Rina Hadziev and Colleen Stewart were prepared for the post-holiday onslaught of ebook requests, but even the veteran Victoria librarians were taken by surprise this past Boxing Day.

Each had an email from the service that provides ebooks throughout B.C. It had been sent out to all those people eager to use Christmas gift e-readers by downloading free electronic books from the library: It read: "Don't worry. The system is slow because we're having unprecedented demand!"

A similar crunch in demand was felt at library systems throughout North America, as thousands more joined the e-reader world after receiving the electronic devices. Libraries prepared for the spike, but it can be difficult to keep up with demand for the ebooks - digital files downloaded onto e-readers such as Sony Readers, Kobos, iPads or mobile phones.

In the Greater Victoria Public Library system alone, there has been an eightfold increase in the use of ebooks. In 2010, total ebook circulation at the GVPL's 10 libraries was 3,699. That jumped to 29,741 in 2011. And that interest isn't expected to dwindle.

"Ebooks are the format that people are most interested in right now," said Stewart, the head of collection services for the GVPL. "Most of the questions at the information desk are from people wanting help with downloading ebooks and looking for help on how to operate their e-readers."

A study by former Vancouver chief librarian Paul Whitney found that there was a 243 per cent increase in ebook loans in the first two months of 2011 compared with January and February of 2010 in the Vancouver library system. The study also found that for every two ebooks borrowed, one ebook hold was placed, a much higher ratio than holds on other collections, including print books.

"Librarians believe that user patience for ebook availability from the virtual shelf is much less than their patience for the availability of print books from branch library shelves," Whitney wrote in the report.

But even though the demand for ebooks is exploding, the supply isn't. The majority of major publishers in North America will not sell ebooks to libraries.

For example, library users can't download Steve Jobs's biography. It's published by Simon and Schuster, and they will not sell ebooks to libraries. You can download the Stieg Larsson trilogy at the library, but not the new Stephen King - different publishers, different rules.

Five of the titles on last week's Globe and Mail fiction bestseller list were not available in ebooks, although they are in print. They are published by companies that are still struggling to find a way to deal with a way to sell ebooks to libraries.

Want to download books by Giller prize winners? Fewer than half are available on library ebooks in Canada, despite the Giller being arguably the most prestigious national literary prize. Again, the publishers won't sell to libraries. But they are available in print.

All the large publishers of best-selling fiction sell ebooks commercially, but only two will sell new ebook titles to libraries in Canada - Random House and Harper Collins. Simon and Schuster and Macmillan don't sell ebooks to libraries at all.

Penguin stopped selling new ebook titles to libraries in November 2011, although older titles will still be available. Hachette Book Group stopped all library sales in July of 2010.

"The greatest problem we have is lack of availability of ebooks," said Christina de Castell, a Vancouver librarian who is on the Canadian Urban Library Council.

The council has an ebook task force that is working with publishers to expand available library ebook titles.

"It is a very big deal for libraries. We buy from all these publishers in print and we buy a lot, but on the ebook front, only two publishers will sell to us."

When Penguin stopped selling new releases to libraries, it issued a statement saying they had concerns "about the security of our digital editions."

Another reason publishers cite is a fear of losing sales. Publishers are concerned that if it's too easy to borrow an ebook from the library - done from the comfort of your own couch via computer - people won't actually buy them anymore.

"People haven't stopped buying print books yet, even though libraries have always been around," de Castell said. "It's true that going to the library is more of a barrier than borrowing from a website, but so is going to a bookstore. When libraries and bookstores required the same effort, people still used both. That doesn't change with ebooks."

As for piracy, there's no actual evidence that library lending is encouraging piracy any more than selling ebooks online, she said.

There's also a concern that while print books wear out, ebooks don't, so libraries won't have to buy replacements.

Because of that, libraries have to pay at least double the list price for ebooks, something most library patrons don't realize, said Hadziev and Stewart, who buy for the GVPL.

"If it's $20 for you to buy, it's at least $40 for us," Hadziev said.

Libraries are also have strict agreements with publishers about how they lend the ebooks. Although ebooks could be read by many people at one time, libraries can only allow it to be read by one person at a time. Publishers have digital locks on the ebooks, and libraries sign contracts to allow one use at a time. Ebooks are loaned for a maximum of three weeks. When they come due, access is automatically cut off.

No renewals are allowed.

Harper Collins stipulated that an ebook can be borrowed 26 times in a year. More than that and another copy must be bought. Most print books last much longer than 26 uses.

Publishers have been taken by surprise by ebook popularity and are grappling with ways to deal with it, Hadziev said, and it's likely that libraries are low on their priority list.

"There is a lot of nervousness with publishers because ebooks have changed the market so quickly," she said. "It's not an "us versus them" situation. They are trying to find a way that works for them and allows their business to be viable down the line."

Libraries are open to discussing different ways of buying or lending, say librarians, and that's one of the things the Canadian ebook task force is discussing with publishers.

"2012 is the year that I think a new model will come out that is comfortable for publishers, and that will be great for our readers because we'll be able to offer them so much more," Hadziev said.

The American Library Association is also working with publishers to increase access. More publishers will sell ebooks to American libraries, but it's still an issue there.

"I think if you had to say there was something keeping librarians awake at night, this is the issue," association executive director Keith Fiels said in an interview with Publishers Weekly.

Fiels characterizes it as an issue of equality. Libraries have provided equal access to information for more than 100 years.

"The decision not to offer equitable access, not to make something available to libraries, is to deny fundamental basic access to information," Fiels said.

LOOKING FOR FREE EBOOKS? HERE'S WHERE TO START

1. Library-to-Go at the Greater Victoria Public library website (www.gvpl.ca) One of the few places to get free current, popular fiction and non-fiction by Canadian and international authors. Look up specific titles or authors, or browse selections in New Arrivals, Hot off the Press or Lost in the Stacks; separate sections for Children and Teen readers.

2. Tumblereadables, at the Greater Victoria Public library website Graphic novels, classics, teen fiction and easy reading for emergent readers, with adjustable online text and complete audio narration. Requires Flash.

3. Tumblebooks tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp at the Greater Victoria Public library Picture book aficionados will enjoy the selection of fullcolour animated stories on the companion site, Tumblebooks. Read these ebooks online or listen as they're read aloud.

4. Check the free section of ebook online stores like Kindle, Kobo, and Sony. While they will have the classics found on other sites, they will also have some newer free content by less well-known authors and novellas by better-known authors. See, for example, Kobo at http: //kobobooks.com/ free_ebooks for free Canadian reads, free romance, free mysteries and free books on film Sony Reader Store, ebookstore.sony.com/category/ free-ebooks. Limited time offers on free books, bargainpriced books, on sale items. Also includes magazine and newspaper subscriptions and many other subjects and genres. Kindle Store, amazon.com/Free-Kindle-eBooks/lm/ RX0L6FNHE7544. Mainly older copyright-free books and classics, including Shakespeare and Austen.

5. Project Gutenberg Canada, http: //gutenberg.ca Ebooks on this website are in the Canadian public domain, and are offered at no charge; they are largely classics or historical works, including early children's books.

6. Baen Free Library, baen.com/library This science fiction/fantasy publisher voluntarily makes a selection of their titles available free as ebooks to be read online or downloaded. Their authors are encouraged to put up the first novel in an ongoing popular series, to generate interest as well as to make it easier for a broader audience to become familiar with less wellknown authors.

7. Open Library, http: //openlibrary.org This site is an initiative of the non-profit internet archive, with more than one million ebooks, browsable by subject, author or list. Open Library account holders can borrow up to five ebooks at a time from the growing collection of mainly 20th-century titles available. They provide access to all of Project Gutenberg's books but have hundreds of thousands of others as well, along with accessible talking books in Daisy format for people with print disabilities.

8. Google Books, http: //books.google.ca In addition to hundreds of thousands of ebooks for sale, Google Books offer nearly two million free ebooks from the public domain. You can browse some of their most popular free classics in the store using the "Free Literary Classics" shelf. You can also shop directly at the Google eBookstore to browse their entire collection of ebooks by featured categories, such as Best of the Free, Canadiana and Books Under $5. Be sure to check out the Paranormal Romance list.

9. Tryharlequin, http: //tryharlequin.com Harlequin's ebook site allows you to download 18 titles for free, although you are requested to fill in a short survey.

10. Smashwords, smashwords.com More than 30,000 serious writers and hundreds of small independent publishers publish and distribute with Smashwords. Many Smashwords authors have been previously published in print through mainstream publishers, or have had their works published in well-respected literary journals. Includes both free and for sale titles, fiction and non-fiction.

11. Cambridge Digital Library, http: //cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk For something more esoteric, including Sir Isaac Newton's Papers, Islamic Manuscripts; or access the Digital Image Collection (lib.cam.ac.uk/digital_image_collections), links to the Gutenberg Bible, sketchbooks of the artist who accompanied Darwin on the voyage of the Beagle or the Royal Commonwealth Society Photograph Collection.

12. Books on the Knob, http: //blog.booksontheknob.org A mixed bag of bargain books, free ebooks and book reviews for the Amazon Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Sony and other ereaders, Kindle Fire, Nookcolor, Kobo Vox and other tablets. Daily deals, coupon codes, and low-priced bundles; tips on working around small charges and how to manage downloaded ebooks.

13. ManyBooks.net, manybooks.net This site has more than 29,000 free ebooks available for Kindle, Nook, iPad and most other e-readers. A subset of Project Gutenberg, it is searchable by author, title, genre, language, most popular, and recommended titles.

kwestad@timescolonist.com