Al Carlson from Tampa Bay Library Consortium and Chad Mairn from St. Petersburg College co-presented in this good basic overview of the ebook landscape which, for those already familiar with the landscape, was made worthwhile by an energetic pace and a call to action to save the place of the library and improve the lives of our patrons in a world that is going digital.
A key concern that they voiced was that the rate at which people are adopting new technologies is accelerating and that this is likely to happen with the move from the codex to electronic books and readers. Currently libraries are not in control of their own destinies in the world of electronic books and competing DRM schemes and formats. The attendees were challenged to:
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Create open source software that enables a library to store and check out books without Overdrive.
Devise a purchasing plan that creates a win for the whole revenue stream
Find out and share the true cost of publishing a book in hard copy vs. publishing that same book and an eBook to create bargaining tools in negotiating with publishers
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