The new head of an electronic publishing trade group has vowed to promote the growth of eBooks in schools.

Nicholas Bogaty, founder of the online intellectual property marketplace rightsworld.com, was tapped to head the Open eBook Forum earlier this month. Bogaty becomes the third executive director in the four-year history of the group, which aims to establish common specifications for electronic publishing.

By bringing aboard an industry pioneer as its new leader, the forum also intends to jump-start a movement that has been slow to catch on so far among consumers.

Part of the problem, Bogaty said, has been a perception that eBook reader devices are not compatible with a wide range of text formats—and thus are inaccessible to the average reader. "We want to tell the world that eBooks are not complicated, that they are actually geared toward everyone," he said.

One step Bogaty is taking to address this problem is the enhancement of the Open eBook Publication Structure (OEBPS), the group's XML-based specification for eBook content and presentation. Bogaty and his team are working on OEBPS version 2.0, slated for release this summer.

Like its predecessor, OEBPS 2.0 will be nonproprietary and based on open specifications, but the newer version will offer improved support for content-owner control over presentation, as well as major enhancements in areas such as navigation, linking, and metadata.

"[Four] years ago, when the idea of eBooks was first introduced to the publishing industry, technology providers were told to develop one standard format," Bogaty said. "OEBPS—and especially version 2.0—is a perfect example of this kind of standard. It ensures fidelity, accuracy, accessibility, and presentation of electronic content over various eBook platforms."

Like the current version of OEPBS, 2.0 will be available for downloading from the Open eBook Forum's web site at no cost.

Bogaty also is focused on bringing eBooks to K-12 education. "The growth of eBooks in school libraries is a big aspect our members want to pursue," he said, citing benefits such as their lower cost, greater accessibility, and the searchability of electronic texts.

Although eBooks are used in a few school districts now—Houston's Aldine Independent School District, for example, opened an eBook library with 375 titles last spring—schools overall have been slow to embrace the technology.

Julie Walker, executive director of the American Association of School Librarians, agrees with Bogarty that eBooks hold promise for schools. But Walker doubts whether they will be accepted universally anytime soon.

"The penetration of eBooks has not been great [so far], because most school systems approach alternative formats very cautiously," Walker said. School districts already grappling with tight budgets are wary of investing in unproven technology, she said, adding, "The jury is still out on this one."