Bound books are not yet a thing of the past.
But people with technological savvy are increasingly reading reference books on a computer screen and listening to Shakespeare via headphones.
The Chula Vista Public Library and other public, academic and corporate libraries around San Diego County are tapping into this phenomenon by building a database full of popular titles that can be downloaded to computers and portable listening devices.
“We’re definitely offering more opportunities for people who like to do things online,” said Jeri Gulbransen, communications manager for Chula Vista.
cost analysis
I’m assuming he’s getting the low cost per title based on the number of checkouts (over 25,000?) not the actual number of titles and that’s around 14 circs per title? I just put a hold on the latest James Patterson book today (I think it was Patterson). The book hasn’t been released yet and there’s a waiting list of over 400 people. There will be a lot of copies bought by the entire consortium but there will still be more then 14 circs per title within a 12 month time span. I’m not knocking the system I just don’t think its as cost effective as he’s making it sound. And if it was a Patterson book and authors as popular as Patterson that was contracted to get, instead of stuff like Pride and Prejudice, I’m willing to bet the bill would be a lot higher.
Not paperless books, but CD-less audiobooks
What’s interesting here is that the library’s “e”collection is mostly [e]audiobooks, not ebooks. I’d suggest that [e]audiobooks don’t face the same adoption issues as ebooks because there’s no particular “audibility” advantage to CD-based or cassette-based audiobooks (and maybe a disadvantage to CD-based, depending on the player). I wouldn’t be surprised if MP3/downloadable audiobooks threaten CD or cassette audiobooks a whole heck of a lot more than ebooks threaten print books.