電子書 紙質書借閱時代的終結者?大綱
Host: Entertainment is going digital. Music 2)succumbed first and fastest. Movies are now 3)rippable and downloadable to watch anytime, anywhere. And, after much 4)resistance, the 5)stubborn paper book is finally beginning to give itself over to the digital revolution. Last year 5% of the books bought in the US and UK were digital ones, a combination of audio books and e-books. Now that’s obviously small, but it is growing. Now libraries are beginning to offer so-called e-lending, something which started in the US and has made its way across the Atlantic. Now around a quarter of British libraries offer digital book 6)loans.
主持人：娛樂業正走向電子化。音樂是最先也是最快屈服的。如今電影可以在任何時間任何地點被拷貝和下載來看。而頑固的紙質圖書，在作了長期的反抗之後，終於開始改變自己，參與到了電子圖書的革命中來。去年，美國和英國售出的圖書當中，有百分之五是電子書，包括有聲書和電子閱讀器。目前看來它顯然只佔很小的份額，但是卻在增長中。現在，圖書館開始推出所謂的電子借閱方式，這種方式起源於美國，並且向大西洋沿岸國家席捲而來。如今英國有大約四分之一的圖書館提供電子書的借閱服務。
Fiona Marriott (Luton Library): We’ve noticed that, with e-books, we’re getting a new kind of customer in: people who felt that they were too busy to use the library before, or, for example, people who commuted into London every day who were too busy to come in in the evening or too tired, and I have at least two blind customers who are downloading their own audio books now. And they say that’s given them freedom, so that they can actually make their own choice without having to come to the library with a guide.
菲奧納·馬里奧特（盧頓圖書館）：我們注意到，有了電子書後，我們獲得了一個新的用戶羣：以前總感覺太忙而沒法使用圖書館的人們，或者比如說，曾經每天通勤於倫敦市，忙到晚上不能來圖書館又或者太疲憊的人們。而我至少有兩位失明的用戶現在正在下載他們自己的有聲書。他們說這種方式給了他們自由，因此他們可以實實在在地做他們自己的決定而不必非得和嚮導一起來圖書館。
Host: Overdrive is the digital book 8)distributor used by 13,000 libraries worldwide. You can log on to your library through a web browser or using the 9)Smartphone 10)App, and then browse an on-line collection of books. When you see something you like, just click to download it. E-lending means your library is open 11)24/7. No money is spent on staff to issue books or return them to shelves, there are no damaged or lost copies, and there are no late returns.
主持人：Overdrive是全球一萬三千座圖書館使用的電子閱讀器經銷商。你可以通過網絡瀏覽器或者使用智能手機應用程序登錄你的圖書館，然後瀏覽在線藏書。當你看到你喜歡的書時，只要點擊下載就行了。電子借閱方式意味着你的圖書館是全年無休的。不用僱傭人員來發放書籍或者將其放回書架，不會有書籍損壞或者丟失，也不會有遲還的現象發生。
But surely there’s a bit of a logic problem with libraries loaning e-books. After all, if you want an e-book, you don’t physically have to go anywhere to get it. And you’re also not limited by how much stock there is. There’s always an 12)infinite number of copies of any text that you want to download. And that sounds much more convenient than having to pop down to your local library only to find that the one copy of the book they have is already out.
不過圖書館借出電子書的服務無疑還存在一點邏輯問題。畢竟如果你是想要一本電子書的話，你不用親自去某個地方獲取。你也不用受限於該書的庫存量，你想要下載的任何內容都總會有無窮本在那裏。比起你非得去一趟當地圖書館卻發現他們所擁有的唯一一本已經借出去了，這種方式聽起來要便利很多。
The first point doesn’t help the argument of those hoping to keep libraries open in this time of government spending cuts. If libraries did all their lending over the web, well, you wouldn’t need a physical library at all. And the second point about limitless copies for loan could mean that no one would ever need to actually buy a book at all. And that’s, understandably, worrying the book publishers.
在這個政府削減支出的時候，第一點（採用電子借閱方式）對那些希望讓圖書館保持開放的人的觀點毫無益處。如果圖書館全部採用網上借閱方式，那麼，你將根本不需要一個實體圖書館。而第二點，關於不限制借出書的本數可能意味着沒有人會真的去買一本書。那麼理所當然地，這是讓圖書出版者們擔憂的問題。Richard Mollet (Publisher’s Association UK): This relationship between publishing and libraries is historic, over a hundred years old, and we want it to continue into the e-book future. But we have to ensure that we 13)replicate, as closely as we can, the success of the physical lending model, which is that there’s one book, there’s one user, there’s one time, and in that way you ensure that the lending model doesn’t start to impact upon the retail model.
理查德·莫雷特（英國出版者協會）：這種出版業和圖書館之間的關係是歷史性的，有一百年多年之久，而我們想要這種關係持續到未來的電子書時代。但是我們必須確保我們儘可能精密地模擬實體借閱模式的成功方式，那就是一位用戶在一個時間內借一本書，那樣你纔可以確保這種借閱模式不會影響到零售模式。
Host: Overdrive attempts to 14)allay those concerns. A local library chooses how many digital copies to purchase and that limits the number of users who can borrow the e-book at one time. When the loan period is up, the book will 15)expire automatically and return itself to the e-library for other 16)patrons to enjoy.
主持人：Overdrive一直試圖消除這些擔心。一座本地圖書館決定了多少本電子版是需要購買的，這就限制了本來曾經可以通過電子借閱方式閱讀該書的用戶數量。當借書期限一到，此書將自動終止借閱服務，並自動還回電子圖書館以供其他用戶借閱。
Some libraries use this system: “public library on line”. Here, all reading is done through a web browser; no book is downloaded. You don’t need to worry about the availability of a title either. All books can be accessed by many users at one time. The downside is, if your internet connection disappears, so does your book. Also, reading books on a web browser isn’t easy on the eyes, and most e-readers don’t come with a browser. This is essentially an attempt to tempt the reader into buying the physical book.
一些圖書館採用“在線公共圖書館”這種系統，在這裏，所有的閱讀都通過網絡瀏覽器來完成，沒有書是下載來看的。你也不用擔心書目的可用性，所有書都可以被多名用戶同時讀到。（這種方式的）缺點是，如果你的網絡連接不見了，（你要看的）書也就不見了。還有，在網絡瀏覽器上閱讀很費眼，而大多數電子閱讀器又不會同時提供一個瀏覽器，這從根本上就吸引了讀者去購買紙質書。
But the Publishing Association goes one step further still, suggesting that library customers should have to physically visit the library to download an e-book.
但是出版者協會還是超前一步，建議圖書館用戶應該親自去圖書館下載一本電子書。
Richard: There need be no difference between doing that in the physical world, where you walk out with a physical book under your arm, or in the digital world where you walk out with an e-reader under your arm, which has a book you just downloaded. So, to my mind, if we can at least get that right, get that duplication right, that’s the first step.
理查德：無論是你在現實社會中在胳膊底下夾本書走出去，或是在電子世界裏，胳膊底下放個存有你剛下載的書的電子閱讀器走出去，都沒有什麼不同。所以，依我之見，如果我們能夠至少獲得那種權利，獲得那種複製權，那就邁出了第一步。
Host: But even then, not all are convinced. At the start of the year, one of the biggest publishers in the world, McMillan Publishing US, declared it had no interest in being on libraries’ 17)virtual shelves.
主持人：但是儘管那樣，也不是所有人都信服此觀點。今年年初，世界上最大的出版商之一——美國麥克米蘭出版公司，宣佈其對登上圖書館的虛擬書架毫無興趣。
Some libraries are sticking to physical books but with a digital twist. Members of the New York Public Library can reserve a book through its website or, alternatively, click through to buy it from an on-line retailer, and the library gets a cut. Of course this doesn’t help the smaller libraries to remain open in times of huge budget cuts. And if more libraries do end up closing, this could be the way we borrow physical books in the future.
一些圖書館一直堅持要用紙質書，不過可以捆綁數碼產品。紐約公共圖書館的會員可以通過其網站收藏一本書，或者只有點擊進入網站從在線零售商那裏購買此書，而圖書館可以從中提成。當然這並不能幫助小型圖書館在鉅額預算被削減的時期保持開放，而且如果更多的圖書館真能因此改變閉館的命運，這將是我們今後借閱紙質書的一種方法。
