Despite the user-friendly devices and what they can offer from the e-book retailers, when it comes to the academic market, Amazon and B&N would do well to look at what the vendors and aggregators are doing if they wish to streamline their systems to work more closely in tandem with the systems already in place for libraries.

The digital age has complicated things, especially for libraries. Not only do patrons want traditional services, like books and reference materials, they want them digitally as well. That means libraries have been confronted with the challenge of how to lend e-books. But it's not an easy task and there are so many business models, so many physical readers to choose from, that picking the right one is the equivalent of playing a game of "Go Fish."

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Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, said at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in San Diego that his greatest fear is that "libraries would just become a customer service department for a few large corporations." Kahle spoke on a panel at a packed session on January 8 about the challenges ebooks present to libraries. But for many public librarians around the country, Kahle's fear has already been realized, at least in part, as they handle an onslaught of confused masses beseeching librarians to teach them how to use their newly purchased ereaders or tablet computers.

Computerworld reported that the total sales of eBook readers would reach 6.6 million devices by the end of 2010, with an estimated jump to 11 million in 2011 (in addition to devices such as the Apple iPad). The surge in eBook reader usage has pushed eBooks and your library as a source to the forefront. As your eBook provider, OverDrive has developed the following resources to assist staff in promoting eBooks from the library, and answering basic questions along the way.

As digital book publishing continues to expand at a rapid pace to meet reader demands, piracy rears its head at the forefront of many a discussion in publisher circles. Many publishers respond to the perceived threat with strict digital rights management (DRM) software. But is this the best solution? And does it even provide protection from piracy?

This post is basically a stream of consciousness outline of some of the concerns that have been swirling around in my head regarding eBooks. I am far from an ebook expert. I don't read contracts from vendors and I don't know the ins and outs of the ebook market, DRM, first sale doctrine, etc. I'm just someone in charge of collection development for our largest School who realizes how little most librarians know about what we're getting into with ebooks (me included) and who is really concerned about where things are going. If you want to hear about eBooks from people with deeper knowledge of the subject, here are a few people I can recommend: Sue Polanka, Jason Griffey, Eric Hellman and Tom Peters.

"The e-book thing isn't happening," Kahle, noted "it has happened." Kahle, who founded the Open Content Alliance, and Open Library project, a digitization program, offered a strong message to librarians: don't let a few powerful corporations take control of the digital future. He expressed his longstanding concern over Google's efforts to scan collections "and sell it back to us," and urged libraries not to give up their traditional roles. "What libraries do is buy stuff, and lend it out," he said, suggesting that libraries "digitize what we have to, and buy what we can," but not to let the promise of licensed access turn libraries into agents for a few major corporations. "We do so at our peril."