Going Green Two Sides Fast Fast #22
WhatTheyThink’s Going Green has joined forces with Two Sides to help address the “perceptions” that paper destroys forests, that electronic media are “greener” than print and paper, and that recycling is the solution to all environmental ills.
In a study conducted last year by Library Journal, “66% of public libraries reported a steep increase in ebook requests, and 82% now offer them.”
Why should you care?
First of all, full disclosure: I worked on the studies (which also included academic and school libraries, as well as public libraries) with LJ and as I write this I am also beavering away on the third annual study of ebook penetration in libraries. I am not at liberty to share any of the latest data, at least not just yet, but libraries are really fighting a number of battles, from trying to serve library users that really want to read ebooks, to dealing with dwindling budgets, to fighting with publishers and other ebook vendors who seem to go out of their way to make life exceedingly difficult—and needlessly expensive—for libraries. One of the potential consequences of libraries increasing their offering of ebooks is that libraries are in fact reallocating funds from print materials in order to meet this demand. Even though many libraries still make the distinction between “real books” and “ebooks” (I have myself sworn off commercial ebooks out of frustration with publishers and ebooksellers), they have to meet the demand of library patrons.
The shift toward ebooks—assuming it isn’t simply a novelty that will wear off in a few years, which I unfortunately doubt that it is—is happening not out of any environmental concern, but simply because people like the ebook experience, despite everything publishers are doing to ruin that experience. This comes back to my perennial “every medium is a choice based on personal preference” refrain. If the masses choose ebooks over print books, I guess we had better work hard to stock up on print editions, lest all of literature vanish down a rabbit hole of DRM never to be conveniently read by anyone ever again.
From Internet
