American libraries promote e-books to attract readers

Kate Lambert, a 19-year-old university student in New Rich, Florida, has previously visited only one or two public libraries. Since this year, Lambert has been using the library's new E-book lending service to become a "regular" library.

Many public libraries in the United States have started to "move" books from bookshelves to Web servers to attract more readers.

Electronic reading is popular with young people

About 5,400 American public libraries have launched e-books and digital audio reading downloads, the New York Times reported 15th.

An ebook is only available for one download at a time. Downloading some of the most popular readings requires waiting online. Downloads are automatically removed from reader computers or http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/34488.html "> E-book readers" at the end of the lending period.

"The library in people's minds is still a picture of the books being shelved and dusty." We have to break this idea. Michael Colford, head of information technology at Boston Public Library, told the New York Times, "If we don't offer e-books, people will probably stop using the library later." ”

The company says it has more than 1 million e-books for public libraries this year, compared with just 610,000 in 2007. Another E-book provider, the Internet library, says that over the past year, books and digital audio books have increased by 21%. Paul Le Clerc, curator of the New York Public Library, said: "Young people are accustomed to reading online and readers will switch from paper reading to electronic reading." ”

The obstacles to popularizing the digital way of borrowing

The collection of electronic books in the library is still less than paper reading. The New York Public Library has about 18,300 E-books, but the paper books reach 860,000 books. Less than 1% of the books purchased in the library are used to buy electronic books.

The Brooklyn Public Library has 3 electronic bestseller "Lost Symbols" and 526 copies of print editions. At this stage, 8 readers wait for the electronic version, 715 readers waiting to borrow the printed version.

The New York Times reporter found that many readers have not yet known that they can download e-books from the library website. There are some obstacles to popularizing the digital way of borrowing. Most of the library's electronic books need to be downloaded to a handful of mobile devices or computers produced by Sony, Japan, to read. In addition, the pricing method makes the electronic books by some libraries cold shoulder. Publishers charge the same fees for library purchases of electronic and printed books, but use the Internet to sell electronic books to readers at discounted prices.

Text/European SA (Xinhua News feature)

(Source: Beijing Youth Daily)