Becker (2011)

Becker, B. (2011). The e-Book Apocalypse: A Survivor's Guide. Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, 30(3), 181-4. Retrieved October 23, 2011, from Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database. doi: 10.1080/01639269.2011.591278.

Writing within the last few months, Becker explains why he thinks 2012 will be a breakthrough year for the emergence of e-books in academic libraries. However, the evidence he provides relates as much to public libraries as to academic libraries. The "horseman" that relates directly to the upcoming explosion of digital scholarly materials that he mentions in the introduction is the first, demand-driven acquisitions.

Horseman 1: Demand-driven acquisitions. Becker describes the DDA process in the same terms as Breitbach & Lambert and says that the ease of implementation for libraries, the ease of use for patrons, and the way the system aligns purchases with patron needs will hasten the addition of e-books to university libraries.

Horsemen 2 & 3: The Kindle and the Nook. Both Kindle and Nook have made advances in recent months (April 2011) that increase their usability.

Kindle: (1) The agreement with Overdrive to make Kindle e-books available to libraries for loan makes it easier for patrons to access e-books. and (2) improves usability of the library e-book experience. That is, patrons using the newer Kindles can annotate a borrowed book on their Kindle and retain access to the annotations if they borrow it again from the library of if they purchase it from Amazon. (3) The reduction in price for Kindles has reached the point where they seem affordable to many more consumers.

Nook: In April 2011 a "free Android OS update" became available for color Nooks that gives them the same functionality of an iPad at one-half the price. This increase in functionality should make the Nook much more popular among consumers and therefore increase the demand for e-books from library patrons.

Horseman 4: Barnes & Noble has positioned itself between college textbook publishers and university bookstores to provide e-textbooks for rent or sale to students. They are providing free PC software to read the e-textbooks; the software's high functionality accommodates the visual complexities of e-textbooks and allows readers to annotate, etc.

My thoughts
This article brings me up to speed on some of the latest developments. Although the focus is on public and university libraries, when these two segments of the library world move to the next level on e-books, the high school library world will see increased opportunities for our own development. For us it will be driven, I assume, by Follett and Mackey picking up on the achievements of other players and offering us more services. I think the students will be eager consumers when we offer them the products. Our particular issue with high school students is the e-book device question. I think we have to provide it rather than rely on students purchasing their own.