New Report from OECD: E-books: Developments and Policy Considerations

Here’s a new report from OECD. It’s part of their digital content series and will likely be of interest to many of you. We’re going to give a thorough read asap. The document runs 70 pages, PDF (other formats available) and is divided into four sections:
+ Main Findings
+ E-Book Ecosystem
+ Trends
+ Policy Issues

Title

E-books: Developments and Policy Considerations

Source

OECD

Abstract

Books have undergone a massive transformation from a physical object to something entirely different: the electronic book, or “e-book”. This report provides background on e-book markets and examines various policy issues related to e-books. These include differing tax rates in countries between physical books and e-books, consumer lock-in to specific platforms, limitations on how users can read and share their purchased content, and a lack of transparency about how data on their reading habits is being used.

The report includes a few paragraphs about library lending of ebooks on Page 9 of the PDF version.
The PDF version is embedded below. MOBI and EPUB versions are also available. OECD has also posted a chart showing VAT for books and ebooks in seven European countries.
UPDATE: The MOBI and EPUB versions appear to be unavailable at the moment (11/1/12; 5pm EDST). Check back. Here’s where we grabbed the links from.
E-books: Developments and Policy Considerations
Many thanks to J.A. Jacobs for the tip.

Filed under: Data Files, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users