This is a presentation I gave on ebooks at the Association of Pall Mall Libraries meeting in April 2014.

1. eBook Lending
Gary Green
Surrey County Council Library Service
gary.green@surreycc.gov.uk

2. Past, Present, Future
• Back to the 1930s
• Ebooks today
• How ebook lending
services work
• The future?
© Wiertz Sébastien/Flickr

3. Ebooks - Beginnings
• A 1930s idea:
• “The Readies”
• Reality in the 1940s:
• Index of Thomas
Aquinas
• Mechanical
Encyclopedia
© Eirik Newth/Flickr

4. Project Gutenberg (1971)
• First digital library
• 45,000 ebooks
• Still freely available
now via the internet
© gato.villegas/Flickr

5. Modern eBooks
• eBook – text file
• eReader – the
device you read it
on
• Compatibility
© Kodomut/Flickr

6. Ebooks – 21st Century
• Recent popularity
• Most public library
ebook services less
than 5 years old
• Why lend ebooks?
© Let Ideas Compete

7. UK Statistics (2013)
• 80m ebook sales
• 323m print book sales
• 1-in-5 sales are self-published
books
• Est. 35% of book sales in next 2
years will be ebooks
© Libraryman/Flickr

8. Key Players
• Non-traditional:
• Amazon
• Tech organisations
• Supermarkets
• Publishers
• Booksellers
• DIY self-publishers © theunquietlibrary/Flickr

9. Surrey Example
• Services
• Overdrive
• Project Gutenberg
• One Click Digital
• Access via apps,
internet, desktop
computers
© Peter Gene/Flickr

10. Challenges
• Changing ebook landscape
• Publishers concerns
• Some high costs
• Supporting staff & library
users
© Eric Rice/Flickr

11. Government eLending Review
• Acknowledged problems
• Asked for feedback
• Positive ideas
• Pilot projects
© Mike Licht/Flickr

12. The Future?
• It is still early days
• Still no single “best way”
• Pilots will help guide us
• What technology is around
the corner?
© Mike Licht/Flickr

13. Thank you
Gary Green
Surrey County Council Library Service
gary.green@surreycc.gov.uk