April 27, 2024

George Coe on App Fatigue, Title Level ROI, and other aspects of the Digital Shift

On October 14, Library Journal and School Library Journal will host their sixth annual virtual conference, “The Digital Shift: Libraries Connecting Communities.” Baker & Taylor Inc. is a Gold Sponsor of the conference, and LJ reached out to George Coe, George F. Coe, President and CEO of Baker & Taylor, to participate in this series of interviews addressing libraries’ evolving role in using the latest technology to connect patrons to the information, tools, and services that they need—and to one another.

Getting to E: The State of the School Ebook Market

School libraries are moving toward ebook adoption; the question is how fast.

Ebook Vendors Anticipate Big Five Licensing Terms Becoming More Flexible

After years of expressing concern about the potential impact that library lending might have on consumer sales, major publishers have good cause to take another look at the library market for ebooks, according to executives from library ebook distributors OverDrive, 3M, and Baker & Taylor. With consumer sales growth slowing, bolstering institutional sales will likely become more of a priority for major publishers. OverDrive CEO Steve Potash noted that publishers, like all for-profit companies, are always looking for growth, and “there’s still a lot a growth in institutions, and there [are] significant opportunities for growth in education…. If retail is flattening, you have to experiment.”

With All “Big Five” Ebooks Now Available, Ebook Vendors Assess the Road Ahead

Shortly after Simon & Schuster’s June 26 announcement that it had concluded a 15-month pilot test and would make its entire ebook catalog available to all U.S. libraries, Macmillan last week announced that it will make all frontlist ebook titles available to U.S. libraries as well. These moves mark a milestone in terms of the availability of popular ebooks, as Macmillan and Simon & Schuster became the final two of the “big five” publishers to allow U.S. libraries to license and loan all titles in their ebook collections.

Library Vendors Make Business Case to Publishers | BEA 2014

"The Untapped Retail Channel: Public Libraries” panel on Friday, May 30 at the 2014 BookExpo America (BEA) conference in New York

When ebooks or other digital materials are not readily available in libraries, publishers “are missing a key conduit to a market that [they] can’t tap any other way,” Rebecca T. Miller, editorial director for Library Journal and School Library Journal, stated in her opening remarks for the “The Untapped Retail Channel: Public Libraries” panel on Friday, May 30 at the 2014 BookExpo America (BEA) conference in New York. Leaders from top library ebook and streaming media companies weighed in on this issue during an hour-long discussion.

Baker & Taylor, collectionHQ Launch ESP, a Predictive Collection Development Tool

collectionHQ logo

Baker & Taylor (B&T) and its collection management subsidiary collectionHQ announced the launch of ESP (Evidence-based Selection Planning), an optional feature for collectionHQ that aims to predict system-wide and branch-level demand for books, ebooks, and other materials, including newly published items. The feature works by analyzing a library’s circulation history using collectionHQ, while leveraging data from B&T’s online collection development and ordering system Title Source 360.

Ebooks for Youth Encourage Reading For Fun | The Digital Shift 2013

Mesquite Independent School District Logo

If schools want their students to become readers for life, then school libraries should be sure to include fiction ebooks as they build their digital collections, Debbie Swartz, Library Technology Facilitator, Mesquite (TX) Independent School District (ISD), noted during her “Meeting Students Where THEY Learn,” presentation during The Digital Shift: Reinventing Libraries, hosted by Library Journal and School Library Journal.

Penguin Ebooks Return to OverDrive, Go National on Axis 360

“Penguin will resume doing business with OverDrive as of this morning,” Penguin spokesperson Erica Glass told LJ on September 25. According to a blog post by Karen Estrovich, collection development manager for OverDrive, 17,000 Penguin ebooks are already “live and available for purchase in OverDrive Marketplace.” Although Estrovich refers to the transaction as a purchase, the books are being offered for a one year term on a one copy/one user lending model.

Baker & Taylor Releases axisReader for Axis360

Axis 360 logo

Baker & Taylor (B&T) has announced the release of axisReader, a new ereader app developed specifically to work with the company’s Axis 360 digital media platform. The axisReader app is now available for library patrons to install on both Android and Apple iOS tablets and phones via the Google Play store and iTunes.

Polaris ILS, Axis 360 to Integrate Ebook Access

Polaris and Baker & Taylor Axis 360 logos

Polaris Library Systems and Baker & Taylor (B&T) have announced that they are working together to integrate B&T’s Axis 360 digital media platform into the Polaris integrated library system (ILS). The integration will allow patrons to browse, place holds, and check out ebooks digital materials sourced from Axis 360 without navigating away from a library’s catalog.