E-books march on

Day after day new reports come out about how e-books are supplanting paper books in many readers' affections. Today the N.Y. Times reports that Barnes & Noble, one of the country's largest booksellers is switching its emphasis toward e-books. With many readers now switching to e-books downloaded from online stores, the standard old-fashioned book stores are desperately worried. Barnes & Noble recently announced it would devote more space in its stores to the Nook, it's e-book reader, and less to bookshelves. The N.Y. Times piece quotes several readers who prefer e-books to print, especially because they are cheaper to buy. One odd thing about the report is that no mention is made of libraries, where books area vailable free. We know that only a tiny percentage of all Americans buy any books at all. Far more use their local library. The switch to e-books will not actually affect the majority of Americans; losing support for libraries would be more damaging. The challenge for librarians is to decide how to make e-books and other online products available to their users. Journals have found viable business plans for moving online while remaining available in libraries, but book publishers do not appear to be thinking about that. Perhaps librarians should take the initiative and suggest possibilities.