Need
teaching component around e-books,” said Ross, who says it takes almost 30 minutes per person to answer e-readers' questions.
books
remains for classic
on paper
Internet computers, which was down to 23,772 in 2012, about a 10 per cent decrease. Despite the decrease, Ross says the high numbers still show a need for libraries to help ensure people are not left behind.
“Medicine Hat is a city with low educational attainment . . . there are still people who don’t have the education to use technology,” she said.
The library has also recorded an increase in the use of its internet services, which Ross attributes mainly to the rise of e-readers. Despite the increase in people using their own devices, Ross says they cannot quit supporting the technology in the library.
“We still have a lot of people who don’t have computers or Internet at home, who can’t maintain them, or just like to be in the library where they want to get help,” she said.
Ross says as a result of the lower educational attainment, libraries may be slower in adopting the latest technology.
“We have to have a lot of people to teach people how to use all the different devices, databases and products, and we have to have people to make sure the databases are in place,” she said.
Funding is always an issue for libraries to keep up with technology, either to buy, maintain or make sure they can still offer it. In April of 2012, the Federal government stopped funding the Community Access Program, which helped provide free or low-cost Internet to libraries across Canada, the Medicine Hat Library included. Ross says the library tried to apply for Federal funding for its
training room, but were not successful. The funding would have been used to help upgrade its operating systems to a current model, to help senior citizens, with whom they do most of their computing training.
“We’re running Windows NT, and seniors are coming in with laptops they have been given or bought laptops with Windows 7 or 8, so we need to be able to upgrade to have at least a few machines running different operating systems,” she said.
Libraries have also been adapting to the growing e-book market in North America.
The Medicine Hat Library, along with other libraries in the Shortgrass System, loan out e-book through two services, Freading and Overdrive. The checked out e-book functions exactly like a regular checked out book, available for a set time, and then it automatically disappears at a certain date. The library also loans a variety of e-readers available for people to borrow, which are checked out regularly.
Ross provided several numbers about how e-books have taken hold at the Library in the past few years. In 2010, the library had 2,498 registered users of e-books, exploding the next year to 10,744 users. In 2012, the library reported 15,603 registered users. When e-books were first floated by publishers, their cost was minimal, but once they took off, publishers increased their costs, realizing they can extract more money, which has increased licensing costs.
”As people become interested in e-books, we’ve had to teach people how to use their devices and how to download e-books, so there’s a huge
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With the changing landscape of the print world, libraries are also looking at ways to keep information free to all members. In January of 2013, the library signed a licence with Press Display, which features 2,200 newspapers around the world from 97 countries. Ross says the next step for the library is to eventually work to license a digital database of magazines for the library.
Finally, another leap into the technological world for libraries is taking advantage of mobile apps. The Shortgrass Library System has an app available for Android and Apple products in which members can track their books and place holds on items.
In January of 2013, reports began to appear in the news about a proposed library in Bexar County, Texas, which, if built, would be the first ever paperless library in the United States, although as part of a branch, people can still check out paper books through inter-library loans.
Although Ross knows e-books have begun to grow in the market, she still feels there will be a need for the classic book on paper.
“A lot of people just prefer paper,” she said. “You’re unlikely to give a two-year-old an iPad, and learning to read a book sequentially by turning pages and learning that information is sequential, you can do that more easily with a book rather an electronic device. Books as a teaching device for people learning how to read are still the best way. They’ve been the best way for more than 2,500 years.” ■
41103810•03/26/13
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