By Michelle Mears
Rolling Hills Library Director
In 2024 by all measures, checkout of digital items from public libraries reached record levels. Remote usage of library collections took a big leap in 2020 during the pandemic and have been increasing 15-20% each year since. In the most recent fiscal year, Rolling Hills Library users checked out 64,135 digital items, which was 17% of the total circulation of items.
Our patrons still love their printed books, but digital is catching up quickly. So far this year, usage of print items is down 8% while digital checkouts are up 20%.
What are e-books?
E-books have been around for more than 25 years in public libraries. E-book is a generic term that refers to electronic copies of print materials and includes digital audio (e-audio) and e-magazines. If you like to read words on a page, an e-book will recreate that setup with a layout on the screen device of your choice where you read from top to bottom and turn simulated pages.
E-audio is slightly different in that you don’t have to be able to read it off the screen but access files that play on your mobile device or connect through Bluetooth or other means to your car, your stereo or even your television. Usage of e-audio has been growing at the fastest rate of all types of digital checkouts and only looks to get bigger as time goes on.
You also can view or listen to e-books on your mobile phone. For those who like to read words on a page, a tablet is usually more comfortable with a screen about the size of a hardcover book. Some people have a dedicated e-book device, like a Kindle from Amazon where all it does is store and show e-books. Others use iPads or Samsung tablets to read or listen to e-books.
So many choices
We wish it was easier for library users to get e-books, but part of what the publishing industry wants to do is create “friction” in the process. If it was too easy, they speculate, no one would ever buy their own copy of a book. We know this is not true. Access to library books, both print and digital, drives sales of books because people discover new authors and series and then buy them for themselves.
For the most part, we follow the same process in the digital world that we do in print, which is called “one copy, one user.” Each person can only use one digital copy of an e-book at a time, as if it was a physical item. When your checkout period is over, it moves on to the next person or just becomes available again.
Rolling Hills Library has many vendors for e-books and e-audio. The main resources or apps are Libby, Boundless, and Hoopla. Each of these are listed on our website, and the titles available are also listed in our online catalog.
Libby is used by MoLib2Go, a shared collection from 118 Missouri libraries with the most titles, but wait times are longer. Boundless is a group of 20 northern Missouri libraries that have a smaller collection of more popular items, and its wait times are shorter.
Hoopla has the most variety of items and includes streaming video and digital magazines. This collection is different in that there are no wait times, Everyone who wants to read, listen to, or watch an item can do so because the library has to pay per usage. There are lower monthly limits on Hoopla to keep the library’s costs down.
We also have other e-book resources, including Tumblebooks, AudioBookCloud, TeenBookCloud, and Flipster. You can get electronic copies of magazines on Libby or Flipster, including popular titles like People, Midwest Living, and Atlantic Monthly. Some of our vendors offer access that requires a live internet connection to read or listen to, like the BookCloud sites. Tumblebooks is also available at school districts within our library boundaries so teachers can play picture books that are read aloud with animation.
If you aren’t really a “reader” that’s OK, we still have items for you too.
Our newest service with an app is Freegal, where you can stream three hours of music a day and download three free songs per week. You also can get music on Hoopla. Or for those of you who like to binge watch, you can stream films, concerts, and educational videos from Stingray Qello, IndieFlix, or The Great Courses with a 7-day pass you get from the Libby app.
Accessibility rocks!
One of the best things about digital access is that there are features that make the experience more adaptable for different users. You can often change the size of type, the screen brightness, or other features to make reading more comfortable.
E-books and e-audio are great for travel, because you can “carry” multiple titles on the same devices you were planning to bring anyway, like your smartphone or tablet. E-audio is also good for working in the garden or walking the dog.
If you need help getting started with e-books, make a one-on-one appointment with our library staff to learn how to use your specific device. Download the apps needed or visit our website at https://rhcl.org for more information.
Digital is here to stay
Don’t you love when a story starts with, “back in the day…?” Well, some of us remember when it was high tech stuff for libraries to have record albums for checkout. Then it went to cassettes, CDs, and now downloadable audio.
Digital isn’t just another format waiting to be replaced by something more advanced. This is the future of library access, especially for popular materials. Digital files do not wear out or fall apart. No one can tear a page out of an e-book or spill coffee on one.
The only fly in the ointment is that licensing terms mean libraries pay more for e-books than consumers do, and we can only buy access for a limited period of time -- and that’s not right. Bigger chunks of our library budget are spent on buying the same e-books over and over again, not because they are broken but because they have expired and are still in high demand.
If you have not tried an e-book, give it a whirl. You might be surprised at how far technology has come. But remember, you can always check out books and videos in person at any of our branches.
