Ebooks: my past, present and future

This is a chronicle of how I came to make my first presentation outside work and what happened when I did. It was for JIBS, now called SERIF, at their event on the 26th of February all about the future of ebooks.

First, the day; I'll start with the most interesting part and you can choose to read on if you're interested in my history with ebooks. You may have read my articles in CILIP Update already, but I've included them here in case. I'm not a comfortable speaker at the best of times, my brain goes too fast for my mouth and I'm much more articulate writing, but I do teaching sessions as part of my job, so it wasn't new to me and my presentation went as well as could be. I had my power dress on, the one I always wear if I can when teaching; it makes me feel confident. I don't like London and taking public transport, though I love trains, but everything went swimmingly, couldn't have gone better, that goes for everything all day. The venue was the UCL's Student Venue and it's a great place, with a swimming pool, bar and a library that's like no library I've ever been to with music and a table football table. I had a bad cold, one that had been lingering for weeks and I was worried my voice wasn't going to last the day, living off Airwaves so I could breathe and Strepsils so I could swallow without pain and to save my voice. I needn't have worried, though I was quite croaky on the way home, debriefing with Jayne, the ebooks administrator who came with me and who runs ebooks@cambridge.

There were talks from two publishers and two information professionals providing etextbooks and then there was me. I had severe imposter syndrome as Nic, the first publisher, has been working with ebooks for a long time and showed us the history of ebooks; Liz, the second publisher, really got down into the specifics of ebooks and how to create them; the two information professionals talked about how they're delivering etextbooks, Tif in a very assertive way working with the publishers and Catherine from the project perspective. Much of what I was going to say was covered by Tif and Catherine, but I told myself that I was coming from a different point of view and was going to say it in a different way, even if Catherine did use the same image as me on one of her slides (for the future, great minds think alike!) and Tif the same quote as the title of my dissertation. But as someone said to me, it's good to reiterate these things as it drives the point home and I certainly felt part of something at the end of the day; it's good to know everyone feels the same way about ebooks, it's comforting.

All the speakers were brilliant either in their content or delivery or both. You can see all the presentations on the JIBS website. Yes, I had the final slot of the day, but it was inspired as my presentation seemed to be a summary of all that had gone on before. My presentation is up on Slideshare, so you may want to look at it before you read on.

When I was asked to talk about the future of ebooks, I immediately thought about the past, I'm contrary like that. So I used history as my hook, my theme. It was basically a case study of our experiences, here at the Judge, but also as a university. The core ideas running through my presentation were: it's about choice, not forcing people to use ebooks but giving them the opportunity to use them as personally, I don't use ebooks but when forced to I have done as that was the only option available and I resented the fact I didn't have the choice as I'm a book lover, the feel of them, the scent of them, new books and old, and the look of them, but I know how useful they are to our students and value the importance of them in academia; that we're stuck in the present while also being in all time periods at once with ebooks: no ebooks, basic ebooks and ebooks tied to print; the unrealised potential of ebooks, this TED video from 2011 being a case in point. It's 5 years old now! I also had a little moan about things from us librarians' perspectives, from the publisher Pearson, the blame culture which persists us blaming publishers and publishers blaming us which doesn't get us anywhere and how we need to work together with publishers, between us and with faculty especially with reading lists, but overall about the lack of consistency.

So to my talk. It went by in a blur, but the moments leading up to it seemed to go on forever. My heart was pounding, my hands were sweaty and I couldn't remember what I was going to say. I suffer from anxiety, but I won't go into details as I've written about it in the past, on this blog too. Being the last person to speak on the day didn't help matters. For this reason, I had written prompt cards, but I didn't need them in the end. As soon as I saw my first slide, I was alright and all the symptoms faded into the background. Everyone laughed in the right places and got all the jokes, even the in-jokes I thought they wouldn't. There were nods of familiarity, they reacted to my questions and pauses for thought and even the slightly controversial bit I put in, deliberately in case no one was engaged, went over well. Some people even agreed with me that ebooks should cost more than print; Elizabeth, the JIBS chair, asked that exact question at the end to gauge opinion. My reasoning is that ebooks have more functions than print, and what I wanted to say, but didn't have time to, but someone helpfully commented afterwards, that some ebooks are the equivalent of more than one printed book, allowing more than one person to use them at a time so should be priced accordingly. So thank you, that man!

By far the most popular slide, as it was tweeted the most, was this one:

Jurassic ebooks

However the blue screen of death slide also got a good reaction, as well as the dark ages slide which was all black until the light bulbs appeared. I've made a Storify of my presentation, collating all the tweets about it.

There was a tea break straight after my talk and I had lot of people coming up to me, yes chatting to me and asking questions, but also to think at me. What I wanted to do and succeeded in doing beyond all my wildest expectations was to inspire and provoke thought, and judging by the stream of consciousness I provoked in quite a few people who wouldn't let me get in a word in edgeways even though they were talking to me, I definitely achieved that.

I wasn't nervous about the panel discussion at the end, mainly because there were other people with me who I could pass on to, and I did once as I didn't have anything to add to what had been said, agreed with the previous person and passed the microphone on! What surprised me, though it may have been just because I had done my talk just before, was that when answering the audience's questions, the other speakers referred back to what I said in my presentation, more than once. It was very gratifying and more than a little bit flattering. My imposter syndrome disappeared for good after that! The event ended and I was one of the last to leave because people still wanted to talk to me. I also got invited to do a presentation on ebooks for a CILIP event in Brighton, though I'm not sure anything will come of it, but it was nice to be asked. When I said I would have to think up another theme, she said there's no need, just do the exact same presentation! Like all events and conferences, it was a great networking opportunity.

Anyway, enough ego-boosting. Here is how I came to be mixed up in the crazy world of ebooks. I have been at my current job as an Information and Library Assistant at Cambridge Judge Business School, part of the University of Cambridge, for seven years now. In my first year, I was given the task by my manager of investigating an ebook platform: Dawsonera. I purchased a core collection of ebooks and have been administering them ever since. I quickly realised how important ebooks were for our students, allowing them access to the text when all the printed books were unavailable, but particularly for our distance learners. So when I did my library degree, it was only natural to write my dissertation on ebooks, which is now on academia.edu for you to read. I used a Stephen Fry quote as my title: "Books are no more threatened by Kindle, than stairs by elevators." Instead of concentrating on the user, I analysed the key people who ensure ebooks are used in the first place: suppliers, us librarians and faculty.

Rather than let all my research go to waste, I was urged to get it published. So I contacted CILIP Update and they were happy to publish it. The first one was made into a blog post, but I include all of the articles here. I want to thank Rachel Middleton, the editor of CILIP Update, who has allowed me to publish them freely on my blog and my LinkedIn page and commissioned the articles in the first place. Upon hearing my topic, she said it was too much for one article so we decided on a series of what became the four articles:

I have had a lot of good feedback about my articles as I tried to make them both entertaining and informative. Some of the comments I've had via email have mainly been about the quality of my writing, being an English graduate, a creative writer and an avid reader, I should hope so! "thank you for your succinct and well thought-out article...very readable and well-reasoned." There were some people who loved my geeky references: "it's a rare and treasured article in Update that has me laugh the smug laugh of the geek who got the reference." "The puns! The references! Your knowledge of and engagement with ebooks... this [article] proved to be a wonderful surprise with its humour and confidence." I believe in the power of the analogy as a good theme makes what you're saying more memorable and therefore it will sink in more. Twitter has been a great place for feedback too: "just read this article - lot of fun! (as well as informative). The force of ebooks has truly awoken." My favourite comment has to be this: "It was an invigorating read, and has made me want to learn more on the subject. Mission achieved." Off the back of those articles, I was asked to speak at the event. I didn't want to replicate the articles and simply present them, so I came up with a new theme. So that's you all up to date. A last word on ebooks, from Douglas Adams who arguably created the most famous ebook, albeit fictional:

I always think of this quote when dealing with a problem with ebooks as I believe ebooks were adopted too early; the technology wasn't ready yet, the suppliers weren't ready and we weren't ready to receive them. Now, what do you think?

The British Library tease

Kim Anderson

There are some things in life that once they happen, there’s no going back, your life is changed forever. There’s the nice as in your first kiss and there’s the not so nice, as in your actual first kiss that you’ve conveniently chosen to forget. Seeing the new British Library document delivery interlibrary loan system (BLDSS) was like that, encompassing both the nice and the not so nice. It’s nice as it is absolutely brilliant and yet we have to wait for it for a few months, which is not so nice. In experiencing this life-changing event, we have to forget about it, for now. However I will relive the painful moment for you; it’s going to get personal. In the tradition of the British Library tease though, I will describe the whole day first, leading up to when we were shown the new system just as I lived it; unfortunately we had our tour first and the demonstration last, the other group got to see the demonstration first and the tour last. If you want to see the description of the new service, read paragraph nine.

Right from the off, my luck was in and the day stayed like that. It was going to be the longest trip I had ever made on my own and it went completely smoothly, who could ask for more? Well, I could, and the sun had duly come out for the trip home. After discovering that the British Library were going to be coming to Cambridge to demonstrate the new system and I needn’t have gone in the first place, I was searching for a reason to be going. I found one when I decided to treat it as a test, to see how well I could cope on my own, particularly when feeling bad after having to wake up at 5:30am... I am naturally a follower, not a leader. I have a poor sense of direction and I get flustered easily. I don’t like travelling, but love seeing new places, meeting new people and experiencing new things. But most and worst of all, I don’t do being alone. Where else is more lonely than when surrounded by people you don’t know? Little did I know that each of those negatives was going to be blown out of the water; I can lead when forced, I didn’t get lost once, even when I didn’t know where I was going which was impressive, though tense I kept in control, trains are the best mode of travel and I managed to make acquaintances out of strangers. I did almost get lost trying to find the British Library representatives at York Station, but I followed a likely looking librarian and lo and behold, she was a librarian and she was going to Boston Spa too! I told her that I thought she looked like a librarian and she didn’t even take offence, she just accepted it. Having made a new acquaintance before even getting to Boston Spa, I was doing fine. The bus journey took me right back to school trips, but we were all pretty well behaved. When you’re tense, your senses are on full alert and mine seemed to be working on hyperdrive as I spent most of the journey marvelling at the clouds, the daffodils, the cherry blossom, the buildings and the lambs gambolling in the fields. To have my mind open like that was perfect preparation for the tour of Boston Spa and the demonstration of the new system.

When we first arrived, the cynicism in the room was tangible; I expect everyone had come more in hope than expectation. The BL staff were teasing us from the off saying that it’s not a new interface; it’s a totally revolutionised system. It’s taken 2 years and £6 million, half funded by the HEFCE. It improves the efficiency of their service and thus our services. They took great pains to explain it all and it soon turned into hype. I reckon we all thought that the new system could never live up to everything they were saying. I’m glad to say we were wrong.

As I mentioned before, we had a tour first and it was pretty extensive. They started with the wow factor. The new high-tech “stacks” for want of a better and more official word, is storage building better? were suitably impressive and very vertiginous. My sense of measurement is probably worse than my sense of direction, but I’d say from the viewing platform I was on, there was a 20ft drop and 50ft to the ceiling. However despite all the talk of the technological advancements, I couldn’t Tweet as there was not only no Wi-Fi coverage, but also not even phone coverage in the whole of the Boston Spa. Luckily there was sporadic 3G access, but the signals were willow-the-wisps in the ether. So I just wrote the Tweets there and then and sent them when I could. The reason for my Twitter obsession was because I had been entrusted with the work iPhone and had adopted Tweeting enthusiastically on the train journey.

Then we were taken round the different departments. One of the best parts of the day was seeing the other end of the document delivery service. We spoke to a lady who was retiring in 3 weeks so will miss out on the new revolutionary service; she was typically sanguine about it. She scans 25 items an hour and 165 a day! That’s not just her, that’s the daily target. Due to the copyright and licensing restrictions, she has to scan the article or book chapter each time it’s been requested, therefore adding to her workload as she can’t just sent it from the previous time she scanned it. We saw the a lot of scanners that day: standard scanners, a scanner that turns the pages for you and one for old and delicate books that looks like alien technology and wouldn’t seem out of place in the background of Doctor Who. All this was at the least interesting and at the most fascinating, but was only a precursor to the main event.

As we were going round, I could sense a common thread: budget constraints, job cuts and asbestos closures. One person said everyone was “battle weary” which was clear for all to see, but the sense of hope in the new system was just as palpable as the cynicism from us. It did wonders to alleviate our scepticism. If I was in a more imaginative mood I’d describe a battle between hope and cynicism with hope victorious. These thoughts were echoed all around the building and highlighted in the presentation before the demonstration: due to the public sector cuts, the BL has to save £24 million in 4 years. When you bear in mind that they spend £10 million on acquisitions, that’s not inconsiderable. They have also worked out because of the services they provide, they can save the government £200 million. If that isn’t an advert for the #savelibraries campaign, I don’t know what is. The one thing I wanted to know about is the asbestos problem. They jokingly refused to say the “a” word, but it means the same thing for them, because they can’t get hold of it, they have to find it from elsewhere too. There was no new information apart from 55% of the books that were unavailable due to the asbestos closures will now be back online by the end of May.

The reason for the new system is simple; they have been using the same technology as when the service was conceived. With the advent of the online retail industry, it was due for an upgrade. Whereas the current system is based on a library catalogue, the new system is more like shopping on the internet. This has also changed the way our patrons think. The way they put it is “just in case vs. just in time.” The former is the old system and the latter the new system. From what I’ve seen, apart from books for reading lists, the supply on demand model is the way things are going. In another tease before the demonstration, they showed us some of their statistics: they have a 75% fulfilment rate as 4 out of 5 requests are satisfied; it’s 65% after the asbestos problem. Using partnerships they’re hoping to get that to 100%. There’s also only been a £1.75 price increase since 2004.

Finally they got to the new system. It’s a full replacement for the current system, but they will run concurrently as it’s not compulsory to transfer to the new system. However there will be changes nonetheless; you’ll be pleased to hear there will be less reply codes: 25 out of the 100+ there are now. The new system is close to the end of testing and the roll-out will start in July; there’s a “phased deployment” and those libraries that helped develop the system will get first dibs. Everyone will have it by the end of September. However there will be limited functionality at first. The functionality is impressive; online tracking and despatch dates; colour rather than black and white PDFs; availability in real time with prices; non-reply code emails; multiple users so you can allow others, even students and faculty, to use it (you can let them place orders if you like, with your approval of course); baskets like most retail websites; searchable order history and oh joy of joys, you can change an order after you’ve placed it, rather than in effect ordering it again. The list is incessant.

I was tired by the end of it, but happy. I had also come away with ideas for a paperless system after networking at lunchtime. Not knowing anyone does wonders for your mingling skills! I’ll leave you with my penultimate tweet: “#bldss summary: new system is fantastic. Closer to generic retail set-ups with order tracking and the like. A much more transparent system.”

Writing to reach you

First lines are always the hardest, right? I hope this gets easier as it goes along. For someone who is scared of the blank page, this is quite an undertaking. I have a facebook and a myspace page, so I have done similar things before, but this is... different. Plus I used the standard template for those. For facebook or myspace you never know if anyone is actually going to read it, you're sending words out into the ether. But with this, it's for something and you know a cast of your peers are ready and waiting in the wings to comment.

So, the 23 things programme. I suppose I joined because I like to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way; I'm on the Springboard course and have done several other of the Cambridge University courses. I'm always on the hunt for new skills and chances to progress. However I also want to integrate myself into the wider community, amongst other Cambridge librarians. I have only been in the job, and the profession, a year and a few months, but I feel I have sufficiently found my feet now (after a few wobbles) and finally feel grounded enough to look up and around at the broader landscape. As metaphors go, I'm not sure how well that works, I hope you understand what I'm on about. That's a great way to end a post I reckon.

Oh and yes, I am a big Travis fan.