Editor’s Note: Amy Gahran writes about mobile tech for CNN.com. She is a San Francisco Bay Area writer and media consultant whose blog, Contentious.com, explores how people communicate in the online age.
Story highlights
Many Americans don't know whether their public library has e-books, a new Pew report says
Those who use e-books read 30% more books per year than those who don't
If e-books encourage people to read more, that's good for public libraries
However, library e-book acquisition has been complicated by higher publisher prices
About three quarters of American public libraries currently lend out e-books, and in the past year libraries have seen a sharp growth in e-book borrowing. Still, well over half of U.S. library card holders don’t know whether their local public library lends e-books, according to a new Pew report.
Pew also found that 12% of all Americans age 16 and older who read e-books have borrowed an e-book from a library in the past year – and they’re generally pretty happy with the experience. Two thirds of them characterized their library’s selection of e-book titles as