This is the beginning of a writing project about eBooks and public libraries.
Exactly no one will read this when it is posted. No one is waiting for our thoughts. But in case someone reads something that we write in a week, a month or a year, we will leave this note behind to explain who we are, what this is, and why we did it.
We met during the pandemic, virtually, as most people did during that time. We were introduced by our mutual colleague Ilona Kish. Probably we were the only two people who forced her to listen to long winding stories about eBook lending. Maybe she recognized two kindred spirits. Perhaps she was trying to save herself several hours a month. Regardless, we owe her a debt.
We are from different libraries, countries and continents, but we are united by the belief that the act of lending books electronically is consequential to the present and future of public libraries in Western Europe and the United States. And we share views that are slightly unorthodox for the public library sector.
Over the past several years we have given talks and written papers about eBooks and public libraries. However, more of our thoughts are locked up in our heads, squirreled away in unpublished documents or floating in ongoing conversations between the two of us. This increasingly feels unsatisfactory for three reasons:
- Each document we write or talk we give only tells part of the story. We believe that putting together our thoughts may add up to something larger and more coherent.
- We have been wrestling with these problems separately but suspect that doing so together may sharpen our thinking.
- Libraries are struggling with the problem of eBooks in real time. Our patrons are changing, the world is changing, and our institutions are changing, constantly. We do not have all of the answers, but we believe that the act of writing and thinking out loud, in public, may improve the clarity of our thoughts.
So then, what is this? This is an effort to share things we have already written, things we are writing together, discussions we have had or are having, the brilliant thoughts of others, in one place to ask the question: what is the future of eBooks and public libraries?
Beyond that, we’re still figuring it out. This is the beginning after all. An introduction to let readers know where we started. And perhaps, to let us know how far we have traveled when we get to the end.
-Luke and Mikkel
P.S. A brief note about the title of this blog. We called it this for three reasons:
- Naming is hard.
- It is technically true. Mikkel is in Copenhagen and Luke is in New York.
- We thought it was funny.
Intercontinental Dialogue on eBooks and Public Libraries 