Can A Digital Book Be Burned?

There are two fronts in the the library digital content wars—and though I hate to use martial metaphors, “war,” alas, is beginning to seem an apt comparison. The first, primarily being fought on state legislation action battlegrounds, is over licensing—not so much the existence of it as what might be reasonable and fair terms.

The second is over Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). Chris Freeland of the Interne Archive reports in ZDNet that a direct challenge has been made to lending digital copies of Maus, based on owned print copies that do not circulate:

The disturbing trend of school boards and lawmakers banning books from libraries and public schools is accelerating across the country. In response, Jason Perlow made a strong case last week for what he calls a "Freedom Archive," a digital repository of banned books. Such an archive is the right antidote to book banning because, he contended, "You can't burn a digital book." The trouble is, you can.

A few days ago, Penguin Random House, the publisher of Maus, Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, demanded that the Internet Archive remove the book from our lending library. Why? Because, in their words, "consumer interest in 'Maus' has soared" as the result of a Tennessee school board's decision to ban teaching the book. By its own admission, to maximize profits, a Goliath of the publishing industry is forbidding our non-profit library from lending a banned book to our patrons: a real live digital book-burning.

The comparison to burning is perhaps not exact but is figuratively apt. As of 2019, no public library can own or even permanently license ANY ebooks from the Big 5 publishers and their imprints (two still allow digital audio on a perpetual basis—thank you!). Libraries are being forced, ironically, into a lending economy where they never own or have long-term access. Books become just another commodity and libraries just another customer—and often not a preferred customer but one resented for sharing what the publishers, or more likely THEIR corporate overlords, would like to be a “one read, one sale” model.

Digital loopholes have unbalanced, overthrown, and subverted the intent of copyright. More than just library holdings are at risk. It is time for change. Lacking a digital right of first sale, the growth and extension of CDL now seems imperative to keep all libraries not just relevant but even existing on sustainable terms.