Book Review: The E-book Revolution: A Primer for Librarians on the Front Lines

Abstract

E-book Revolution: A Primer for Librarians on Front Lines. By Kate Sheehan. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2013. 146 p. $50 paperback (ISBN: 978-1-61069-183-3). e-book Revolution: A Primer for Librarians on Front Lines provides a 360-degree panorama of ever-changing e-book landscape. Its author, Kate Sheehan, composes a section for each of the picture issues around starting with those related to hardware, formats, distribution, and access, then addressing concerns directly related to libraries, like pricing and lending (xi). final part of book considers position of libraries in e-book landscape and unique horizon ahead for them. Mthough text's primary focus is to help public librarians grasp many issues surrounding e-books, chapters titled Readers, Problem Solvers, and Scenarios for Future paint an inspiring portrait of library's role in digital age and are worth reading for anyone interested in future of librarianship. In opening paragraphs, Sheehan addresses million-dollar question: Will e-books replace print texts? She uses an apt comparison with radio and television to show e-books are not completely replacing print. Part of reason for limited influence of e-books, Sheehan points out, is hardware and format wars. Much of chapter 1 provides baseline information about various e-reader devices and their many proprietary software formats. As Sheehan insinuates, a large problem in industry, ironically, is that universal format, EPUB, plays on every reading device except most popular, Amazon's Kindle (7). Chapter 2, cleverly titled The Rules of Road, begins text's attempt to navigate readers through winding roads of e-book ownership, distribution, and publishing. Here Sheehan quickly looks at digital rights management, copyright, and first-sale doctrine and their effect on traditional library lending practices. Just as slow-moving vehicle sign is unfamiliar to a city driver, e-book acquisition is new to libraries. According to Sheehan, The current e-book market requires us not only to purchase books that aren't objects, but to purchase books we may not own (23). sections that follow present an even more confusing image for libraries, one that makes determining who reads, sells, and purchases e-books akin to negotiating a four-way stop when all ears arrive simultaneously. Chapter 3 examines data about e-book reader habits from Pew's Internet & American Life Project and briefly delves into what e-book vendors sell to public, academic, and school libraries. Chapter 4 explores big six' publishers--HarperCollins, Penguin, Macmillan, Random House, Simon and Schuster, and Hachette--their history with e-books, whether they supply to libraries, and how they price their digital editions. …