SWEDISH LIBRARY ASSOCIATION - Svensk Biblioteksförening

E-BOOKSARE HERETO STAYE-book are just one of several formats that public librariesbuy to pass on to their borrowers.E-reading is still in its infancy in Sweden. Here we haveaccess to 5,000 titles while the U.S., perhaps the mostadvanced country in the world when it comes to e-reading,has access to over 1 million titles.E-books have the potential to spread reading to more,and new, groups of readers that libraries would otherwisefind difficult to reach. Access to eBooks in librariesis not only a question of freedom for borrowers in choosingtheir preferred reading format, but it also affects thelibrary’s core mission: to increase reading and providecitizens with free access to information.In terms of the authors’ and publishers’ interests, librariesalso work as shop windows and as an introducer of theindividual authors and their work. The lending of eBookswill help libraries to both increase the accessibility of newand popular books, and introduce a new technology tonew groups. This will be useful for the lending model in thelong run.