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The German Library Association (dbv) has taken a position on the "Fair Reading" campaign, which claims that public libraries are destroying the e-book market and compromising freedom of speech. The dbv argues that these claims are based on false information. Libraries must acquire a license for each e-book they wish to lend, and each e-book can only be read by one person at a time. The borrowing of e-books is limited to library customers with a library card. The dbv further demands a legal regulation for e-book lending, in order to enable libraries to purchase e-book licenses for new releases and to fairly compensate authors. [Extracted from the article]

The article presents a table of contents for the April 2015 issue of the library science periodical "Bibliotheksdienst" on topics including library lending of electronic books, evaluations and comparisons of libraries, and the establishment of a standardized customer satisfaction survey for patrons of college libraries in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. A list of editors of the periodical is offered, the publication of the periodical by the Walter De Gruyter company is announced, and information is provided on the periodical's open access publishing credentials.

Different suppliers offer libraries the possibility of e-lending: Library users can 'borrow' e-books, e-music or e-papers. Similarly to the traditional borrowing of print media the users can now download a book for a certain loan period, place a hold on an e-book etc. The following article illustrates the problems of e-lending regarding minor users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the transition, challenges and strategies of public libraries to the digital age on the example of the Main Library of Vienna, Austria. The library improved its accessibility, created new working space for e-readers, and division into college-areas to improve their flexibility. Other topics mentioned were integration and presence of social media at the library, devolpment of digital choices such as ebooks, and the use of the internet at the library.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) has seen tremendous growth in demand from our patrons for popular e-content in recent years. This article illustrates some of the Library's key successes and challenges surrounding popular-interest e-content in the context of the evolving U.S. marketplace. NYPL began offering e-content via ebooks.nypl.org in 2004, when it entered into partnership with Overdrive, the primary e-content vendor to U.S. public libraries. That year the Library offered a start-up collection consisting of 5,992 e-books bringing in 5,227 checkouts. For the 12 months leading up to March of 2011, this same site brought in 387,959 checkouts of from a collection in excess of 59,000 items. These statisctics, when combined with the rest of NYPL's popular digital offerings, rank the Library's popular e-content collection #2 in circulation among its 90 circulating locations. The e-content marketplace is complex and evolving. If there is one constant theme throughout our experience since 2004, it is that forward momentum has steadily increased -- not just in technology, but in the availability of attractive content and the level at which consumers are embracing an e-literate lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a conference, held in Weimar, Germany, on May 27-28, 2011, which discussed how electronic books have affected and changed study, teaching, and research in universities. Special topics included future technological and economic developments in the electronic book market like the emergence of commercial platforms competing with public and academic libraries, changing relationships between librarians and library users, and the effect of e-books on reading habits.