Guide to E-Books: A PLA Webinar Series by Tamera Erickson/Jackson County Library

This webinar featured four weekly webinars (Oct. 25 through Nov. 15) and offered a practical approach to integrating e-books, e-readers and related e-materials into public library collections.

Webinar One: Intro to E-Books

The first webinar in the series introduced participants to the e-book and e-reader market with a look at the devices, including the Kindle, Nook, and iPad. Each device is different and designed around strategies of the company that created them. It was stressed that library staff needs to know how to use the devices and how to download e-books. It is important for libraries to have an e-book strategy that includes training staff and patrons. The presenters encouraged libraries to purchase devices to give staff the opportunity to use different devices during work time. These same devices can also be used for patron training.

Webinar Two: Laying the Groundwork for a Successful E-Book Collection

The second webinar covered licensing e-materials, and how this represents a change from buying and owning physical books. The vendor panel consisted of Overdrive, 3M Cloud Library and EBSCO. Each company gave details of options for leasing or owning a collection of e-books.

Webinar Three: Powering Up Your E-Book Program

The third webinar in the series demonstrated different approaches to adding e-books and e-readers to library collections of all sizes.

The Smithton Public Library cut its audio budget in half to fund e-books. They purchased two Nook Classics to circulate and had 50 holds right away. Patrons can pull from any library in the state to provide a large selection for patrons. Many patrons start out by checking out the e-readers to see if they wanted to buy one. Color Nooks have been added for children's books and periodicals per patron request.

The Boone County Public Library trained the staff by having them take home a Nook, Kindle, and Sony e-reader to learn how to use them. They loaded all with free e-books. Once the staff felt comfortable with the devices, they circulated them and had patrons fill out a survey when the device was returned. Fifteen additional Nooks were purchased based on the results of the survey.

Sacramento Public Library and Pikes Peak Library District added e-books and e-readers to their library collections in much the same way as the smaller libraries but on a larger scale. They both started by purchasing e-readers for staff to learn on. Both libraries primarily purchased the Nook Classic based on patron surveys. They loaded some e-readers with bestsellers and some by genre. When upgrading e-readers they repurpose the older ones for book discussion groups. Neither library has had any problems with devices getting stolen or damaged.

Training programs for staff and patrons are essential for the success of an e-book program.

Webinar Four: Strategies for Sustaining Your Library's E-Book Program

The final webinar in the series explored strategic planning in adding e-books, as well as project management fundamentals to ensure a good start as well as sustainable effort. Trustees, boards and library staff must be supportive of the effort. A sample strategy might look like this.

1) Investigate vendor options
2) Understand connections to ILS
3) Select titles
4) Determine circulation policies
5) Configure and test
6) Train and educate staff
7) Train and circulate to patrons

Create a timeline for each step of the strategy.

Do not start the project with money as an objective. Start with what people want. Funding can come from many sources. The project must be promoted to get public support. Get ideas from e-book readers and find out what they want.

To make your project successful, training staff and patrons is essential. Libraries of all sizes are struggling to understand the nature of e-books and why they are important to add to the library collection. E-books are here to stay and people are turning to the library for answers. The webinar Public Librarian's Guide to E-books was a great starting point for understanding how to implement an e-book program.  Tamera Erickson/Jackson County Library