by Sarah Houghton and Anthony Costa

Introduction

E-books are electronic versions of monographs that can be read on a personal computer, e-book reader, or other portable device. E-books are not new.  They’ve been in libraries for well over a decade.  But the introduction of e-audio and now e-video content is exapanding the possibilities.  The e-book market has taken off in the last couple of years due to a combination of factors: an influx of quality content into the library e-book market, the ability to download the content instead of reading it online, and an increase in the number of users with portable devices who want this downloadable content.  This has been followed by a small explosion of other e-content for libraries: e-audio and e-video.  As more content moves online for our users to access in the consumer market, the demand for the same content, accessible in the same way, will increase for libraries.

Benefits of eBooks

Current State of eBook Technology

Purchase Models

Major Vendors Who Deal With Libraries

Free eBooks

Digital Rights Management

Planning to Incorporate eBooks into Your Collection

Implementation of Best Practices

Beyond eBooks: eVideo, eMusic and eSoftware

Califa and Other Consortium: Shared Collections and Discount Programs

Resources for More Information

Questions, Answers and Comments