More people aged over 55 own e-readers than the younger generation, according to a new study on digital reading habits.
Data released by research company OnePoll shows 6% of readers in the over-55 category–equivalent to 500,000 people–own a digital device to consume literature in comparison to just 5% of those aged 18–24.
Another 18% of the over-55’s surveyed said they plan to invest in an e-reader in the next 12 months.
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Of the digital devices most popular among older readers, Amazon’s Kindle came out top with 47% of those surveyed claiming it was the best, while 31% preferred Apple’s iPad and 14% rated the Sony Reader.
The survey covered 2,000 people aged 50 and over in OnePoll’s SilverPoll research panel.
Market Research from UK: "More Over-50s Own E-Readers Than Youngsters"
Editorial From a Canadian Newspaper: "Libraries Can Lead Us Into a Digital Future"
This editorial was published today in the Nanaimo (British Columbia) Daily News and is also posted on Canada.com. The headline is wonderful to read but the actual article needs some work.
The editorial focuses on the public libraries of the Vancouver Island Regional Library.
Libraries are becoming a less important source of reference material. The Internet provides that and authors and scholars repeatedly update the information in the journals, articles and books they have written.
An author who published a book about salmon farming in 2008, for example, may be able to update that information electronically to the book without having to reissue it.
Libraries are not obsolete but the manner in which they deliver their services is becoming so. With so much information available free, online, their role as a source of information for the public is diminishing.
Decisions made now will drastically impact the future role of libraries in our communities. It’s likely that a generation or two from now people will be puzzled by our sentimental attachment to printed books, because information will be delivered in a completely different, and more dynamic, manner.
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Perhaps a virtual library system would be able to offer service seven days a week and presumably 24 hours a day. As people grow more comfortable with digital books, the need for physical institutions will diminish.
Read the Complete Editorial
Comments
- Was any research done before this article was written? Stats show that people are still visiting public libraries and in large numbers to do a variety of things including research. Most disturbing is that the editorial makes no mention that not everyone has access to the information technology needed to access the online materials. If you’re going to say that the need for the physical library building is “diminishing” a sentence or two acknowleding the fact that the library is an access point for many users is critical.
These comments are not about the need or the lack of one for a library building but rather on a few specific statements in the article.
- “Libraries are becoming a less important source of reference material.”
Libraries in general or at a physical location? It’s important to be clear. Also, libraries are still a source for reference materials both in print and online. - “The Internet provides that and authors and scholars repeatedly update the information in the journals, articles and books they have written.”
Repeatedly update? Preprints are one thing but they lead to a final article published online and/or in print. Also, the editorial is about public libraries on Vancouver Island. The info needs of a public library user and those of an academic library user can be very different. - “With so much information available free, online…”
Free for the user or free for the user and the library? Yes, there is a lot of great info on the “open web” but as we’ve seen for many years users don’t realize that the databases and other electronic tools they are able to access cost money. On the other hand, they might not know that these tools are available to them in the first place. We’ve would be very interested to know how many people purchase archived material from the NY Times and other publications when they could get it for free* from their local library.
GPO and the Library of Congress Collaborate to Offer Enhanced Services
From a FDLP (Federal Depostitory Library News) Article:
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Library of Congress (LOC) recently received approval from the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) to proceed on two collaborative efforts. One project involves the digitization of some of our nation’s most important legal and legislative documents and the other involves enhanced public online access to the Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation (CONAN).
“GPO has been Keeping America Informed on the three branches of the Federal Government for 150 years. It is the agency’s goal to provide Americans with access to Government documents and we are excited to add historic, landmark congressional documents to our digital repository.”
− Superintendent of Documents Mary Alice Baish
The digitization project will include the public and private laws, and proposed constitutional amendments passed by Congress as published in the official Statutes at Large from 1951-2002. GPO and LOC will also work on digitizing official debates of Congress from the permanent volumes of the Congressional Record from 1873-1998. These laws and documents will be authenticated and available to the public on GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) and the Library of Congress’s THOMAS legislative information system.
The other project will provide enhanced public online access to the Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation (CONAN), a Senate Document that analyzes Supreme Court cases relevant to the Constitution. The project involves creating an enhanced version of CONAN, where updates to the publication will be made available on FDsys as soon as they are prepared. In addition to more timely access to these updates, new online features will also be added, including greater ease of searching and authentication.
Hat Tip: FreeGovInfo
Social Media: "Facebook Photo Trends"
A blog post and infographic with facts and stats about photographs (who uploads them, who tags them, etc.) on Facebook.
The post and infographic come from Pixable, a photo management service for online photos. The company says they have more than one million users.
Here are just a few of the stats you’ll find:
- Women upload two times more photos than men (347 vs 179).
- Photo tags begin to decline among users in their late 20’s.
- When 750 million photos were posted to Facebook on New Year’s Eve weekend this year…
- At the rate of 6 billion photos uploaded each month, there will be about 100 billion photos on Facebook by summer 2011.
Direct to Post and Infographic
(Hat Tip: All Facebook)
Borders Books Files for Bankruptcy (Primary Documents & List of Stores Set to Close)
As many of you have probably heard by now Borders Books filed for bankruptcy (Chapter 11) today.
In addition to a couple of overview articles at the bottom of this post, here are links to a new web site and several documents:
Borders Reorganization Web Site
Some of the Material Online as of Today
+ Letter to Customers from Mike Edwards, President and CEO, Borders, Inc.
+ News Release
+ Court Filing (21 pages; PDF)
+ Reorganization Store Closing List (PDF)
UPDATE: A sortable list of the stores Borders plans to close in the coming weeks.
Totals about 30% of its locations in the U.S.
Via AnnArbor.com (Borders Hometown) “AnnArbor.com’s guide to coverage of today’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Borders”
Via Bloomberg: “Borders Files for Bankruptcy, Will Close Some Stores”
“Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor,” the company’s president, Mike Edwards, said today in a statement. The bankruptcy will give it “time to reorganize in order to reposition itself to be a successful business for the long term.
Via Publisher’s Weekly: “Borders Pulls the Trigger on Chapter 11”
The announcement made this morning was foreshadowed last night when Borders implemented an ordering freeze and Ingram, its lifeline to the publishers, stopped shipping books. Publishers are now on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars, led by Penguin Group (USA) which is owed $41.1 million, followed by Hachette at $36.9 million, Simon & Schuster at $33.8 million, Random House at $33.5 million, and HarperCollins at $25.8 million.
Full Text Article: "A Survey of Electronic Research Alternatives to LexisNexis and Westlaw in Law Firms"
From the Abstract of a Law Library Journal Article (Vol. 103 no.1):
[Laura] Justiss conducted a survey of law firm librarians in 2010 that identified electronic research database alternatives to LexisNexis and Westlaw and ranked them by subscription frequency. The survey also generated information regarding suggested or mandated legal research policies in law firms for the use of alternatives to LexisNexis and Westlaw and examined their applicability to billable and nonbillable research. Lastly, it examined the prevalence in firms of flat-rate pricing agreements with LexisNexis and Westlaw.