A newsletter for friends and employees of Georgia's public libraries

volume 10, issue 3 I December 2012

Georgia's e-book use up 337 percent in 2012

According to the American Library Association's "State
of America's Libraries Report 2012," the proportion of U.S. libraries that made e-books available almost doubled during the past five years, climbing from 38.3 percent to 67.2 percent.
In Georgia, the percentage is even higher, with 73 percent of the state's libraries offering e-books. Some have even begun loaning e-readers to enable more of their patrons to take advantage of the new technology.
Georgia's public libraries loaned 386,243 e-books in fiscal year 2012, up a whopping 337 percent from the previous year's total of 114,559, but still only a fraction of 1 percent of total materials circulation.
"We have offered e-books since about 2006," said Claudya Muller, director of the Columbus-based, sevenbranch Chattahoochee Valley Libraries. "They make sense for us and for all libraries. If we do not meet people where they are with reading, they will forget libraries exist."
A June 2012 report from the Pew Research Center entitled "Libraries, Patrons, and E-books" states that "47 percent of younger Americans read long-form e-content such as books, magazines or newspapers. E-content readers under age 30 are more likely than older e-content readers to say that they are reading more these days due to the availability of e-content (40 percent vs. 28 percent)."
"This group of younger Americans, who will constitute

the next wave of adult public library users and supporters, wants and reads e-books," said Donna Brumby, assistant director for regional services for the Athens Regional Library System (ARLS). "E-books are revolutionizing the publishing industry. Now is the time to stake the public library's claim in the future of reading, which is electronic."
Leard Daughety, director of the Dublin-based Oconee Regional Library, agrees that e-books are affecting collection development strategies.
"Because of growing popularity, the purchase of ebooks will dramatically increase in the next three to five years," Daughety said. "The numbers will be based on pricing, borrowing period and demand. But long-term, the availability to low-income patrons who cannot afford the technology will be critical -- especially in lower population/rural areas.
"The gap between the haves and the have-nots is going to increase dramatically," he said, if the funding isn't there to support the shift. "More and more, I sense the real possibility that the number of those not receiving library service in Georgia is going to increase greatly. Issues that were once thought to be seven to 10 years away will have to be resolved in the next two to five years," Daughety said.
Library Journal's Fall 2012 Patron Profiles report indicates that 55 percent of e-book borrowers See E-books, page 3

Staff

Staff

Guest column
Crowds still flock to public libraries

By Stephen Milligan WaltonTribune.com
I didn't expect a big crowd at the Walnut Grove Public
Library.

One of the many tasks we undertake at The Tribune is the occasional ribbon cutting, dedication and similar events. They're relatively simple events, as we arrive, camera in hand, and take a picture of a dozen or so people smiling cheerfully as they slice open a ribbon with comically large scissors. Quick, in-and-out events with minimal fuss, they're the bread and butter of community news.
So, when I drew up to the library Thursday evening for the new structure's dedication, I wasn't anticipating what I got.
First of all, I had to park on the street rather than the parking lot, as the lot was already filled to the brim. And I wasn't the only one with a small hike to the library.
When I walked in, the dozen or so dignitaries and stakeholders I expected were there, all right. So were about three dozen others. The place was packed.
And buzzing. This was an excited crowd, and not just for the cake served after the ribbon was sliced in half. Everyone there -- city officials, library employees, community leaders, book lovers and more -- was very happy to finally be inside a public library intended for little old Walnut Grove.

Mayor Lamar Lee of Walnut Grove and Library Manager Amy Hicks led the group of city commissioners, library board members, friends and employees in welcoming the public to the Uncle Remus Regional Library System's new Walnut Grove Library on Nov. 1.
Former Mayor Don Cannon, who spearheaded the push for the library and still is involved with the library as part of the board of trustees, nearly exploded he was so swollen with pride to see his dream made brick and mortar. It was a look on many faces.
It's good to see people still in love with libraries. In an age of e-books and near-universal Internet access, the library is still there, a refuge and a shelter for all, with any type of book you could want on hand for any occasion.
There were a few children, brought by their parents to the event, and watching them as they ran from shelf to shelf, two or three books in hand, left me satisfied the future of the library is secure.

Honestly, I was one of them. I love libraries, of all shapes and sizes, and I was content to roam the shelves and take in the selections on display. For a small, start-up library, the building already has a pretty good variety of volumes, and I was tempted to grab a few here and there.
Others were as well. In between the glad handing and friendly discussions, many patrons were looking at the shelves, applying for a new library card or just flipping through one book or another.
It was enough to make this constant reader's heart swell.

It's not a real town without a library -- before, you're just a place to live with a name on a sign. A library is part of what makes a community unite, and it's good to see Walnut Grove join the ranks of such cities.
I look for growth at the Walnut Grove Public Library. I hope to see the shelves fill up with more books and look for more shelves when there's no room left. And I expect I'll drop by every now and then to see how it's doing.
I have to, really. I have to return the four books I checked out before I left. I
2012 WaltonTribune.com. Reprinted with permission.

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Georgia Public Library Service News December 2012

E-books
Continued from page 1 nationwide said they only began reading e-books during the past 12 months.
"We currently have almost 1,500 e-books in our collection," explained Beth McIntyre, director of the Winder-based Piedmont Regional Library System. "In our first three months, more than 92 percent of those titles have been checked out at least once. People are excited about this service. We are bringing many patrons back to the public library and are offering 24-hours-aday/seven-days-a-week service in a way that we've never been able to before."
E-books come with many drawbacks for public libraries, however, and cost is a significant one.
"First, libraries were asked to pay steep annual maintenance fees to access e-books through vendor platforms," ARLS's Brumby explained. "We tried to create consortia to be able to afford access, but vendor platform prices continue to rise. Now some publishers have priced e-books at $80 and up for new adult fiction, so even our consortia dollar strength is diluted."
West Georgia Regional Library is one of the latest systems to begin offering e-books. The service there started on Oct. 1. "We have been working for close to two years to make e-books available to our patrons," said Director Roni Tewksbury. "When we formed our E-Book Selection Committee to spend our initial $10,000 on the ebook collection, we selected one representative from each county in our system.
"It was interesting for them to see how the prices varied and

how some books can cost as much as $80 to $90. After the initial shock, one of the committee members had an insight. She told me, `I got to thinking -- an e-book is a book that will never get lost, never be overdue, won't have coffee spilled on it and won't be stolen; it's forever to our system.' That convinced me that the higher price is worth it."
But then there's the sticky issue of some publishers' rules allowing only a set number of loans -- currently 26 -- before an item must be repurchased. Worse still, said Muller, are the publishers who will not sell e-books to libraries at all.
"It is frustrating to have users want titles on the New York Times best-seller list and to have publishers refuse to sell more than half of them to us," Muller said. "We would love to offer more e-books -- if they were available."
Adrian Mixson, director of the Hall County Library System, acknowledged that the current price structures used by publishers are terrible for public libraries. "But it is as much our own profession's fault as it is the publishers' fault," he said. "We need to accept that publishers and authors must make money. Ebooks have an indefinite lifetime. I believe a universal use rule, similar to the Universal Copyright Convention, might be the fairest option, with authors and publishers getting a set fee every time their book is lent, either physically or electronically."
"It's easy to say we can't afford e-books, but a common public perception nowadays is that books are becoming obsolete and that everything is available on the Internet," said Anne Grace, director of the Elbert County Library. "Even though this isn't true, libraries have to keep changing to fit in the mix,

and having e-books is an important part of the picture."
In other areas of the state, that directive is not as clear-cut.
"I can honestly say that no one has ever asked me about e-books here," said Kathy Griffis, director of the Tifton-based Coastal Plain Regional Library, which is one of the 30 library systems around the state that offers e-books through its membership in the Georgia Download Destination (GADD) consortium. GADD libraries offer ebooks to patrons through Cleveland, Ohio-based OverDrive, a digital distributor of e-books, audiobooks and other digital content, and OverDrive's Digital Library Reserve, a download platform specifically for use by public libraries.
"Without GADD, there is no way we could justify a $50 direct purchase for one e-book that would be good for only 26 circulations," Griffis said.
After cost and availability considerations, another issue is how best to enable patrons to browse electronic collections. As e-book platforms and providers multiply, librarians are concluding that it is critical for libraries to offer patrons single-point access to available ebook titles.
"For most libraries, the initial purchase of e-books is often for hundreds or thousands of titles," explained Elaine Hardy, PINES bibliographic projects and metadata manager. "Generally, vendors make records with searchable links available, either as part of the contract or at additional cost, so that libraries can batch-load the records into their management systems. Most library management systems have had to incorporate
See E-books, page 4

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December 2012 Georgia Public Library Service News

E-books
Continued from page 3 programming changes to get those records to display properly in their online public access catalogs (OPACs), since digital items do not need the barcodes that are linked to many of those items' individual attributes.
"Initially, Georgia's PINES libraries had to wait for technical issues within the Evergreen operating system to be resolved," Hardy continued. "Now that those issues have been addressed, the PINES network is refining the policies and procedures that will ensure records for ebook titles will appear correctly in our database. Unfortunately, with the OverDrive records at least, GADD will have to purchase those records, and that means less money for the purchase of e-books."
Increasing patron awareness of e-books is also a hurdle for many of the state's public library systems. This year's Pew study also found that 58 percent of all library cardholders across the country say they do not know if their local library provides ebook lending services.
"When we introduced e-books in Elbert County last December, we did a lot of publicity, held initial classes in e-book use and put up a sign that is still posted in the front yard letting patrons know that we now offer e-books," Grace said. "We also feature their availability prominently on our website."
Middle Georgia Regional Library began offering e-books in November. "We've received requests to add them several times a day at every branch," said Director Thomas

Staff

Jones. "We issued a press release, added links on our website, put up posters in the library and emailed alert notices to everyone who sent a request for the service," he said.
Many of Georgia's public libraries also promote the availability of e-books through
posts on their Facebook pages and tweets from their Twitter accounts.
"We introduced an `e-book business card,' which folds to that size so it can be kept in a wallet," said McIntyre of Piedmont Regional's awareness efforts. "The card includes a snazzy QR code so you can go straight to our online e-book site with your mobile device. We distribute the e-book cards throughout the community, and almost every student in the region's public schools has an e-book card to facilitate e-book use for school assignments."
Some Georgia library systems aren't stopping their array of electronic offerings with e-books.
"We recently began to offer emagazines, too," explained Christian Kruse, director of the Live Oak Public Libraries in Savannah. "With more than 200 titles covering a wide range of interests, our emagazines have become very

popular in a short time. As e-book prices and availability continue to be in flux, e-magazines are a fantastic opportunity to offer e-content that our users enjoy. And because many titles are weeklies, new content is always readily available."
Still, more than 20 of Georgia's 61 public library systems do not yet offer ebooks, leaving approximately 27 percent of Georgians with
no access to e-books at their public libraries beyond what is available online and through GALILEO, the state's virtual library.
Brumby said she believes that statewide availability and promotion of e-books and other electronic resources would go a long way toward raising awareness that Georgia's public libraries are in the forefront of information relevance. "The people of Georgia need to know that their taxes are providing the best possible library services -- including e-book access -- for everyone," she said.
Julie Walker, deputy state librarian, concurs. "In our recent series of strategic planning focus groups around the state, e-books and their availability were at the top of many people's lists," she said.
"Part of the role of Georgia Public Library Service is to ensure that all library users have access to a broad range of materials and services. Ebooks may be another area in which a statewide initiative may be required to guarantee that opportunity to all those who want it. We will continue to work with our colleagues around the state and across the nation to monitor trends and shifts in e-book use and to negotiate with publishers to help achieve a fair solution for public libraries." I

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Georgia Public Library Service News December 2012

New GALILEO interface streamlines content searches

GALILEO users are discovering an easier, more
streamlined way to search and retrieve content from the hundred-plus information databases, digital collections and other resources offered to them by Georgia's Virtual Library.

toward this type of "discovery layer" search capability for more than a year, receiving approval from the GALILEO Steering Committee this past spring to implement EBSCO's Discovery ServiceTM application programming interface.

Introduced in October, the new "Discover GALILEO" interface simplifies the search process for the novice as well as for the sophisticated searcher -- and everyone in between -- by searching almost all GALILEO resources at once. Results can be sorted by relevance or date, and customers can easily refine searches by format, source, collection and more. The new tool replaces the previous federated search function, which searched GALILEO resource indexes one at a time.
Discover GALILEO uses a different approach, combining resource indexes into one master index, explained Merryll Penson, executive director of Library Services for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. "This makes for a faster, more customizable list of results," she said.
GALILEO staff members have been exploring a move

"This is a significant leap forward for GALILEO," said Alan Harkness, assistant state librarian for Library Development. "It makes searches much easier for everyone. Students can get better results for homework, while the general public can find more helpful consumer and health information."

Possibly the most notable

Harkness

advantage of simultaneously searching resources is that

users often get results from places that they might not

have thought about. "Most people don't care where the

information comes from; they just want the results they

need, and they expect that we'll give them reliable

information from reputable sources," Harkness said. "But

this tool broadens results in a targeted way, delivering

many positive surprises for the user."

Courtesy Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System

Harkness noted that the Discover GALILEO interface should get even better over time, as GALILEO staff tweak the tool's effectiveness. "Anyone who has ever been frustrated with a GALILEO search in the past needs to give it another try now," he said. "The difference is really amazing."

Ready for the Big Read
Students and library lovers (from left) Jah-Sun Bass, Talisha Hopkins and Shanquisha Dennis enjoy Ernest Gaines' "A Lesson Before Dying" at the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library (AFPL) System's Carver Homes Branch, as the system gears up for the Big Read. AFPL was awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts to support this "One Community/One Book" event in February and March 2013. The competitive award encourages community-building, dialog and, most importantly, reading. Participants throughout Fulton County will be reading Gaines' popular 1993 book and participating in personal and community discussions about it. AFPL plans for a series of programs around the Big Read throughout its 34 branches.

Users should note that a few popular GALILEO resources cannot logically be included as part of the new Discovery search. These include genealogy resources such as Heritage Quest or Ancestry Plus, which is not available outside of the library; and the online testing preparation resources that are included in Learning Express Library and RB Test Prep. These must still be launched separately within GALILEO or through Express Links from another web page.
"In the near future, we hope to add public library catalog results to Discover GALILEO, so that customers would literally have to look only in one place for all their information needs," said Harkness.
GALILEO is available in every public library in Georgia and can be accessed from home at www.galileo.usg.edu by using a library-issued password or PINES card number. I
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December 2012 Georgia Public Library Service News

NEWS IN BRIEF



The Peach Public Libraries board of trustees has selected Billy Tripp as its new executive director of libraries. Tripp has worked for the Fort Valley-based system since 1994 and has served as its administrative assistant, technology coordinator, business manager, assistant director and, most recently, as its interim director.
Delana Hickman, who has served as interim director of the Rome-based Sara Hightower Regional Library System since January, has assumed the job on a

permanent basis. Hickman has been with the system since 2004, when she was named coordinator of the Northwest Georgia Talking Book Library.
Jennifer Durham has been named director of the Statesboro Regional Library System, where she has worked since 1993. Prior to serving as interim director, she was the system's assistant director.
Ben Carter is the new assistant director of the ConyersRockdale Library System. Carter previously served as head of Youth Carter Services for the system before joining the Gwinnett Public Library

System for five years, most recently as an assistant branch manager.

Diana Very,

director of LSTA,

Statistics and

Research for

GPLS, has been

elected president

of the Georgia

Library Associa-

tion for 2012-13.

Very joined GPLS

in 2007.

Very

Louise "Lu" Conti retired in November. Her 37 years of service as a librarian include 32 years as manager of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System's Roswell Branch. Leona Bolch, manager of the system's Alpharetta Branch, also retired in November after more than 30 years of service. I

Courtesy Precision Planning Inc. Courtesy Live Oak Public Libraries

Illustrating a point
Author Elizabeth Dulemba addresses attendees at the 2012 Savannah Children's Book Festival on Nov. 10. The annual festival, presented by Live Oak Public Libraries and the city of Savannah, celebrates the joy of reading, the power of the written word and the magic of storytelling with children's book authors and illustrators from around the country. Dulemba is an award-winning illustrator for Highlights Magazine and of several picture books, including Paco and the Giant Chile Plant, The Prince's Diary and three books in the ParentSmart KidHappyTM series.

Fine-tuned Five Forks
After eight months of renovation work, the Gwinnett County Public Library's Five Forks branch in Lawrenceville reopened in mid-October, holding a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 16. The branch features new interior finishes and fixtures, and it now offers a Tech Studio space that provides patrons with access to professional quality software for image/video editing, design and media creation. After a few additional improvements in November, the library will hold a grand reopening celebration for the public on Dec. 1.

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Georgia Public Library Service News December 2012

Staff

Baking pan loans are icing on cake in Towns County
When it comes to inventive ways to
serve the community, the Mountain Regional Library System literally takes the cake.

Thanks to Branch Manager Debbie Phillips and staff and Friends at the Towns County Public Library in Hiawassee, budding bakers can now check out more than 60 symmetrical and novelty-shaped cake pans from their local libraries.
"Debbie is very involved in the community, and I believe she has great insight into what our users want and need," said Donna Howell, director of the system. "She was first in our region to start a collection of Playaway audio resources, the first to stock up on Christian fiction, and now comes this neat collection of cake pans! She is always looking for new ways for the library to meet the needs and wishes of our patrons."
The idea, Phillips said, is not new. "A couple of years ago, I saw online that a library in Iowa had a large collection of pans and that the staff there were amazed at how much they circulated. I talked with

From left, Debbie Phillips and staff members Wilma Ash and Carmen Denton welcome patrons to check out the library's collection of loanable cake pans.

the staff and with Donna, and we agreed we'd try it. Our first few pans were bought on eBay and only cost a few dollars apiece, but people showed interest in them.
"Soon after, one of our patrons, Faye Haas, began looking for them on our behalf at yard and estate sales. Then patrons who were checking out our pans began donating their pans to us."
A few pans serve as rotating decorations above the library's cookbook collection, but most are displayed on two browsable racks near the circulation desk. Library staff wash and sanitize the pans between

loans but still request that borrowers give them a thorough cleaning at home before and after use. Each pan is stored and loaned inside a sealed plastic bag, and most come with instruction sheets and decorating tips. Some of the pans are two-sided, enabling bakers to create freestanding, three-dimensional pieces of edible art.
"Many people tell us stories about and bring in really beautiful pictures of their finished cakes," Phillips said.
With people unable or unwilling to spend $5-$20 for a special cake pan they might only use once, the collection is proving to be popular, especially around the holidays.

Exhibit helps AMLAS celebrate anniversary
The Atlanta Metro Library for Accessible Services (AMLAS) unveiled
its latest art exhibit, featuring the works of Atlanta's David Cannon, in October. The show is an extension of Cannon's first solo show, "Menage," which ended its run at VSA Arts of Georgia's Arts for All Gallery in downtown Atlanta in September. The exhibit helps kick off the first anniversary celebration of AMLAS's relocation to its new home on the fourth floor of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System's Central Library. Walls at AMLAS serve as a gallery featuring rotating works of professional artists who have visual impairments and other disabilities. I

The system has now loaned a cake pan more than 120 times. The normal circulation period for the pans is three days, but that can be extended based on patron need.
"Some people visit the library specifically looking for cake pans," Phillips said. "We've issued several new cards because of this collection. People are just amazed they can get things like this at the library." I

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December 2012 Georgia Public Library Service News

PRSRT STD US POSTAGE
PAID ATLANTA, GA PERMIT NO. 213

CONTACT US
Georgia Public Library Service 1800 Century Place, Suite 150 Atlanta, GA 30345-4304 404.235.7200 404.235.7201 fax www.georgialibraries.org
Lamar Veatch, state librarian
David Baker, editor
Georgia Public Library Service News (ISSN 1546-511X) is published bimonthly by the Georgia Public Library Service, the state agency that supports public libraries and works with them to improve the quality and variety of library services available to Georgia citizens of all ages. This publication is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services to the Georgia Public Library Service under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act. Information presented in this newsletter will be provided in alternative formats on request. For more information about Georgia's libraries and literary events, or to post an event, visit our online calendar at www.georgialibraries.org

Courtesy Lee County Library System

Oakland earns A's
The Lee County Library System held a grand opening of its fourth branch, the Oakland Library and Conference Center, on Oct. 30. The $5.2-million facility is divided into three distinct areas: a 15,000-square-foot library, a 1,900-squarefoot coffee shop and a 7,600-square-foot conference center that can be used for weddings or other functions. Eddie Hinman, chairman of the Lee County Library board, said the new facility was designed to serve between 20 and 30 percent of the county's population, primarily those residents in the southern areas, which had no branch closer than Leesburg.

1800 Century Place, Suite 150 Atlanta, GA 30345-4304
A Unit of the University System of Georgia