The Topeka Shawnee County Public Library has taken on a mission that could end up benefiting public libraries everywhere. Marketing Director Diana Friend says that when the library asked book publishers to make more copies of electronic books available, the publishers balked. They were concerned that people would stop buying hard copies of books.
So the library encouraged people everywhere to sign a petition, asking publishers to release more e-books. Friend says the library has now amassed more than ten thousand signatures from all around the globe...including from places like Australia and Germany. She says that now, the Topeka library just needs to figure out a way to print off a petition big enough to include all the signatures before they send it to the publishers.
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TSCPL Launches E-Book Petition
An effort launched by a Kansas library is now getting a global response. Diana Friend is with the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library. She says publishers were hesitant about making more electronic books available, because of concerns about the sales of books in tangible, hard-copy form. So the library started a petition...and signatures have been coming in from all over the world.
Friend says that more than ten thousand signatures later, the library is preparing to send the petition to six major publishers. That is...she says...as soon as they can find a way to print a single page large enough to contain all the signatures.