As all of our members are working with their library communities that are increasingly becoming remote from the building – but still need library service! Ebooks seem like a natural fit to help this process; but there are all kinds of difficulties in adding to an ebook collection, including increased cost and not actually owning the book.

Check out this article from School Library Journal with some information about eBooks, to help you to make good decisions for your library:

The Ins and Outs of Buying Ebooks: How To Bolster Virtual Collections During the Pandemic

“Since school closures began in March, ebook checkouts and digital collection use have soared. OverDrive, one of the leading ebook distributors, reported that over 100 libraries had reached a million or more digital checkouts in 2020 as of July, while issuing more than 300,000 digital library cards from March to June. Libraries around the world quickly shifted resources toward ebooks in response to losing access to physical collections. It remains to be seen whether this is a short-term solution or the start of a change in collection development, but now librarians have found themselves in a difficult situation. Those who hadn’t invested before the pandemic were suddenly asked to build and promote e-collections with little time and money—leading librarians like St. Aubyn to dip into their print budgets.

“Up until this year, I was probably spending an average of about $1,000 on my ebook collection because I was still buying a number of print novels,” St. Aubyn says. “But when the pandemic hit, I ended up spending most of my print budget that I had left on ebooks.”

With its noteworthy benefits and significant drawbacks, acquiring and distributing ebooks can be a flawed and complicated business. The learning curve can be steep and the barrier of entry high. However, librarians are seeing this moment as a time to learn about the market and shape a digital collection that meets the needs of communities that may otherwise go without learning materials.

To help meet the needs of librarians, educators, families, and students, many ebook publishers and distributors offered free collection bundles for a limited time. Follett offered its Pre-K–12 ebook platform Lightbox, ABDO educational publisher provided its digital products, Mackin Educational Resources made more than 1,500 ebooks available, while OverDrive was sharing its student reading app, Sora, to name a few examples. The plethora of free ebook options filled library digital collections in a pinch. But many free services have expired, despite the hundreds of schools still remote learning or limiting on-campus activity.

Now, librarians are left with a tough decision: Do they continue with a paid ebook service?”

Read the rest of this article here!