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Publishing trends and predictions for 2013

By on January 4, 2013 in Information and Publishing Industry, Public Libraries

The dust has settled on the Christmas sales of books, e-readers and tablets and some interesting figures have emerged.

In the UK, over £75m was spent on printed books in the week leading up to Christmas. This was an increase of 19.3% on the previous week and up 1% on the same week in 2011. The figures represent a three-year high for hard copy book sales in the UK.

In the US, the latest Pew Internet figures show another increase in the numbers of people reading digital books – an increase from 16% of the US adult population a year ago to 23% by the end of 2012. 33% of Americans now own a tablet or e-reader device.

Borrowing of e-books from libraries in the US is also continuing to increase as is the public’s awareness of e-book offerings available in public libraries.

“It’s becoming harder to define what ‘publishing’ really is”

Meanwhile three specialist industry sites (The Bookseller, AuthorMedia and Digital Book World) have interviewed a number of thought leaders (including CILIP President Phil Bradley) and published their predictions for the publishing industries in 2013. These include:
• Migration from print to digital will continue to slow
• More mergers and consolidation between publishers and agencies
• Continued growth in self-publishing and the companies that support it
• A growth of ‘author collectives’
• New partnerships for independent booksellers
• Major authors to keep their digital rights
• E-book sales will ‘level off’ in 2013 and prices may start to decrease
• Digital publishing means increased global audiences for digital works
• New, dynamic marketing models for publishers

 

 

Young people, libraries and reading

By on October 23, 2012 in Public Libraries, Trends and Statistics

Young peoples’ attitudes to books, reading and libraries are assessed in research from Pew Internet.

In the US high-schoolers (those aged 16-17) are the group most likely to be using local libraries and borrowing books, whereas older adults are much more likely to have bought the last book they read, rather than borrowed it.  However, although they are the most intensive users of libraries, young people are the least likely to actually appreciate the services they receive from their libraries.

The research looked at just under 3000 people aged 16-29 and discovered the following:

  • 83% had read a book in the past year
    • 75% read a print book
    • 19% read an e-book
    • 11% listened to an audiobook
  • 60% had used the library in the past year
    • 46% used the library for research
    • 38% borrowed books (print books, audiobooks, or e-books)
    • 23% borrowed newspapers, magazines, or journals

Young people and e-book borrowing

The majority of e-book consumers under the age of 30 are not using dedicated devices but are reading via their desktop/laptop computers or phones.  Many respondents said they had been unaware that their local library lent e-books until they had sought out information after buying e-reading devices.  For some respondents, e-borrowing was easy, but others expressed frustration with multiple log-in screens.  Young people also expressed interest in borrowing ‘pre-loaded’ e-readers and attending classes on how to use e-reading devices.

Attitudes to libraries

Worryingly, 45% of high schoolers (and 37% of ‘older’ young people) stated that the library is not important or not too important to them and their families.  Combine this finding with the feedback from many respondents that they had been unaware of e-book lending services, the implication is that libraries would do well to design marketing and awareness campaigns that specifically target young users.

Download the research here.

Access to ICT in developing countries – the value of libraries

By on October 9, 2012 in Post, Public Libraries

The Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) at the University of Washington’s Information School explores how information and communications technologies (ICT) can impact communities – in particular those which face social and economic challenges – and explores how public libraries can help.

Its latest briefing paper (Public access and development: The impact of public access venues and the benefits of libraries) explores the impact of public access to the internet and computers in developing countries, and in particular explores the value of public libraries in enabling this access and improving ICT skills.  5000 users of public access services were surveyed in Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, and the Philippines

The importance of public access venues

  • Half of those surveyed said they had first used computers at a public access venue
  • 62% first used the internet in such a venue
  • 50% said that these venues were the most important place they honed their internet skills
  • 34% said that public access venues are their only route to internet access

A range of positive impacts were mentioned by those surveyed

These include improved communication (79%); education (78%); meeting new people (73%); access to employment resources (57%); access to government information and services (40%) and access to health information (37%).

The benefit of libraries

Some activities are more likely to occur in a library setting and with a greater impact.  These include accessing health and government services.  This may reflect the additional support provided in public libraries.

Public access to ICT plays a critical role in development and libraries play an important role in this.

You can access the briefing, and more information about TASCHA, here.

Top priorities for European librarians

By on August 15, 2012 in Academic Libraries, Public Libraries, Trends and Statistics

A report published by OCLC describes the changing priorities of librarians in Germany, The Netherlands and the UK.  This is the first time that an OCLC survey has focused solely on European librarians.

The report explores some of the changes that librarians are anticipating in the way their libraries will be used.  A separate report is available for each of the participating countries.

Top priorities for academic libraries

Germany

  • Licensed electronic collections/e-books
  • Future of higher education and the library’s role
  • Visibility of the library’s collection

Netherlands

  • Licensed electronic collections/e-books
  • Digitisation projects
  • Visibility of the library’s collection

UK

  • Licensed electronic collections/e-books
  • Future of higher education and the library’s role
  • Facilities issues

Top priorities for public libraries

Germany

  • Addressing literacy
  • Access by mobile devices
  • Access to new technology for the library

The Netherlands

  • Visibility of the library’s collection
  • Forming community partnerships
  • Demonstrating library value to local government

 The UK

  • Demonstrating library value to funders
  • Forming community partnerships
  • Addressing literacy

The reports are free to download and feature interesting visualisations and figures.

 

Equitable access to digital content

By on May 29, 2012 in eBooks and eReaders, Public Libraries

As the amount of content being delivered digitally increases, libraries are facing new challenges to their goal of enabling broad information access to their communities.  The American Library Association’s (ALA) new report E-content: the digital dialogue  features a number of articles and opinion pieces outlining the current challenging e-book landscape in American public libraries.

The ALA report explores a number of issues, including library-publisher relations and the wide variety of licensing models that are muddying the waters.  The publishing model has changed dramatically, and the lessons of the music industry are reverberating.  Publishers are struggling to find new ways to retain their financial viability while new competitors and business models are encroaching.  Major distributors such as Apple and Amazon are competing with both publishers and libraries by becoming e-book publishers and lenders.

The current uncertainty is reflected in the sheer number of licensing and purchasing models – from Harper Collins’ infamous 26 e-book loan limit to Random House’s offering of perpetual access to e-book purchases – but at a higher unit price.  Other big trade publishers are simply not selling e-books to public libraries at all.

Other models being tested include the ‘metering’ or pay per download model that enables publishers to get revenue for backlist titles, but is more challenging for libraries that have to be able to predict usage in order to set budgets.  The simultaneous access model allows libraries to buy broad access to e-books when they are popular and scale back after the initial demand is met.  Rent to buy, subscription plans and annual packages (called ‘bookshelf’ models) and ‘embargo’ models are also available.

The challenge is finding models that are deemed equitable for and by all stakeholders in the process – publishers, patrons, distributors, authors and their agents as well as libraries.  These parties have some common goals but also some conflicts.  The ALA believes that the debate is fundamental because it addresses why libraries exist and what their role will be in an increasingly ‘e’ world.

The report is free to download from the ALA website.

Two innovative ideas from public libraries

By on February 1, 2012 in Post, Public Libraries

Just in case you missed them, two great innovative library marketing initiatives have been picked up by the media recently.

First, on a Harvard Business Review (HBR) blog, Grant McCracken (who by the way describes the public library rather wonderfully as ‘a place of possibility’), described the Stuffed Animal Sleepover at his local library.

Children brought in their toys and left them for a ‘sleepover’.  The toys were photographed having adventures (being read to, playing on the computers) in the library at night time.  The librarians shared the pictures of their adventures with their children the next day.  Through this initiative, the children began to see the library as a place of magical happenings and the library was able to do things that digital experiences could not.

Second, a wonderful idea from Slovenia and picked up by springwise.com.  Ljubljana City Library ran an initiative offering mystery book packs to customers.  The mystery packages simply had a sticker denoting a literary genre and librarians advised them further on their choices.  Each parcel provided three books – a contemporary work, a classic and one ‘easy to read’.   As Springwise noted, the book packs provided an example of what public libraries do best.  They provided an enjoyable, curated and personalised experience to customers.

Books to boost the spirits

By on January 9, 2012 in Post, Public Libraries

As previously featured on this blog, The Reading Agency is a charity with a mission to inspire more people to read more.  Research shows that reading improves mental well-being and it was against this background that, in 2011, The Reading Agency launched a promotion called ‘mind boosting books’.  Reading groups around the UK identified a range of books to include on a list of recommended reading aimed at people who may have experienced mental health issues including stress, anxiety or depression.

The 2011 campaign reached 50,000 people in library authorities, colleges, prisons and NHS trusts.

For the 2012 campaign (launching this month) The Reading Agency has partnered with Vintage, the publishers of Stop What You’re Doing and Read This which features essays from leading contemporary writers.  An additional 26 titles will be promoted during the campaign including classics such as The Secret Garden and The Pursuit of Love.  The full list includes fiction, non-fiction, poetry and graphic novels including titles for less confident readers.

The restorative power of reading (in whatever format) is well known to us all, of course and we all have our favourite mood-boosting books (let me nominate Three Men in a Boat as a book that always makes me laugh out loud although I am not sure that this qualifies it for inclusion on the list).  Any thoughts or suggestions for mood-boosting reading gratefully received!

Libraries – it’s all about reading, not books

By on November 7, 2011 in Post, Public Libraries

Reading has the power to connect people and to transform lives.  The UK charity the Reading Agency exists to help people feel confident and inspired about reading.  Speaking at Axiell’s Rethinking Libraries event, Miranda McKeaney (the Reading Agency’s Chief Executive) spoke about some of the Agency’s successes and challenges and shared some transferable ideas and lessons learned.

HAVE – AND BE ABLE TO ARTICULATE – A BIG PURPOSE

It is vital that you have a crystal clear and significant sense of purpose.   You must identify and be able to articulate exactly what it is that makes you/your service unique.  Do you have a ‘noble sense of purpose’?  Why do you exist?  With public libraries, a shared articulation can be difficult and it is important not to cling to the past.  Libraries exist to support reading, not books.

HAVE A BIG PICTURE

It is important to create a big picture – to think about the future and to begin to shape the future you want.  Part if this is identifying what trends are active and working to best thrive in the future  these trends are pointing to.

Some UK trends to pay attention to

  • The number of bookshops in the UK has halved in the past six years
  • Opportunities in combining ‘live’ experiences with digital
  • Offering live and social experiences
  • Digital book sales and loans
  • Take a lead in social issues  – e.g. articulate the social costs of low literacy levels; demonstrate the links between reading and good health

WIN BIG SUPPORTERS AND KEEP THEM HAPPY

It is critical to ensure that partnerships are balanced.  You must give your partners and supporters what they need – without compromising your own mission.  For example, when the Reading Agency began to develop partnerships with publishers, the outcome would be beneficial to both parties.  Public libraries gained access to the type of author events that were previously only available in bookstores.  Publishers were gaining access to new audiences and markets.

Finally, tough times should create a spirit of innovation.  We should not be afraid to dream or experiment.

HarperCollins, e-books and the echo chamber

By on March 9, 2011 in E-books, Public Libraries

Is there a plus side to the ongoing HarperCollins e-book controversy?

HarperCollins’ decision to limit public libraries to checking out an e-book 26 times before, as Phil Bradley puts it ‘it implodes on itself like a Mission Impossible cassette tape’, has caused a great deal of comment and complaint.  Phil Bradley has much to say about this ‘retrograde’ step on his own (not Cilip’s!) blog as do librarians and others around the world.  Some librarians are calling for a boycott of HarperCollins.  The Library Journal reports that some US library consortia are already boycotting the publisher. 

In fact, librarians’ ability to collaborate and comment using a full range of social media has meant that the debate has gone beyond the library ‘echo chamber’.  In the US, the story has been covered by ABC news as an e-book backlash led by librarians. 

Cory Doctorow, writing in the Guardian, calls the HarperCollins move indefensible.  He argues that it is bizarre to import ‘finite durability as a feature’. 

The coverage of the story shows that librarians can attract the attention of the mainstream media. 

You can follow the ongoing debate on Twitter (#HCOD).   HarperCollins’ explains its decision in an open letter to librarians on its blog.

Arts Council performs new role

By on December 9, 2010 in Public Libraries

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) is scheduled to be wound up by March 2012.   Some of its key responsibilities for libraries will be taken up by Arts Council England (ACE).

The Bookseller reports today that ACE has been tasked with the management of the Renaissance in the Regions programme (which supports regional museums) as well as the libraries improvement agenda.  MLA and ACE will collaborate on these programmes until March 2012.