Library is a peaceful place to be. The selection of readings is ranging from magazines and comics to books and periodicals. It’s a comfortable environment for anyone seeking solitary in divulgence of a printed entertainment and information.

Digital books are in action to overtake the millennium of printed books’ dominance. But e-books are not readily accepted as alternative to actual books until the launch of Amazon Kindle in 2007. Several booksellers took the opportunity and launched their own digital book store, including Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Apple’s iBooks.

In 2011, revenue from e-books reached $2 billion, doubled from the prior year. Analyst James McQuivey expects e-books to take half of the total book sales in the final quarter of 2013 to early 2014. Michael Wolf forecasted that e-books will notch $5 billion in 2016.

More readers regardless of age are getting hold of e-books. 23% of Americans 16 and above have read an e-book in the past year. Percentage of printed book readers fell from 72% to 67%. According to the report from Joan Ganz Cooney Center, children prefer e-books over printed books. The attraction for ages 3-6 may come from interactive features including sounds and games.

With e-book readers, anywhere can be their own libraries. 19% of Americans owned a reader in 2012, also doubled from the prior year. 25% more owned a tablet, which of course have an e-reading application available. The wide selections of books they only see in libraries are now in one slim device they could carry all the while.

Institutions started replacing libraries with online libraries. The Lamar High School in Houston retired its shelves of books and revived the space imitating a coffeehouse. Their books are available online and can be read in the couches with coffee and snack. The Houston Independent School District school invested on 35 laptops for e-books access. Many university libraries are also collecting their e-books archives.

Do you prefer e-books or printed books?