With Amazon announcing its new line of Kindles today, one of which is a tablet that may or may not put a dent in iPad sales, it is only appropriate to also talk about the impact an increasingly digital culture has on books and the access to them.
There was a thoughtful article in the Technology Review recently, Will E-Books Destroy the Democratizing Effects of Reading?. In it, the author notes,
One in five children in the U.S. lives below the poverty line, and those numbers are likely to increase as the world economy continues to work through a painful de-leveraging of accrued debt. In the past, the only thing a child needed to read a book was basic literacy, something that our public education system in theory still provides.
And don’t forget the library card. While libraries are by no means free, we pay for them with our taxes, they are a public good that comes from everyone agreeing to contribute a little in order to reap a lot.
E-books, well there really isn’t anything completely free about them. Sure, you can get lots of free e-books from Project Gutenberg, but you can’t read them unless you have an e-reader or a computer. And if a person is living in poverty and having to decide between paying rent or feeding the family, even a cheap second-hand e-read or computer with internet access is beyond their means.
We now have to consider not only a literacy gap but also a digital book divide. In the push to go digital, where does that leave the poor among us? Libraries are, as always, wedged into the middle. They try to provide print books and digital books but with budgets getting cut by the week, something has to give. Budget allocations in libraries are increasingly giving bigger and bigger chunks to digital content. This means that funds to buy books are smaller.
Some libraries have a small number of e-readers available for patrons to borrow but the wait time for them is usually lengthy. Clearly, a library is not going to be able to supply their patrons with e-readers.
So what is a person living in poverty to do? I don’t have any answers, but I think it is an important issue that needs to be raised so we can start talking about it now, during the print to digital transition, instead of when we are all digital and suddenly wondering how to fix it.
You seem to be making the assumption that print books are going away. I don’t believe they will, at least not anytime soon.
Just like any new technology, reading digitally has started out only being available to wealthier people. Bear in mind that when traditional books were first produced, they too were only available to the wealthiest in society. Things gradually changed (the price of books came down, libraries were introduced etc.) and books became accessible to everyone. The same thing will happen with any technology over time.
In the meantime there are lots and lots of paper books just waiting to be read.
‘Bear in mind that when traditional books were first produced, they too were only available to the wealthiest in society. Things gradually changed (the price of books came down, libraries were introduced etc.)’
Before the technology you’re talking about became available to the masses, the masses couldn’t read. Literacy among poorer levels of society was incredibly low. It’s fine to take a historical viewpoint of change and see that technological spread will happen eventually, but during that time real people are missing out. And if resources from paper books are diverted into e-pub projects, or just prioritised down because the wealthier sections of society are putting their money into epub endeavours, then technological spread won’t be coming fast for many.
It’s important to keep an eye on it, because big corporations control how we can access our media as the video/dvd shift has shown. Right now it’s hard to see how books could ever disappear, but we’ve seen the related precedent, although the fact that mp3s haven’t done away with cds totally yet may mean we’ve seen two differing precedents. Maybe we should keep an eye on the music industry to see what it final does with cds…
This is something I worry about, too. It’s hard enough getting kids to books as it is, but to have an added barrier in the form of technology could make it an insurmountable prospect. The only thing that brings some hope to me is that the publishers at the last literary event I attended (back in April) said that publishing had always been a multi-media enterprise, with hardbacks and paperbacks and audio books. So they were still seeing ereaders as another format, not the only format. I think things are a little behind the US here in the UK, too, as the last newspaper survey I read suggested over 90% of readers still preferred real books. But I am all for anticipating problems before landing feet first in them.
Stephanie, yes, I do assume that print books will eventually go away or become a specialty market. It won’t happen tomorrow, we are a long way from there which gives us time to think about all the implications. The price of e-readers has dropped significantly, the newest basic Kindle is $79. But even if it were $50, if a family can’t afford to pay the rent they certainly aren’t going to be buying an e-reader. Nor will they be able to afford the internet access necessary to download books even from the lilbrary. Digital provides more access to the haves and puts up all kinds of barriers for the have-nots. And even if there remains an abundance of books, libraries aren’t buying as many as they used to and are getting rid of older ones and canceling print magazine subscriptions in favor of digital.
Jodie, you make some good points about the history of literacy and about access to media being consolidated into the hand of corporations. I was thinking this morning about how scary it is that Apple and Amazon control the gates to so much. Even in the library world, databases that used to be owned by lots of different companies are slowly being bought up so that access there as well is controlled by a few giant companies who get to set the rules. Cds and DVDs have not disappeared yet but I keep reading about their shrinking market so I think it is only a matter of time. And even if print books don’t completely disappear, which I hope they don’t, that market too will shrink and print books will probably become more expensive in the process putting up another barrier to access.
Litlove, I am glad I am not the only one who worries about these things. That is good news from the publishers you’ve talked to. But cynical me can’t help but think that while it may be a duel existence for now, 50-100 years in the future it might not be. Asmore and more people become accustomed to e-books, there will be fewer and fewer who have a special attachment to print books especially now that enhanced e-books are showing up on the market.
These thoughts make me so worried and uncomfortable that I am actually going to employ my usual strategy when faced with issues that I can’t really do anything about (except to keep patronizing my library, paying my fees and buying real books), and not worry about it right now. But, ugh.
On a related and somewhat ironic note, although I haven’t been tempted to purchase an e-reader, my friend said today that she is going to buy a Fire thingie and is going to give me her one-year-old Kindle. Which makes me happy, because now I can asses (for free) if I want to go digital (in some capacity) or not.
Such an interesting point you raise. As an elementary school teacher (of many years
, I see the divide ever increasing. Schools were created for an equal opportunity that all children should have a chance at a good education. Now we are playing catch-up at every turn. Just Monday, we’re offering breakfast for children. I’m so divided on this, that while I certainly want no child to be hungry, where does the boundary lie between school’s responsibility and the home’s? As to how this plays out with e-readers, I can’t imagine the end result. Certainly there will be many homes, many children, many students, nation wide who will not have access to these tools. It seems the gap will continue to grow, and ‘education’ may not be available to everyone afterall.
These are some good & sobering points.
The combination of lack of access to e-readers for those living in poverty, and the growing control over the e-market by just a couple of mega-corporations, suggests a couple of dystopian information-dissemination scenarios, doesn’t it. I can imagine a 1984-style situation in which Applezon would be altering information digitally & disseminating to all e-devices without the knowledge of readers, and the “ghetto” of old hoarded paperbacks would be the only repository of the original versions of those books or that information. Of course, that takes a pretty rosy view of what ends up in history books to begin with.
“Applezon” –Heh.
And I think, even if books don’t go away for a long time, it’s another whole case of haves and have-nots. Public libraries were a grand ideal of democratising access to literature, to the world’s knowledge. But now some people will not be able to access some things … that, to me, waters down the ideal. Great post.
BTW Stefanie I read the first para of this post yesterday and hived off to the new Kindle page – so glad they have a touch version now (the clicking to turn pages bothers one’s bed partner if they want to sleep!) and the prices are coming down as you say – but I guess I’ll stick with my Kindle 3 for a while. Can’t upgrade my eReader every year!!
I don’t think this is a significant aspect of the digital divide at this point. Ebooks are a luxury/convenience item right now, a supplement to what is already available in print form. I don’t see libraries converting entirely to ebooks any time soon considering the restrictive licensing terms and all the expenses associated with continual upgrading. An ebook is a liability for its entire life span, with nothing for the book sale at the end! So I think the situation will continue as it is, with a lot more materials available than there are people interested in them. There is a literacy divide for sure, but it’s not because of technology. If anything ebooks will make reading more enticing. A new ereader may be expensive now, but soon the more durable ones will filter down to the used market and be accessible to more people. You can now get Nintendos for a few bucks at the thrift store, and perhaps we’ll see ereaders there soon. Throw in a cheap SD card or connect to a library computer and you’re all set.
Daphne, they are worrisome and uncomfortable issues to think about but I believe we do need to think about them before the problems become insurmountable. But on the lighter note, very cool that your friend is giving you her Kindle when she gets her Fire tablet. I predict that you will like e-books quite a lot.
Bellezza, you are on the front lines aren’t you? I imagine some days are really hard. Schools will likely have to deal with the gap before anyone else does but we can’t expect school to provide an e-reader to every kid. I suppose if it comes to it, the rich schools will find a way to do this but, as always, the poorer schools will be left behind. It makes me sad just to think about it and the colossal waste of potential.
Emily, Applezon is an excellent coinage! I am with you on that dystopian vision and I am generally an optimistic person but the world is making it hard to maintain a sunny outlook lately. I laughed at you history book comment. It is, unfortunately a sad and disturbing thing when a bunch of conservatives from Texas can dictate a certain view of history that is then taught to kids all over the country simply because they buy more textbooks. One can only hope that teachers bring in additional information for their students.
Whisperinggums, thanks! You, my librarian friend, and I, are on the same page in our view of the role of libraries and access to information. Libraries try so hard to overcome the barriers but they will not be able to solve this one on their own. The new line of Kindles is pretty, isn’t it? I think the touch looks marvelous but I just got my Kindle 3 earlier this year and, as my Bookman said about his Kindle 2, it still works just fine so he sees no reason to upgrade.
Sylvia, ah, your optimism in the face of it all is impressive! I hope your sunnier view prevails
It makes me sad, too, especially when it comes to children who are quite helpless as to their financial status. That’s why I try to offer them the world the best I can, even though I am quite limited…
You make great points about what things are available to the poor. Kind of scary to see how quickly things are becoming digital when you think of that…
Bellezza, ah, what a good teacher you are!
Rebecca, thanks! The speed of change can definitely be scary especially when we are in danger of leaving so many behind.
A few things: First of all, I’m also of the belief that eBooks and print books will coexist for years to come. ’nuff said.
However: I think that the best comparison we can make for this question is the computer. A decade ago, not everyone owned or had access to a computer and it could therefore not be required for students and work and forms, or whatever. But today computers have become utterly ubiquitous – a person who doesn’t have a computer is like a person who doesn’t have a fridge. At the very least, there are dozens of computers available at every local library for those who perhaps can’t afford to buy one. And we’re expected to use them. More to the point, there are many things we cannot do without a computer today, particularly for students (my high school teachers required all students to type and print homework assignments and projects).
eReaders can be seen something like that. Assuming they become so ubiquitous that print books get phased out (though again, I doubt this will happen), society will adjust itself such that everyone will have access to books. Yes, this means libraries will go digital, schools will have digital libraries, schools may even offer eReaders to poorer students… I don’t think there can ever be a situation in which someone wishes to read and cannot simply because they can’t afford it.
This is a legitimate concern, though. Should the tides turn to an all-digital future, we need to ensure that the transition is smooth, that knowledge remains available forever and that the concept of a public library (even if in a slightly different format) remains intact. I don’t think we’ve reached that stage yet, but you’re right – it’s time to start thinking about it.