26/06/22 Essex County Council 1 If Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Do Public Librarians Dream of Electronic Books: E-books in Essex Martin Palmer, Strategic Manager: Transformation & Resources, Essex County Council Linda Berube Co-East, Regional Manager
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07/04/23 Essex County Council1
If Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Do Public Librarians Dream of Electronic Books: E-books in
Essex
Martin Palmer, Strategic Manager: Transformation & Resources, Essex
County Council
Linda Berube
Co-East, Regional Manager
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E-Books and Essex: presentation overview
Regional context Project summary Procurement and implementation Sample searches Preliminary findings and recommendations Inspiration for the future…
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The East of England Context: The Co-east Partnership
Consortium including all library authorities in the East of England: Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough; Hertfordshire, Thurrock, Bedfordshire, Luton, Southend-on-Sea
Resource discovery and sharing using Z39.50 and ISO/ILL protocols Joint e-procurement New partners, from other library sectors, through Co-East Plus Managing of national and regional services - Ask A Librarian, Familia, transport Fostering partnerships through regional and national working groups: MLAC;
Feasibility/proof-of-concept/live service delivery E-books accessible via PC or mobile
technology… E-book formats: Palm, Adobe 6, MobiPocket… Distributed to special user groups: mobile
library users; housebound; day care centres; etc
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E-valuation…
Evaluation Methodology: Evaluating collection usage during the nine
month period Evaluating user perceptions of the ebook
collections(PC-based) and mobile technology Evaluating professional perceptions of the e-
book collections.
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Some tasks we set ourselves
Orientation for staff Regular meetings with library staff Recruiting volunteers Training guides Paper and online questionnaires User and staff evaluation Publicity programme Progress reports
Some questions we had at the start of the project…
What demand was there? None that we were aware of…
What content was there? Fiction? Non-fiction? Anything for the general reader? Anything for children?
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Some more questions…
What was the best format? Don’t know, but there were lots to choose
from…
What kind of hardware? Dedicated e-book readers… PCs PDAs
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And even more questions…
What kind of supply model? Traditional –
Select individual titles? One copy lent to one person at a time
Newer - Buy collection(s)?
Simultaneous multiple access: entire collection always available
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And…
Who were the suppliers? Net Library Ebrary Safari Gale Overdrive…..
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Some answers…
Were provided by the project itself Target audiences to include
Housebound people Mobile library users Visually impaired people
So: Hardware had to include
Handheld device
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Handheld device…
Dedicated ebook reader? No longer available… No longer desirable!
So - PDAs – but what type? Palm Pocket PC/Compaq Ipaq Sony Zire
etc etc
Chose Ipaq 1910 – Screen size/price…
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Content for PDAs
Formats – Palm Reader, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Reader… etc
Supplier – Overdrive, in Cleveland Ohio Wide range of titles in Palm and Adobe
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Ebooks and PDAs
Bought 250 titles, accessible via website Also accessible via library catalogue
record… Mainly Fiction in Palm, Non-fiction in
Adobe- initially… Traditional model – 21day loan
(but no fines…)
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E-Books and PCs
Ebrary –
Accessible via People’s Network PCs, and remotely from home…
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E-books and PCs
Buy whole collection(s)
Public Library “General Interest”
2500 + titles – mainly nonfictio
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There have been 52 separate book titles downloaded in the period 010104 – 210404. The desriptor above of 4 titles represents the ‘titles’ of the categories above I.e the month headings.
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The users speak (the good)
"The ebook site is wonderful: It's what the Internet was invented for..." recommending it to all my friends, and a neighbour - who is blind - has just started to use ebooks as a result
I enjoyed the experience, and I feel with time I could get more used to the experience
Useful to take on holiday or even private study when a paper book is less easy to cope with.
I think they might be useful for people who travel a lot or have problems holding a book
Ease of transport. I seem to spend a lot of time waiting in hospitals or travelling
Can be used anywhere; takes up a small space in bags etc if travelling
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The users speak (the bad)
A fairly long learning curve to concentrate on small page size. However, after this period I found it easy
Printed paper books are visually better (palm being closest software to book), but iPAQ is good enough in the light of added portability
It seems to be for quick, casual reading only. It is difficult to "lose yourself in a book" I was very aware of my surroundings, and the people near me.
It is a completely difference concept. Would appeal more to young people, though might help elderly who cannot hold a large book (probably too small though).
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The users speak (the ugly)
I read quickly and was irritated by the flicker of moving the small pages on. Not easy to check back when I want to. I found it very irritating
The iPAQ is a much less enjoyable reading experience. The 'page-size' is too small. The iPAQ imposes it's pressure on the experience in a way that the paper book does not
Feel-look-texture-look of a library. Books more personal - just more technology, not as interesting as a book can be - older appreciate a book. Think it puts you off reading. Long term eyesight effects? Would turn us off reading. Not clear how we buy. How we get books - costs?
Cost and browser use. End of libraries such as Loughton and Debden
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And the very polite…
It was very good to try it out but I feel it is just not for me. I lost the story and could not get it back, and it needed charging halfway through. But thank you I will stick to paperbacks
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What we now know
Demand clearly exists
Content increasing daily – now over 1 million copyrighted e-books
Technology growing and improving
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What we liked
Portability, via PDAs (or tablets…) Change font size, so every title can be
large print Access, 24/7 remotely “Read Aloud” in some formats Search whole text “Added extras”, like DVDs…
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Our concerns
Collections: Availability of Content Fiction vs Non-fiction Fewer (one?) formats “Not every print book makes a good e-
book…eg cookery…” Wider range of pricing/supply models?
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More concerns…
Technology (implementation and use of mobile technology):