An explosion in the popularity of e-readers and e-books across the country is making its mark on the city of East Lansing.
For the past four months, the number of rentals of e-books at the library has more than doubled, and it shows no signs of stopping or slowing down, said Lauren Douglass, head of technology services at East Lansing Public Library.
Douglass gave a presentation to the East Lansing City Council at its meeting last week regarding the future of the library in a media world becoming more dependent on digital access.
More than 14,400 e-books were checked out from the library in January, a jump from October 2011, when 6,028 e-books were checked out from the library.
As of last Friday, more than 10,000 e-books already had been checked out in February.
The library pays about $3,600 a year to a cooperative group of other libraries to provide its customers with access to an e-book checkout website called OverDrive, Douglass said.
E-book checkouts are free, like the checkout of an actual book.
With sales for e-reader products such as the Kindle and the Nook increasing, she said it remains difficult to see just how much of an impact electronic books will have on the market.
“We’re only seeing a much smaller downturn in nonfiction reading for adults, but it is starting to hit print,” she said.
Douglass said the library is exploring other ways to implement new programming related to electronic content.
Library Director Kristin Shelley said any content changes the library might undertake to go digital, such as removing some books and replacing them with computers, will be carefully examined before being implemented.
Human biology junior Nicole Ware, who owns a Kindle, said she downloads most of her books from amazon.com, but would be open to checking out a free e-book from the public library.
“I think that because it’s a huge selection, … there would be more to go off,” she said. “It makes them way more available.”
The library is not immune to the budget challenges being faced by the rest of East Lansing, City Manager George Lahanas said.
Funding for library programs comes from the city’s general fund as well as contributions from Ingham County and donations from the Friends of the East Lansing Public Library group.
In 2012-13, the library is expected to receive about $83,000 in contributions, down from $110,000 in 2011-12, Shelby said.
“We’re at a very significant turning point of how libraries stay relevant to their society,” he said. “How people collaborate around that is going to be an interesting part.”
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