Now in its third year, the Library Journal and School Library Journal EBook Usage Report for 2012 has just been released. The report looks separately at public libraries, academic libraries and school (K-12) libraries and eBooks usage in each setting.
Included in each report are projections for the future, detailed comparisons of data from each year, and comments from librarians about their experiences with eBooks at their libraries. In addition, there are insights into collection size, circulation, devices, budgets, and vendors.
The links to each report will lead you to a sign-up page and then you gain access to the report in pdf format.
Many of the results from the public library report will not be surprises.
- Most public libraries provide eBooks.
- EBook circulation is on the rise.
- Public libraries are now providing more eBooks in more genre categories.
Others bits are fascinating:
- The most active group accessing library econtent are ages 35-44. A close second is the 45-54 age range.
- The fastest growing segment are teens.
- Preferred formats have changed over the last few years with 2012’s clear favorites being ePub or something optimized for a specific device. PDF has dropped considerably.
- People are using eBook readers and tablets as their main way to read econtent.
