In the future, they'll be called ‘book deletings’
HarperCollins is committed to the library channel. We believe this change balances the value libraries get from our titles with the need to protect our authors and ensure a presence in public libraries and the communities they serve for years to come.
Remember the library card inside the front cover (sometimes the back) that used to be taken out when you borrowed? Or the pages of date stamps glued one on top of the other, dating back to 1984, 1973 or beyond? Well, those days of sharing ageing library books are gone, and not merely because the printed text is being outshone by its digital sibling. HarperCollins announced to libraries last week, via the digital distributor OverDrive, that they were limiting the lifespan of their ebooks to 26 checkouts. OverDrive informed US libraries:
Next week, OverDrive will communicate a licensing change from a publisher that, while still operating under the one-copy/one-user model, will include a checkout limit for each eBook licensed. Under this publisher's requirement, for every new eBook licensed, the library (and the OverDrive platform) will make the eBook available to one customer at a time until the total number of permitted checkouts is reached.
As well as this, OverDrive slipped in, publishers want to examine ‘library patron data to see if the library is actually observing territorial and geographic restrictions’.
HarperCollins claimed they arrived at the mysterious figure of 26 weeks after contemplating ‘the average lifespan of a print book, and wear and tear on circulating copies’. They also claimed the new rules would not be retroactive, but would apply to ‘all eBook vendors or distributors offering this publisher's titles for library lending’.
This is a bizarre turn of events because ebooks in libraries are already only available to one patron at a time, at the standard loan period of two or three weeks. Talk to librarians or library patrons, and you will hear stories of the long waiting queues for ebooks.
As librarian-blogger Sarah Houghton-Jan writes in her incisive post, ‘Library ebook revolution, begin’:
This is a radical change in library collection development and removes the thin veneer remaining of our ability to act as preservation entities for digital content. How could you even put this content in your catalog? You’d have to track circulation and then remove the title from your catalog once you hit your cap. Can you imagine the workload impact?
Houghton-Jan also points out that ebook readers are already at a severe disadvantage, as they don’t even have the right of first-sale on digital books (copyright law that allows for the legal resale of books). Her assessment of the relationship between digital data and libraries is fairly bleak:
The lack of legislative leadership and advocacy in the last decade has created a situation where libraries have lost the rights to lending and preserving content that we have had for centuries. We have lost the right to buy a piece of content, lend it to as many people as we want consecutively, and then donate or sell that item when it has outlived its usefulness (if, indeed, that ever happens at all).
Author Courtney Milan wrote a response to HarperCollins’ position, too:
But let’s face the truth: libraries are an annoying way to get books. You have to wait. You have to read the book on someone else’s schedule–when you hit your spot–and you only have two weeks to read it before it’s ripped from your grasp, and later on, when you can’t remember the title or the author you can’t scour your shelves in vain.
A lend from a library is never as good as a purchase. People do it because they are readers, and they put up with it because it is really, really expensive to support a flat-out voracious reading habit on your own dime.
Publishers, if you make it impossible for young people–those in the “under 25″ category–to support a good reading habit on their own dime, these people are not going to start magically spending money on books when they start making a decent income. No; at that point, they’ll already have started spending their time haunting hulu instead, where they can actually get free entertainment. And when they start making money, they’ll be buying iTunes streams of those shows they watched for free.
As limiting as the HarperCollins’ changes are, they’re actually an improvement on publishers like Macmillan and Simon & Schuster, who don’t even allow libraries to circulate their ebooks.
Which is why Cory Doctorow brings it all back to DRM and profit:
I've talked to a lot of librarians about why they buy DRM books for their collections, and they generally emphasize that buying ebooks with DRM works pretty well, generates few complaints, and gets the books their patrons want on the devices their patrons use. And it's absolutely true: on the whole, DRM ebooks, like DRM movies and DRM games work pretty well.
But they fail really badly. No matter how crappy a library's relationship with a print publisher might be, the publisher couldn't force them to destroy the books in their collections after 26 checkouts. DRM is like the Ford Pinto: it's a smooth ride, right up the point at which it explodes and ruins your day.
And that's why libraries should just stop buying DRM media for their collections. Period. It's unsafe at any speed.
I mean it. When HarperCollins backs down and says, "Oh, no, sorry, we didn't mean it, you can have unlimited ebook checkouts," the libraries' answers should be "Not good enough. We want DRM-free or nothing." Stop buying DRM ebooks. Do you think that if you buy twice, or three times, or ten times as many crippled books that you'll get more negotiating leverage with which to overcome abusive crap like this? Do you think that if more of your patrons come to rely on you for ebooks for their devices, that DRM vendors won't notice that your relevance is tied to their product and tighten the screws?
Doctorow identifies the major problem here: we can’t allow corporations to dictate our culture. That’s not to say we should stop corporations trying to make culture – everyone has the right to make culture. Rather, it’s about controlling culture.
At one point in our history, we had a culture of shared creativity – we retold stories, remixed them with a healthy dash of embellishment, we borrowed and altered. Today, we have ‘permission culture’. This is most striking in laws surrounding copyright. In Australia, for instance, copyright extends from the death of the author plus 70yrs. Who is that protecting? Frankly, corporations and their potential profits over that century-ish timeframe.
Publishers want to remove the limitations of physical books and make them durable, while simultaneously stripping away the benefits of physical books. A physical, printed copy can be shared or resold; ebooks cannot. The print book has already proved durability. Digital data is much more uncertain territory. When we give up rights – the right to share, to resell, to give to a friend or a library – we are in trouble. Once you have surrendered those rights, they’re difficult to get back.
Seriously now, how many times is a book lent before it becomes unreadable? Indeed, where does this kind of economic control end? Will libraries be expected to remove or destroy physical print copies after 26 checkouts?
There is understandable concern about a sustainable ebook economy, and perhaps a new funding model – even in libraries – will be necessary. But we shouldn’t be looking for a technical solution that deletes collections and gives publishers access to private data. Maybe a better idea would be some kind of royalty system (akin to the music and radio relationship)? Nothing that would bankrupt libraries, but something that meant publishers and writers get some, albeit small, financial compensation for their books.
This is truly a ridiculous turn of events. What's the use of developing a technology such as e-books and e-readers, only to turn around and limit it in ways that make it less useful than the previous technology?
Perhaps a subscription-based service to libraries would make sense if companies really want to get their money's worth. You can either wait in the queue for that one copy of the e-book as people are doing now, or pay a monthly fee to check out as much as you want (though still with the need to 'return' them after a couple of weeks).
phill
03 March at 02:02PM
ebooks are cheaper than paper books (only by a small pcenret, usually, thought) but the prices are rising. some pros would be that you could store your whole library in a light weight reader'. it is also easier and faster to read books because you can purchase/download any book (in the barnes and noble collection) you wanted to in about a minute. some cons would be the starting price would be about $125 and-if you damage your nook, poof, all your books are gone. (unless you
Adams
18 August at 01:14PM
Monday in the Sunset Rest Cemetery in Northwood.
God will hear the prayer of those who will call on His name.
“For example, if a company were to use an advertising campaign or promotional offer containing the
phrase ‘Backing the London Games’, then it is
likely that this will fall foul of the rules. However, when I ask who
is the Governor of Kansas, a majority either don’t know or struggle to recall his name.
He pulled out a form and had me sign for receipt of the winnings.
Nicholas
09 April at 07:03PM
Please log in or create an account by filling out the form on the right.
The loser shot 34.9 percent from the field; the winner shot 33.
9 percent and somehow managed to come back from trailing
by 13 points with 18:38 left in the second half.
Human Rights Council resolution on promoting reconciliation and
accountability in Sri Lanka. I really wondered if you would go for
that or not. I love coffee.
Ali
09 April at 07:06PM
Yes, it has the dedicated controls, when then again
so does the Xperia Play which is a line where Sony should've concentrated their mobile gaming efforts. I love Glenwood Springs ! "The Catholic community in the Diocese of Cleveland shares the grief of the families and friends of the five victims in the shooting this morning at Chardon High School," he said. I feel you have made some interesting points that I agree with and your writing skills are great. It will probably be hard, but I think you have to fully rely on Him now.
Concetta
09 April at 07:09PM
Villa is a district of Iloilo City and is 15-25 minutes away
from the city center. Take the simple example of a boxed warning on a drug.
Experts predict it would take a week at minimum. Metal rods works so well that no glue was
needed to set the cage. Each year the Israeli nation takes a day to remember the victims of the Holocaust and now,
in plain public site, some Israeli officials are calling for a new holocaust of Iranians
as well as Iranian Jews ( Iran is host to the third largest Jewish
population on any nation in the world behind Israel
and the United States ).
Lillian
09 April at 07:16PM
HBD Zack Morris and Javier Bardem!!!!!!! I suggest you start
reading some of them. "One could say that it is a tax on individuals with less flexible schedules or who do not like to cook--rich or poor," the Tax Foundation analysts write.
I am also reminded of Air France Flight 4590. Outdoor Magazine Host Mike Avery (pictured with a black bear he bagged with a crossbow) will be
the featured speaker at Roscommon Baptist Church’s 18th annual Wildgame Dinner on March
12 at Bam More...
Shona
10 April at 08:51AM
The statewide awards honor writing, photography and design.
As the first song came to an end I felt like I was having an outer
body experience as I could not believe that I was there with
my own son’s watching the same band that I did
when I was my oldest son’s age-17. Beyond that,
views of the process vary wildly. The Senate version of the school bus bill, sponsored by state Sen.
WARNING: Listening to Fredi Gonzalez for more that 30 consecutive seconds
may cause brain damage.
Freeman
10 April at 11:03AM
Hardwood floor in the master suite and in the adjacent bedroom.
So, some thoughts, in no particular order. Not even so-called
conservatives can defend providing that kind of aid and comfort to our ever-growing list of enemies, can they?
And there’s a place in North Dakota called Maple River Winery that makes and sells Dandelion Wine (Now you’re
talkin’). The company created a strain of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana — a member of the mustard family — that turns from green
to red only in the presence of the nitrogen oxide that leaks from landmines.
Luca
11 April at 12:48AM
We met as high school freshmen and have been like sisters ever since.
Officers demanded that the parents convince their son to close down the webpage.
Those strides include placing 322 panels on top of the
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the downtown Phoenix campus, rooftop and ground-mounted
systems in Tempe, and ground units at both ASU West and ASU Polytechnic.
Nuclear ... George’s Square, Valletta by the Hon.
Dustin
11 April at 05:13AM
The thing about pixie dust, and Peter Pan
will tell you this, you need to have faith and hope and trust.
Feeling impulsive? But they do indeed need to leave the Rastafarian RELIGION
behind. No mosquitoes. So Dungy’s been withholding evidence (assuming he has evidence)
all these years eh?
Daisy
11 April at 05:42AM
Hi MichaelDaum - Did you get a chance to see the mail I sent about the use of the Applications web in extensions?
Several journalists and bloggers boiled it down to “YES”, but what the search
representatives ACTUALLY said was more along the lines of “Bounce Rate combined with
other signals may affect your site’s performance in our results”.
The surface is made of tin while the interior is wooden.
terraces. (Picture from Heritage History maps collection, click to enlarge .
Freeman
11 April at 05:51AM
Most of this land has been destroyed and large
scale deforestation has taken place to make way for predominantly cattle
ranches and sugar cane plantations. Three international rights groups
including Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Bahrain's Human Rights and Social Development Ministry informed them this week of new rules limiting them to five-day trips which must be arranged via a Bahraini sponsor. My dream and challenge to you. Let’s do it. [environmental] funders have favored top-down elite strategies and have neglected to support a robust grassroots infrastructure.
Felipa
11 April at 05:53AM
Our boy reportedly went into the audience and ended the night tossing his shirt (rather – several shirts) into the audience (natch.
) All in all, a good day’s work for DYB. The morning i first left the country, the morning i woke
up to the first Proper Adventure of my life, a
light went out. The US is not Egypt, Syria, or Bahrain, and while there have been large-scale political movements,
constitutional systems of democracy are both in place and under-utilized.
See the post on First Look at What’s New in Windows 8 here .
So, I hope you don’t take the negative, sexist comments of those particular male gamers to heart.
Paul
11 April at 06:16AM
Nokia on twitter confirmed that the N8 will get future updates.
It’s long but a must see & truly informative.
With that said, I would be remiss to not give you my Top 5 MC’s
(really 6) so you can rip it to shreds & call me a “dookyhead” or whatever.
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This volume is the result of the Sixth and Seventh Annual Celebrations of Modern Greek Letters at the University of
Minnesota honoring, respectively, the Greek national.
Kirsten
11 April at 09:54AM