Ebook Growth Slows

摘要

Ninecy-five percent of public libraries currently offer ebooks to patrons, up from 72 percent in 2010, and 89 percent in both 2012 and 2013. However, money remains the biggest impediment for libraries looking to add ebooks or expand collections, according to LJ's fifth annual "Ebook Usage in U.S. Public Libraries" report, sponsored by Freading. The growth in demand for ebooks has cooled during the past four years, although as the report notes, this "is only because [ebooks] have become less of a novelty and more mainstream." Survey respondents said they expected to see their library's ebook circulation grow by 25 percent this fiscal year, compared with 108 percent growth in 2011, 67 percent in 2012, and 39 percent in 2013.