– Microsoft Reader– PDF

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• Software freely available• Text reproduction very high quality and

uses full colour• Change fonts• Make notes• Add bookmarks

Desktop Readers (2)

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Desktop Readers (3)

• Advantages:– Large screens– Large memories– Change fonts– Already own necessary equipment

• Disadvantages– Less portable– Less comfortable to use– High start up cost

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Cost of E-books

Typically as expensive as hardback books.• The Constant Gardener by John Le

Carre – $22.40 in hardback at Amazon– $19.60 in e-book format at Peanut Press

• Bag of Bones by Stephen King– $22.40 in hardback at Amazon– $19.55 in e-book format at Peanut Press– $7.19 in paperback at Amazon

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Ways of Buying E-books

• Via a PC– Visit an online bookshop, purchase your

book as usual.– Book available for immediate download to

a PC.– Downloaded to e-book reader from PC

• Via your e-book reader– Plug your reader directly into a phone

socket and manage the process via the reader itself.

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Storing Your E-books

E-book readers can only hold a limited number of books at one time - virtual bookshelves need to be created.

• Copies of books held on PC’s hard disk• Book vendor creates personalised online

bookshelf on your behalf.• Books copied to reader when required.

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Protecting Copyright

Publishers working hard to ensure that once an e-book has been purchased it can’t be copied to lots of people.

• Each e-book encrypted• Can only be unencrypted by the reader

for which it was purchased• Systems of passwords also.

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Advantages of E-books

• Portable - many different texts on one small device

• Nothing goes out of print• Instantly available• Font size can be changed• The Multimedia book arriving soon• Supposedly cheaper

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Disadvantages of e-books

• Requires equipment to be read• As accessible as print based books?• Unfamiliar and new• Low market penetration• Different standards currently in use

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Fad or Future?• The Stephen King experience:

– March 2000: Riding the Bullet published solely in electronic format

– 500,000 downloads

• Publishes The Plant in stages on his own Web site

– First chapter downloaded 152,000 times for a dollar each time

– Dec 2000 - ceases publication after users stop paying to download new chapters

– Still made a profit of over $400,000

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Fad or Future?

• Considerable disagreement about how successful e-books are going to be.

• Expectation that growth area will be in text books

– end of ‘textbook shoulder’– relevant sections only– electronic texts for ‘reference’ rather than

‘immersion’ reading?

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Model One - Short Term

• Libraries circulate e-book readers with a number of titles pre-loaded

• E-books have records included in the catalogue

• The only e-books available are those installed on the circulating e-book readers

• Limited choice for users• Users unable to read library’s e-books on

their own e-book readers

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Model Two - Medium Term

• E-books can be downloaded directly from the library catalogue to user’s preferred e-book reader

• Only one user, at one time to each purchased copy of the e-book

• Books removed automatically from user’s e-book reader at the end of loan period and made instantaneously available in the catalogue again.

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Model Three - Long Term

• E-books purchased on demand• Library moves from just in-case model to

just in-time• Reconsideration of how the library’s

book fund is managed• Book acquisition policy more or less

managed by library users• All libraries have access to the same

stock

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Model Four - Dot Com LibrariesCommercial digital libraries

– online collections of thousands of e-books, journals, magazines

– direct marketing at the end user– keyword searchable– Internet accessible– micropayments - per page view

Friend or foe for the academic library?

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Dot Com Libraries (2)

Questia– monthly subscription of $19.95– one page view, one page print at a time– downloaded citations

ebrary– free access to content– charge for each page printed or copied– partnership deal with libraries in exchange

for product promotion and links

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Dot Com Libraries (3)

XanEdu– “no more trips to the library”– create learning packs online– total access of $29.90 for six months

NetLibrary– e-book management system– purchase e-books from NetLibrary– NetLibrary manages their circulation– similar to current library model

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Conclusions• E-books are here to stay

• E-books will provide libraries with many new challenges which will be difficult to manage in the short term

• E-books may be most successful in an academic environment

• Potentially Dot Com Libraries could be a long term threat to academic libraries

• It’s up to librarians to take the initiative now.

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E-book Articles

• An E-book Primerhttp://www.earl.org.uk/policy/

• Can E-books Improve Libraries?http://skyways.lib.ks.us/central/ebooks/

• All About E-bookshttp://aalbc.com/ebooks/Allaboutebooks.htm

• E-books - I Sing the Book Electrichttp://www.pla.org/technotes/ebooks.html

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E-book Hardware and Software

• Gemstarhttp://www.ebook-gemstar.com/

• EbookManhttp://www.franklin.com/

• Microsoft Readerhttp://www.microsoft.com/reader/

• Glassbookhttp://www.glassbook.com/

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E-book Sellers

• PeanutPresshttp://www.peanutpress.com/

• E-bookNethttp://www.ebooknet.com/

• Barnes and Noblehttp://ebooks.barnesandnoble.com/

• Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/ebooks/

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Dot Com Libraries

• Questiahttp://www.questia.com

• XanEduhttp://www.xanedu.com

• ebraryhttp://www.ebrary.com

• NetLibraryhttp://www.netlibrary.com/

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Other Resources

This presentation and links to useful e-book information can be found at

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/public/present/dublin/