St. Cloud Readers Still Favor Paper Over E-books

ST. CLOUD -- Whether it's the smell of opening a new book or the feel of the pages, adult readers in the U.S. still favor paper over e-books, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.  Paper also takes the win for readers in St. Cloud.

Jami Trenam is the Associate Director of Collective Development at Great River Regional Library. She says although e-books are growing, only six percent of their users utilize the digital library.

"In the fall of 2015, we conducted a user survey. we found over 90 percent of the respondents indicated that the number one reason they use the library is still for that print material says Trenam"

Trenam says they try to provide their readers with both e-books and paperbacks. However, libraries face challenges when it comes to licensing e-books.

"Libraries actually have different licensing issues. When we purchase an e-book, we are actually licensing it. We don't actually own it like the print material. The dollars we spend on digital material don't stress as far as they do for the print material".

Although, the public library has been closed since August 17,  after an arsonist set fire in the upper level of the library. Trenam says they can't wait to reopen.

"We can't wait until people are waiting outside the doors to come in. The one thing that I have taken away from this is, people really love their public library and want to see us back. And we want to be back as soon as possible"