E-Reading Surveys: More Tablets; Lenders into Buyers

E-book consumers are increasingly shifting to tablets from dedicated e-readers as their first choice for reading e-books, according to the fourth and final installment in Volume Three of the Book Industry Study Group's Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading Survey, powered by Bowker.

In August, the Amazon Fire was cited by 17% of e-book consumers as their first choice for reading e-books, up from zero the previous August, while B&N's Nook has risen to 7% from 2%. Apple's iPad has remained at about 10%. Tablets thus now are the first choice for about a third of the e-reading public. At the same time, dedicated e-reading devices have slid in popularity in direct proportion to the growth of tablets.

Some 38% of frequent readers--people who purchase e-books at least weekly--indicated that tablets are their primary e-reading device, compared to 19% a year earlier. Dedicated e-reading devices slipped to less than half from more than two-thirds a year earlier.

The survey findings are available for sale both as a PDF Summary Report and as a complete data compendium, accessible online. A substantial discount is available for BISG members. For more information, go to bisg.org.

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Library e-book patrons buy an average of 3.2 books (both print and digital) a month and 53% would considering buying books discovered on a library website, according to an online poll of e-book readers conducted in June and July and sponsored by OverDrive with the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy.

Some 57% of respondents said that the public library is their primary source of book discovery. 44% said their e-book purchases have increased in the past six months. And 35% purchased a book (print or e-book) after borrowing a copy of it.

Devices on which e-books borrowed by patrons of libraries were read included dedicated readers (84%); desktop or laptop PCs (20%); smartphones (19%); and tablets (18%). Mobile devices are increasingly popular for e-book reading.

To see the full survey, go to OverDrive's Digital Library Blog.

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