公共图书馆与亚马逊之争

    巴克莱银行的报告显示，亚马逊的数字图书业务是否将受到侵蚀在很大程度上取决于公众是否意识到可以从图书馆借阅电子书。尽管从图书馆借阅电子书的人数在不断增加，但知道可以这样做的人依然相对较少。皮尤互联网与美国生活项目（Pew Internet & American Life）去年的一项调查发现，31％的公众知道可以从图书馆借阅电子书，这一比例较2011年的24%有所上升。皮尤研究中心发现，仅有5%的人真正借阅过至少一本电子书，此前一年的比例为3%。

    克里斯托弗•普拉特说：“电子书变得越来越重要，我们预期这类图书的重要性还将持续提升。数字图书不是一项精品服务，它是未来图书馆的重要组成部分。”普拉特带领的团队为纽约和布鲁克林的多家公共图书馆提供技术支持。

    纽约公共图书馆（The New York Public Library）拥有8.4万种电子书。在截止今年4月份的9个月中，这家图书馆共借出了1,100万册图书，其中7.3%是电子书。

    这位巴克莱分析师在他的报告中没有提到的一件事是，亚马逊正尝试着在图书馆内展开营销活动。亚马逊是为数不多的几家与OverDrive公司（一家为图书馆提供电子书目录的机构）合作的书商之一。如果人们在图书馆搜索书目时找不到他们想看的书籍、CD或DVD，他们或许会看到屏幕上亚马逊网站的“现在购买”按钮。不是把自己的名字添加在等候名单后面，而是可以直接从亚马逊购买一本书，然后等着在家门口收货就行。

    “亚马逊愿意支持社区，”亚历山大图书馆馆长露丝•道森说。“这样做其实会吸引更多人去他们那里购物。”几周前，道森开始把这家图书馆的读者与亚马逊连接在一起。

    图书馆具有与亚马逊合作的经济动机——它们可以从每一笔销售额中提取大约10%的佣金。在这样一个预算大幅削减的时代，图书馆很难放弃这样一笔额外收入。像亚历山大图书馆一样，一些图书馆也在它们的网站主页设置了一个亚马逊按钮。从理论上来说，除书籍之外，公众还可以通过这个按钮购买电视、电脑和猫粮等商品。

    然而，在去年一直测试这个项目的纽约公共图书馆，销售收入却差强人意。除了亚马逊，图书馆的读者还可以在巴诺书店（Barnes & Noble）和IndieBound书店购买图书。那么这家图书馆究竟从这三家零售商赚取了多少收入呢？只有区区800美元。（财富中文网）

    译者：任文科

    Public awareness that libraries lend e-books will play a key role in whether Amazon's digital book business erodes, Barclays said. As it is, relatively few people know about borrowing digital books, although their numbers are growing. A survey last year by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 31% of the public was aware that libraries lend e-books, up from 24% in 2011. Only 5% of people actually had checked out a digital book compared with 3% in the prior year, Pew found.

    "E-books are becoming more important, and we do expect them to grow going forward," said Christopher Platt, director of the joint technology team for the New York and Brooklyn public libraries. "Digital is not a boutique service. It's part of the future of the library."

    The New York Public Library has 84,000 e-book titles available. Of the 11 million books checked out during the nine-month period ending in April, 7.3% were e-books.

    One thing the Barclays analyst failed to mention in his report is that Amazon is trying to market itself within libraries. Amazon is among a handful of booksellers that have partnered with OverDrive, a company that supplies libraries with e-book catalogues. People who search a catalogue may see an Amazon "Buy it Now" button if a book, CD, or DVD they want is unavailable. Instead of putting their name on a waiting list, people can simply buy a copy from Amazon and have it shipped to their doorstep.

    "Amazon is willing to support the community," said Rose Dawson, director of the Alexandria Library, which started connecting its patrons with Amazon a few weeks ago. "It will actually draw more people to them."

    Libraries have a financial incentive to play along. For every sale, libraries get a commission of around 10%. It's hard to pass up on the extra money in an era of deep budget cuts. Some libraries like Alexandria's also place an Amazon button on their home pages, which the public can use, in theory, to buy televisions, computers, and cat food in addition to books.

    Sales, however, have been modest at the New York Public Library, which has been testing the program for the past year. In addition to Amazon, library patrons can shop at Barnes & Noble and IndieBound. So how much has the library earned from the three retailers? Just $800.