The flow of electronic resources is largely dominated from
the West for the West but the concept of e-lending is slowly catching on
worldwide as libraries move to mostly digital resources.
Here’s taking a look at a study done by the International
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions looking at other regions.
Africa
The International Publishers Association estimates that 90% of overall
publishing revenue in Africa is derived from education markets. It is not a
surprise that the availability of eBooks from African libraries is limited
largely to university collections with an emphasis on streamed scholarly
publishing content originating outside the continent. The 2013 South African
Book Fair had as its focus “The future of eBooks: the impact of the digital eBook
phenomenon” and the comments from publishing executives solely dealt with the
education market and the potential for acceptance of digital textbooks.
Asia
eBook data
reported from Asian countries indicates wide variations in library availability
and use.
Apabi
Chinese eBooks are published in Mainland China and its content emphasises more
scholarly rather than leisure reading content.
Hong Kong
public libraries report 186,497 eBook titles in their collections, 72,500 which
are Apabi eBooks. The balance is made up of streamed bundle services including
ebrary Academic Complete and EBSCOhost. The relatively low use of eBook
collections (annual use of 1.1 per title) is attributed by library staff to the
lack of leisure reading titles available and the confusing access requirements
for the different databases.
A large
majority of Japanese public libraries do not provide eBooks at this time.
Korean
public libraries report over 3 million eBook titles available and annual
expenditure of 3.6 million US dollars (2012).
Singapore
reports 3,062,002 eBook titles, circulation of 8,247,966 and annual expenditure
of $1,268,857 US (all
2012).
Taiwan
public libraries report eBook title holdings of 255,278 (2012) and annual
circulation of 562,482 (2013).
Australia/New Zealand
Public libraries in Australia and New Zealand report
sustained and continuing growth in eBook provision and use:
·
State of Victoria public libraries report
298,809 eBook downloads in 2011/12 and 497,045 downloads in 2012/13 (+66%)
·
Users of the State Library of Western Australia
downloaded 9,130 eBooks in January 2013 and 21,564 eBooks in January 2014
(+136%). The January 2014 loans constituted 1.4 loans per title available.
·
Users of Brisbane City Libraries downloaded
4,212 eBooks in 2008 and 116,272 eBooks in 2012.
·
New Zealand public libraries report 2012/13
holdings of 111,336 (growth of 1,762% in two years), downloads of 354,066
(growth of 1,968% in two years) and expenditure of $1,038,543 NZ
[$900,868 US/€654,011] (growth of 363% in two years).
Canada
Five large urban public libraries in Canada with mature
digital collections serving a combined population of
8,402,000 reported the following combined digital use
statistics:
·
Downloadable eBook circulation in 2013 was
2,871,514 downloads or 0.34 per capita.
·
This is a 1,313.3% increase over 2010 downloads
and a 60.9% increase over 2012 downloads.
·
139,023
downloadable eBook titles were in their collections (an increase of 526% over
2010) and 244,951 eBook “volumes”12 or 1.8 “volumes” per title.
·
In 2013 the average annual downloads per volume
was 12.
·
The libraries provide access to 37,369
downloadable audio titles.
In Quebec,
71 public libraries belong to BIBLIOPRESTO.CA.13 Library users downloaded
661,598 eBooks in
2012/13 and
it is projected that downloads will double in the next 12 months. Individual
library data is indicative of strong growth in eBook availability and use:
·
Montreal Public Library downloads grew from
9,559 in 2012 to 31,708 in 2013 (+232%)
·
Quebec City Public Library downloads grew from
27,417 in 2012 to 69,951 in 2013 (+155%).
Europe
As is the
case with the publishing sector, libraries in the European Union have been
slower to adopt eBooks, especially in non-English speaking countries. eBook
availability in EU libraries varies significantly from country to country
depending upon factors such as the funding available for library purchasing,
indigenous publishing practice, library governance structure and preferred
licensing regimes. EU national initiatives are discussed by country in the next
section of the paper.
View the complete study here
