Don’t miss this article by Åke Nygren at InformationToday Europe:
http://www.InfoToday.eu/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=80411&PageNum=2
Åke explores how Stockholm Libraries are responding to e-book stagnation:
Since 2010 the Stockholm Public Libraries have been working hard at coming to grips with the conflict between a growing public demand for e-books and the devastatingly low percentage of e-books available in their stacks. The overall conclusion: instead of waiting for a print oriented publishing market, paralysed by its anxieties for possible loss of market shares, let’s get the job done ourselves!
Later:
The third step will be to explore the potential with EPUB 3, an open format that has the potential to move e-reading from a disclosed and lonely activity towards an open, creative and social experience.
In brief, Stockholm Public Libraries response to e-book stagnation is to:
- Cooperate: we can’t do it on our own, let’s find strategic partnerships, for e-book openness and innovation.
- Digitise: let’s not just sit and wait. If nobody else seems keen on digitising, well, then we do it ourselves.
- Integrate: making literature accessible for everybody in 2012 is not just about digitisation, it’s also a question of packaging and integration of the content in user friendly and flexible user interfaces.
- Engage: let’s explore the potential of co-creating new content together with the users of today: the prosumers.