One Perspective on a COSLA/Macmillan Meeting

Texas State Library and Archives Commission Director Mark Smith was one of ten COSLA representatives in a meeting with Macmillan CEO John Sargent yesterday.

The meeting lasted 2.5 hours. In it, Mr. Sargent claimed one thing I haven’t seen so far: “the Macmillan policy arose from his belief that the amount that librarians are spending on e-books is ever escalating as they try to keep up with demand for front-list (bestseller) titles, allowing no funds to purchase mid-list titles.” Here, I would like to say that offering a one copy/one user perpetual may actually help and would thank Macmillan for it—if they weren’t yanking it off the table after 8 weeks. Jeez, can’t you just make it available perpetually on “mid-list titles”? We could figure out our license options. It isn’t hard.

Sargent’s other claims—that our circulation is cutting into publisher/author revenue, and his policy will help small and even large libraries (and authors), with the only alternative being price increases—are nothing new.

The COSLA representatives begged to disagree:

While it is undeniable that the cost of e-books is untenable, that use is tending to increase, and that library budgets are pushed to the max, we expressed skepticism that a reader who cannot borrow a copy of a library e-book will purchase the item. We also doubted the assumption of an inverse correlation between library circulation and publisher revenue. We questioned the data upon which Macmillan’s decisions have been based. And we noted that many libraries are going to discontinue purchasing materials from Macmillan, though Mr. Sargent seems confident that the impact of the boycotts will be offset by greater revenues to authors and publishers. He commented that he had heard from few authors with concerns about the new policy.

Mr.Smith’s final three paragraphs on taking some stand so that other publishers will take notice, discovering writers other than the best-sellers, and disrupting our e-book buying models are cogent, clear, and worth a read. Thank you, sir—a tip of the hat to you! May others hear and act on your words.