We missed you, but, more importantly, you missed out on an opportunity to engage in discussion with a large market already invested in the future of ebooks. ­School Library Journal and Library Journal’s first virtual ebook summit—a daylong event on September 29—focused on how public, academic, and school libraries are addressing digital books. It drew over 2,100 registrants who stayed for an average of five and a half hours. More than 238 libraries purchased site licenses so their staff could come and go. (The summit archive is still available online until December 31, 2010, at www.ebook-summit.com.)

The panelists included forward-thinking librarians, a product manager from Google Books, ebook aggregators, and ­ebook distributors like OverDrive’s Steve Potash, who’s been pushing the bounds on library distribution. We asked a number of you to provide the publisher perspective but got turned down repeatedly. (The exceptions were our sponsors Springer, which represented academic publishing, and Capstone, which represented K–12 publishing.) Some publishers, feeling they had been misquoted in the past when discussing potential ebook models, were too skittish to take part in another public forum.

The summit raised more questions than it answered, but it reaffirmed librarians’ willingness to embrace ebook delivery and access for their users and to rethink the role of libraries in providing information, education, and community in a digital world. It also confirmed the continued frustration of librarians who are excluded from the decisions around ebooks, decisions integral to the future of libraries—and to publishers and readers as well. As librarian Aaron Schmidt said, “The ebook ship has sailed, and libraries are not on it.” Libraries in the thick of circulating ­ebooks might disagree, but when it comes to developing ebook distribution models, publishers aren’t taking into account the vital roles that libraries play in promoting authors, attracting readers, and moving books.

Years ago, we referred to libraries as an “invisible market” to trade publishers: invisible because sales to libraries go through distributors and not directly through publishers. We made the point that libraries were a steady, reliable distribution channel for publishers and that librarians not only purchased new books (and helped create bestsellers) but backlist titles, too. Smart trade publishers—who understood that book borrowers were also book buyers—took advantage of the library-patron connection and worked more closely with librarians to the benefit of both library and publisher—and readers.

If you doubt the power that libraries have to transform society, then consider the likes of Bill Gates, who recognized the reach of libraries and used them to hasten the adoption of personal computing and access to the Internet. Many families with PCs in their homes first discovered the value of computing at their local library and still dip into the library’s technology.

As trusted community institutions, libraries can lead a new reading revolution. They can provide ereading devices, which are multiplying rapidly (and confusingly), and help patrons learn to use them; they can expand digital reading to the well-off as well as the less affluent; they can advise readers on how to choose books in a digital landscape.

Librarians and publishers share many of the same goals. We’re on the same side in the struggle for literacy, the promotion of reading and learning, and the commitment to intellectual freedom. By embracing how libraries can and do drive this new revolution, you can only help make a more robust future for ebooks and for publishing itself.

Brain Kenney, Editorial Director
bkenney@mediasourceinc.com

Francine Fialkoff, LJ Editor-in-Chief
ffialkoff@mediasourceinc.com