We built it, and you came. You came to explore the issues surrounding the rapid adoption of ebooks, the response of libraries today, and the potential impacts on libraries in the future. Over 2000 participants made the daylong programming at the LJ/SLJ Virtual Ebook Summit, September 29, a robust conversation and not just within the summit interface but also in tweets with the #ebooksummit hashtag (and beyond) and in libraries across the country where you logged in to take part.

We discovered many major themes, many innovative voices, and much work to be done. Some things were re­inforced: that there is a digital divide in the culture at large and in libraries themselves that means that libraries at all points in the continuum need support and dialog, from innovators calling for the creation of librarycentric models built by librarians to the many front-line librarians just starting to explore how to manage ebooks for their patrons.

Some insights ignited alarms: that most publishers and librarians are not yet at the same table, putting at risk the future of the sharing of stories of all shapes and sizes as the business models embrace, or reject, the values that the public library brings to the culture.

Participants left reflecting on where libraries fit and how to bridge the divide. “While I’m in favor of many of the ideas that were put forward (creating platforms for community-generated information and creative output, etc.), I don’t think we should be too quick to cede our role (valuable provider of books/ebooks to citizens) to market forces that could leave out broad swaths of our communities and leave even middle-class readers hard-pressed to afford their reading habits,” noted participant Laura Lent in response to the postsummit editorial “Dear Publisher” (LJ 10/15/10, p. 8).

As a result, we are more alert than ever to the opportunities and problems inherent in this transition and the necessity for real solutions and better tools for their management. Hardly a culmination, this ebook summit was just the first national conversation we intend to drive about this technology. (Save the date: April 27, 2011, for Summit 2.)

Below we have captured just a smattering of the discoveries, insights, and voices of the day. To dive in further, explore the archive of the Ebook Summit through December 31, 2010, at ebook-summit.com, and stay tuned for more coverage to come.—The Editors

We Need To Talk: Librarians and Publishers

"We’re all learning to work in a whole new dimension—if publishers can now put a dollar value on things like discovery and influence, surely they can take the next step and learn how to apply those concepts to working with libraries. And, librarians: create your platform, bring in your community, but don’t give up yet on the publishing industry!"—Independent publishing consultant Emily Williams blogging in "If Libraries Are Screwed, So Are the Rest of Us," Digital Book World, October 15, 2010"

"Libraries have to keep carving out their niche, but that’s better than waiting to see what publishers and Amazon decide for us."—Ebook Summit participant Kate Sheehan blogging in ALA TechSource, October 12, 2010

Patron-Driven Acquisitions vs. Ebook Bundles

Two major ebook buying models for academic libraries came out on top: Popular with patrons and end users alike, patron-driven acquisition has proven extremely appealing to academic libraries. Under this model, bib records of potential purchases are loaded into the catalog, but titles aren’t actually purchased until they’ve been used for a certain period of time. That essentially means no more titles that never circulate. Starting soon, look for some aggregators to experiment with this model on the public library side as well.

With bundled collections, users likewise have instant access to a wide variety of materials. The library’s subscription prepays for broad subject access rather than title-by-title acquisition, and the per title cost is lower.This can be a useful model for offering materials that age quickly, like those in science, technology, and medical areas. But look for more and more subject areas and genres to be covered by ebook bundle collections as well.

Can Libraries Keep Up?

Ebook adoption in libraries will be rapid.

Demand will skyrocket as prices for readers drop.

Our Big Problem Is Still Our Big Problem

"Why DRM Doesn’t Work" cartoon from Brad Colbow (used by Aaron Schmidt)

A Persistent Digital Divide

How do we serve our patrons on the ‘wrong’ side of the digital divide if the midlist goes digital & copyright/DRM does not change?"—panelist Katie Dunneback

hbraum (2of2) how are they going to access/use the electronic content? #ebooksummit

What Do We Need To Do?

Design the appropriate speedbumps for digital content (panelist Josh Greenberg)

Master connection management over collection management (keynoter R. David Lankes)

8 Things...

"That can’t be copied and thus become valuable"— keynoter Kevin Kelly

An Ebook Divide Splits Libraryland

"What I need is a plan for getting the most ebooks into the devices in the hands of the people of Henrico County. They aren’t concerned with what the future of the ebook will be and how it will be able to create wonderful connections to information they didn’t know existed. They want the latest James Patterson or (insert author’s name here) book. They want it now. They want it tomorrow. That’s what they want.

...I like imagining what may be and thinking 5-10-20 years down the road. I really do. But my boss needs a plan for now. I guess I’ll be working on that for a while." —participant Matt Phillips in "My Take on the Ebook Summit—Part 3, Oct. 1, 2010, matt-phillips.com

With Google Books, It’s a Question of Trust

Up to 15% of what Google scans can be excluded from the Google Books library collection at their discretion." —Ebook Summit participant/Twitterer @TheLib

"It is true that under the settlement if approved…rights holders would have some right to remove their books."—Google Books Project panelist Ivy Anderson, director of collection development and management, California Digital Library

"It’s a tug between trust and power, and who has the trust, and who has the power." —Google Books Project panelist Karen Coyle, digital library technology consultant

What Is a Library in the Ebook Era?

A kitchen not a grocery store (from panelist Aaron Schmidt)

A collaborator not collector (panelist Jean Costello)

Prioritize Today’s End User

Panelist Barbara Fister, reflecting on the Ebook Summit in her Peer to Peer Review column in LJ Academic Newswire (9/30/10), related what happened when she asked a techie student about ebooks:

He made a face. "Too many devices and formats to support?" I asked.
Matt nodded politely, but that wasn’t the problem; platforms and formats were no biggie to him; it was the books. He wanted to be able to highlight things, he told me, and scribble notes in the margins and share his books. He wanted to do all those things easily while studying and while analyzing texts in class next to other students, and you couldn’t do any of those things nearly as easily with digital texts. But it wasn’t just convenience he was talking about. He frowned and thought for a minute before he could find the words for it. "I want to be able to hold it in my hands, you know?"

This moment of Zen, brought to you by a tech-savvy young student, the demographic that was constantly invoked while imagining the future during the Summit, the future library user who supposedly is way past the boring old codex and is going to abandon libraries if we don’t hurry up and get digital. He wants to interact with books, just as Kevin Kelly predicted, but ebooks don’t let him do that. And there’s something solid and connected about interacting with a text that won’t change, that you can actually touch, that you can act on without worrying how it’s acting on its own.

Of all the pronouncements I heard yesterday, I think I’m most likely to remember that short conversation before Matt turned the computer over to me and said, "Okay, you’re good to go."
As we talk about the digital future at my library, I’m going to take his technical preferences and needs to heart, and I’m going to talk to as many students as I can, not just rely on the visionary oracles. After all, he was there for me when I needed his expertise, and he knows his technology.

Top Tweets

TAC_NISO: Singer - Main reasons why circulation isn’t growing faster is that users don’t know ebooks are available in all library tyepes #ebooksummit

activitystory: #ebooksummit never expect a futurist to arrive on time.

libraryladyjane: RT @mattrweaver: libraries: become platform for unique experiences and content or become the “library memorial” #ebooksummit

bluepinegrove: Library staff is becoming geek squad due to e-content usage. #ebooksummit

dgolson: Eli Nieberger: libraries must invent a platform for unique content and experience within the community. #ebooksummit

gershbec: We still circulate an awful lot of books. More than ever. DVDs and CDs through the library are gonna die awfully soon though. #ebooksummit

kishizuka: Patrons DO care about public domain content, says @griffey #ebooksummit

tinfoilraccoon: My patrons want the same titles in ebooks as they can get from the new arrivals shelves. They’ll wait a bit, too. #ebooksummit #notmobydick

LibrarianJP: I have Oliver Twist in my eReader. Can someone let him out? #ebookjokes #ebooksummit

bookletting: Just left #ebooksummit for RA desk and the 1st patron Q is “do you have ebooks for my iPad?”

fbaerkir: #ebooksummit If only there were some kind of nat’l group that could coordinate efforts to preserve our rights - like an assoc. or something

LibrarianJP: One last serious note, #ebooksummit #ebookwhatif ppl stopped complaining about what ALA DOESN’T do, GOT INVOLVED, & DID it? #makeithappen

library_along: Show our passion for knowledge! Not just for books! The most innovative thing to come out of libraries is #librarians! #ebooksummit