04WWW.IWR.CO.UK/OPINION
EDITOR’S
E-book market bites
VIEW
itself in the tail
Librarians want to buy e-books, but they don’t
always like how they are sold
The Web 2.0 gurus within
No one in this industry can be unaware of the rise of
social media in 2009. Twitter has become the most talked
E
-books are everywhere at the purchase of predefined collections; the
moment, not only because more latter is still the dominant purchase
and more content is being model for e-book content. The
about internet phenomenon in the second half of this published in this new format but economic crisis and the adoption of e-
decade and could take its place alongside Google as being
because everyone seems to be talking books by smaller libraries will probably
intrinsically associated with the digital era.
about them. Discussions and debates serve as accelerators to the growing
But social media is more than just technology; it is also
on e-books are regularly taking place popularity of the pick and choose
throughout the industry, from trade model. The problem is that the
about combining social interaction and content creation
shows to list-serves, and while the collection development process for
using collective human intelligence in the spirit of online rapid uptake of the format has individual titles lacks simplicity,
collaboration. Consequently, according to the proponents,
surprised many, the number of articles although that should act as another
the impact of professional networks will change the actual
relating to e-books appearing in impetus to growth in the e-books
structure of corporate strategy.
publications like IWR is testament to market.
the format’s progress. Few librarians would argue there is
But if you buy this bit of scenario planning, the actual
To gain a better understanding of e- no place for e-books within their
how and when are still far from clear. Corporates are book market dynamics, Swets future library. Although this need
genuinely bemused about what to do next – and who can
blame them? By the time they’ve worked out a strategy
and response, the game has changed. Much corporate
It’s clear that e-books bring a level of
use of Twitter is plain embarrassing, with marketing
complexity previously unheard of in the
departments simply churning out cheesy promotions that
book world
must surely make most Tweeters cringe. For many
organisations the best hope for making any sort of
progress is to turn to their information professionals to act
conducted a survey of more than might not have become manifest for all
1,000 customers from around the libraries, the librarians’ demand for e-
as a lynchpin between business strategy and social media.
world earlier this year. Although the books is clearly there. But the Swets
In response, the profession needs to be aware of both the response revealed that e-books survey shows that librarians have
business drivers and the technological possibilities in order
currently account for only a small part presented an implicit challenge to the
to be sensible and useful.
of the total budget spend, at about e-book industry, which is to make the
9%, many libraries expect their selection, acquisition and management
expenditure on e-books to more than of e-books as easy as possible.
The need for a deal
double in the near future. The e-book is still a new format, but
A read of IRN’s Global Market Data Industry will give
That said, our survey highlighted a it is winning a foothold within our
information professionals a good sense of the impact of
number of challenges, particularly industry and proving itself to be much
relating to the selection and more than a buzz topic for industry
the recession on their sector. Sure, the report refers to a
acquisition of content, that need to be commentators. As e-book suppliers
very specialised product: the demand for real-time, ironed out if the format is to reach its and vendors seriously address these
historical and reference data on traded securities and
full potential. issues, the viability of the
commodities – in other words, niche information central
It’s clear that e-books bring a level of electronic format for
to the performance of the financial markets which over the
complexity previously unheard of in academic libraries
the book world. It means librarians in particular
last 18 months have come near to collapse on more than
have to compare the offerings of seems more
one occasion. several suppliers with the same assured. Swets
Indeed, the information providers seem to have escaped
content (publisher vs for one will
relatively unscathed. The market in 2008 was still worth a
aggregators) under a growing play its part in
tidy $15.45bn even after a decline of 1.7%, with a similar
range of purchase options and addressing this
widely varying licence challenge. a73
level of retrenchment expected in 2009. Not devastating
requirements. Having choice is Maxim van
downturns, certainly, but still a move in the wrong good for the customer, but it now Gisbergen
direction. It seems that along with many others, the
seems to result in longer decision- is product
information industry needs the bankers to restart lending
making processes, which can become manager at
money and doing deals.
a barrier to rapid market growth. Swets
Customer feedback also
clearly shows that
It’s a Christmas wrap
more and more
IWR would like to wish all its advertisers and readers a
librarians
prefer title-by-
happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. The next
title selection
issue is February 2010. Until then, keep up to date with all over the
the latest news on
www.iwr.co.uk
Peter Williams
van Gisbergen:
a160 Make buying
e-books easier.
INFORMATION WORLD REVIEW DECEMBER 2009/JANUARY 2010 WWW.IWR.CO.UK
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