Libraries to try buying e-books directly ELECTRONIC BOOKS State co-op to begin purchasing directly from small presses

Terri Fletcher follows the class with her IPad. Librarians training members of the public to use their Nooks, Kindles and iPads to download free library ebooks. San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, Aug 02, 2012. Terri Fletcher follows the class with her IPad. Librarians training members of the public to use their Nooks, Kindles and iPads to download free library ebooks. San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, Aug 02, 2012. Photo: Sonja Och, The Chronicle Photo: Sonja Och, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Libraries to try buying e-books directly 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

At a recent free e-reader training session at the San Francisco Public Library, 72-year-old Jane Marquis searched the library's website without success for an e-book of "Gone Girl," a mystery novel that has topped the best-selling fiction lists this summer.

"I'm sure it'll be on there soon because it's one of the popular ones," Marquis said.

But popular demand isn't determining which e-books San Francisco or libraries across the nation can offer their patrons. With most of the biggest publishers refusing to sell e-books to vendors that act as middlemen between publishers and libraries, San Francisco and other California libraries are preparing to try something new in their efforts to expand their digital collections - buying e-books directly from smaller publishers.

Starting this fall, the 220-member library cooperative Califa Library Group will begin rolling out a $325,000 project with the goal of buying from the smaller publishing companies thousands of e-books that the libraries will own forever. San Francisco and most other libraries lease their collection through OverDrive, a digital distribution company.

"With the vendors, their motivation is to make money, so we're lining their pockets and we have no flexibility or ownership," said Heather Teysko, director of development and innovation at Califa.

Teysko said about 50 publishers, mostly independent, have shown interest so far. The project will be piloted in the Contra Costa County Library system first and should be implemented in San Francisco by February or March, she said.

Digital expansion

Currently, e-books make up about 4 percent of the total collection at the San Francisco Public Library, but that number is doubling each year, said library Collections and Technical Services Chief Laura Lent. But from July 2010 to July 2011, physical circulation at the library dropped for the first time in 13 years, from 10.8 million to 10.7 million. Those numbers rebounded slightly last year, but the trend is clear: Print is no longer the only game in town.

"We're spending about 20 percent of our collections budget on all kinds of e-resources," Lent said. "I think both e-books and print are going to coexist for as far into the future as we can imagine." San Francisco has a collections budget of $1.85 million, up from $1.4 million last year.

San Francisco is also introducing a new vendor in October to compete with OverDrive. Baker & Taylor, the leading supplier of print books to libraries, will add 6,000 e-books to the library's collection, specializing in color content and e-books for the visually impaired.

Nearly half of e-book readers surveyed by the Pew Research Center this year did not know whether their library offered e-books, and neither did 58 percent of all library cardholders. Marquis was in the dark until a friend let her know recently that she could use her home computer to go onto the library's website and borrow e-books for free on the Kindle she received as a gift from her granddaughter two years ago. Having spent hundreds of dollars through Amazon to purchase 94 e-books for her device, she said she could use a spending break.

"Amazon is easy - too easy," she said. "For seniors on fixed budgets, (the library) is a blessing."

The library was a "little behind" on ordering the "Gone Girl" e-book, but it should be available in a few weeks, library spokeswoman Michelle Jeffers said.

Costly propositions

But acquiring e-books through the two major publishers is not cheap. HarperCollins allows e-books to be checked out 26 times before libraries must renew their licenses to the title. Random House, which publishes "Gone Girl," tripled its library e-book prices this year.

"We believe our new library e-pricing reflects the high value placed on perpetuity of lending and simultaneity of availability of our titles," Random House said in a statement at the time.

Still, expensive e-books are better than no e-books for libraries, and San Francisco will continue purchasing books from major publishers in addition to its agreement with Califa.

The city joined another 70 library systems in June in a letter demanding better digital services for their patrons. Simon & Schuster and Macmillan offer almost none of their e-books to libraries, while Hachette Book Group and Penguin Group (USA) make only back titles available.

"Libraries have a responsibility to fight for the public and ensure that users have the same open, easy and free access to e-books that they have come to rely on with physical books," said the letter.

For City Librarian Luis Herrera, the most important factor in the struggle between libraries and publishers is providing access to information to those who can't afford to buy e-books on their own. He cited the Pew survey that found that even among library e-book borrowers, 41 percent still paid for their most recent e-book. He believes that's evidence that publishers can help libraries fulfill their civic duties of informing the masses and still turn a profit.

"What were saying at the end of the day is it's about access to this content, not about undermining the business models," he said.