[Disclosure: Broward County Library CEO Kelvin Watson is a member of RF’s Working Group}
In “From Publishers to Booksellers and Librarians: COVID-19 Accelerates Book Industry Shift to Digital, Interdependence,” Library Journal’s Barbara Hoffert has reported on Book Industry Study Group’s online conversation about the effects of the novel coronavirus on publishing:
“Shuttered libraries and bookstores. Canceled orders and events. Changed workflow, falling revenue, staff layoffs, uncollected metadata, and inability to forecast. A declaration by Amazon (and others) that books aren’t essential. Not to mention clogged distribution channels, with physical books amassing in warehouses as demand downshifts and orders are returned because customers can no longer accept them. These are the challenges now facing the book industry.”
The article relates how Maureen McMahon of Kaplan observed. “ ‘About five minutes ago, we thought ebooks were boring and that they had plateaued. Now they’re our heroes.’ Musing that print loyalists buying ebooks might be inspired to switch formats, she further praised ebooks as supporting book accessibility generally.”
Libraries are of course a leader in providing digital content, as Hoffert reports on Kelvin Watson’s comments:
For libraries, of course, the online environment is a familiar place, and librarians are simply expanding their presence there. Said BISG board member Kelvin Watson, Broward County Libraries Director, FL, “Digital lending was already an important part of what we are doing, and now it is a significant part. Digital content … is primarily the way that we are able to interact with our communities.”
Watson highlighted his library’s 68 percent increase in juvenile ebook circulation year to date, compared with last year at the same time, and pointed to new ways of providing the on-site learning and gathering functions of the library. As with many libraries, storytime has gone online, which required an entire rethinking of the process, including basics like lighting. As his BISG colleagues fretted about spring titles getting lost in the pandemic backwash, obviating that key act of book discovery, Watson quickly countered, “This is a space where libraries have always been available and how we are still connecting with our communities.”
As libraries reopen their doors, said Watson, “We will struggle with how much of our budget we are now going to be putting into digital resources, digital content, and digital learning and how the communities that support us are going to be impacted” by the pandemic. That, in turn, will impact funding, staffing, and the myriad decisions regarding collection development, programming, outreach, and more that libraries make. But in the end, argued Watson, “The new normal for us will be even more toward offering those digital services we have traditionally offered in person.”
RF encourages you to review the full article for more insights on how novel coronavirus has disrupted the book supply chain and how we might all respond to keep information flowing, but the conclusion that a “new emphasis on book industry interdependence, digital updating, and refreshed focus on end users” among all in the industry seems likely to be true.
Meanwhile, GoodeReader Michael Kozlowski quantiifes libraries’ recent increase in digital circulation in “Libraries are experiencing a record number of ebook loans.” Mr. Kozlowski how some library vendors have made more content free, how some publishers have lowered prices or changed terms, and libraries and vendors are reporting increases in use.
RF is always willing to be hopeful and has given credit to vendors and publishers where it is due, especially since the COVID changes were announced. Past experience, however, suggests caution. When COVID stay-in-place restrictions are removed, will the publishers and library vendors be as generous and willing to try new models as they are during this sad time? Or will they revert to form and make licensing terms and prices ever more difficult to meet? It remains to be seen. An increasing preference for digital, as Goodereader relates, will continue even after restrictions are lifted. If we in libraries cannot find ways to make our digital collections robust and lasting, including a return to perpetual access as one option, we will never be able to meet that demand. We will hasten the time when people will need credit cards to be informed citizens and neglect our duty to provide information to all, bridge the digital gap, and promote the experiment of Democracy. We have used petition and even boycotts. That time may come again. We must see common cause from ALA, from COSLA, from ULC and CULC, from all our partners. We cannot cease from mental fight, nor can any option rest in our hand, till we can build a collection in digital as well as we have in print.
