Greenfield Public Library Joins Statewide E-book Buying Pool

Digital downloads of electronic books (e-books) are growing in popularity, and the plans on keeping up with the times.

The library, along with the Milwaukee County Federated Library System (MCFLS), is participating in a statewide program to purchase $1 million in new content in 2012 for the Digital Download Center, which is accessible through the library’s online catalog.

Available to all Wisconsin residents, the Digital Download Center offers e-books, audio books, videos and music that can be download to devices like iPods and other MP3 players, Kindles, Sony eReaders, Nooks, and iPads, to name a few.

"This is an exciting project that will dramatically expand the offerings from the (Wisconsin Public Library Consortium's) Digital Download Center," said Sheila O’Brien, Director of the Greenfield Public Library. "Our investment is just a reallocation of a small portion of our library’s planned 2012 acquisitions budget, so it’s not an addition to our operating expenses."

The project took flight in May of this year when the Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning (DLTCL) of the Department of Public Instruction sponsored a statewide e-book summit. The primary recommendation from that summit was the need to establish a statewide e-book buying pool. A committee from the summit, along with the WPLC, set a target goal of allocating $1 million for e-books and audio book purchases, a goal that has since been met.

In addition to the $700,000 in funding from the state’s 17 library systems and their 385 member public libraries, the DPI has earmarked $300,000 for the e-book purchasing pool with anticipated federal grant funds.

"The potential of the Digital Download Center has never been realized because of inadequate funding," O’Brien said. "The Digital Download Center now offers about 5,000 titles, but this collection will grow dramatically in 2012. The $1 million infusion will make this a very robust online library of downloadable materials."

While all new titles will not be available immediately, the purchase of new titles has already begun and will continue throughout 2012 and beyond.