What people need to keep in mind with checking out ebooks is that sure a book might not be available immediately, but there is the option to put a book on hold just as though you were at your local library and the book you wanted was already checked out. The great thing with putting an ebook on hold is that you don’t have to trek down to the library to check out the book. You just log onto your ebook account on your ereader device and check out the book.
Ereaders many times are much smaller than physical books, which makes reading ebooks on them more convenient and more portable than reading an actual book. Sure there are publishers out there that don’t want to make their publications available in electronic format to libraries, but I believe the tide will shift when there are a limited number of people buying their books.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll notice that the bricks and mortar chain bookstore is a dying breed. Where will authors go to promote their latest release? What about new authors? How will their books be promoted? The local library is the answer. Publishers will be forced by market demands to sell electronic versions of their books to libraries to avoid going out of business.
I see many people around me reading ebooks, so it’s unbelievable to me that those people make up the 12% who read ebooks, that they’re part of the 20% reading ebooks, or that they’re the 40% who are aware that their local library offers ebooks.
Sure there is the fact that libraries’ ebook selections aren’t that varied, and this will depend on the community where the library is located. There’s also the instant gratification factor in being able to check out an ebook instantly or having to first put it on hold verses purchasing an ebook from an online company such as Amazon.com. My feeling on instant gratification is that it’s a futile and pointless objective to strive for.
Eventually printed books will fade from existence as publishing companies go under and authors either publish their works themselves electronically or their literary agents take over the electronic publishing for their clients.
