https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191224005160/en/
The rumors and speculation have been confirmed. We will see what, if anything, this means for libraries. OD is the industry leader and so we’ll have to watch but big change seems unlikely.
RF wishes the employees of OD all the best in the transition.
With the New Year fast approaching, time for the ReadersFirst Working Group’s Cheers ‘N Jeers for 2019.
Cheers!
Alan Inouye, the American Library Association (Thanks, Wanda) and the Public Library Association (Thanks, Ramiro) for your leadership in creating eBooksforAll and for advocacy in the industry (thanks, also, Sari), and federal and state governments. Thanks, to, for creating a new Digital Content Working Group, and to Lean Dunn and Kelvin Watson for chairing it.
Andrew Albanese of Publishers Weekly, for telling the library story factually and well. We are all better informed because of you.
The Canadian Urban Library Council, for advocacy with publishers and providing the template for the resolution that ALA adopted in July, leading to the creation of a new Digital Content Working Group, and while we are about it, the Urban Library Council and COSLA for fine advocacy work for library digital content..
Carmi Parker for leading the charge on Macmillan and Blackstone, the State of Washington (thanks, Lisa of KCLS and Cindy of WSL) , and all who have joined the resistance against “windowing.” Boycotts aren’t for everyone, but this one has its reasons.
The Digital Public Library of America, for continued development of the non-profit Exchange and for leading in the establish of of the SimplyE Advisory Council, especially to Michele.
Georgia Public Library Service and Baker & Taylor for establishing an innovative state-wide digital platform of children, eReadsKids. Thanks for showing what can be done, and doing it above all for the children.
Harper Collins Publishers for NOT making any changes in their license models in the last 18 months. Hey, HC—want to earn an RF Gold Star Award? Add a one copy/one user perpetual license option—even one pr library system—to give us flexibility to your current metered model, which is (despite all past criticism) the BEST model offered by the Big 5 today.
Ijeoma Oluo, an author for speaking truth on Twitter for libraries and those who need them.
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) for fostering work on Fasten to develop standards for library APIs, including Nettie, Christoper, and a brilliant international team.
The New York Public Library and especially to Risa, Leonard, and Tony, for their continued support of Library Simplified (app name—SimplyE). It’s a lot of work but RF applauds the development of the “one App to Rule Them All,” providing an easy-to-use open source non-profit way to harness library content across platforms. Other systems might have flinched—you have shown Patience, Fortitude, and leonine courage.
OverDrive, for providing data effectively challenging publisher claims that libraries are “cannibalizing” sales and for funding the Panorama Project.
Jeers!
Amazon, for all your fine work ensuring that people need a credit card to be informed citizens. We’d award you a 100,00 lumps of coal, but you’d just give one piece to each of your exploited warehouse workers for Christmas and use the rest to press a diamond for the CEO. Nothing for you, just like you give to us.
Blackstone Audio, you know perfectly well why. We award you with one black stone—a lump of coal for you
Hachette, for moving from perpetual to metered licenses on audiobooks. It isn’t bad enough that we have to renew most of our e-book collections every two years, you have to throw audio in as well? Thanks on behalf of all library users with visual or hand impairments who rely on libraries for content they need.
Macmillan, you know ever better than Blackstone why. We award you 231,842 (and counting) signatures on a petition.
Simon & Schuster, we appreciate you moving from one to two year licenses, but who factored your prices when you made the change? We award you a pocket calculator so you can multiply by 2 next time.
People of the Year:
This is a tough one—too tough for us! So, alphabetically by first name Alan, Carmi, Ijeoma, Michele, and NYPL Library Simplified Team, thanks for your great work this year. You are co-winners.
Thanks, too, to the ReadersFirst Working Group for all their advocacy work this year.
Thanks, finally, to every librarian who licensed content for your system or who helped someone get content this year. Your service to our readers is the reason for our service to libraries. Keep helping people get content! We’ll help try to make that content everything they want.
Yesterday, writer Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) took a brave and principled stand on Twitter:
Dec 22 BOOK NERD RANT: some of you may know this, but audiobooks are near and dear to my heart. Accessibility in my work - especially as someone who writes on social issues, is a top priority. And as a writer with ADD, audiobooks are the only way I can still regularly read.
When it came time to sign my audiobook contract, I was surprised to find that certain audio publishers *cough* Audible *cough* were more hostile to library licensing than others.
I worked with my amazing agent to ensure that I worked with an audio publisher who would let libraries license my work. But right now there is an effort - rumors say led by Amazon/Audible - to make it even harder for libraries to license audiobooks.
And as more and more publishers limit library access to audiobooks - they are saying that they are doing it in our - the writer's - name. Because we are supposedly missing out on sales due to library lending. As a writer, let me say firmly: fuck that nonsense.
Dec 22 I want my book to be read. I want my book to be borrowed. I want my book to be bought. I want my book to be read regardless of how much money you have.
And less we forget - audiobooks are first and foremost an accessibility device for those who cannot read another way. Just because they are now popular in the mainstream doesn't mean we get to divorce audiobooks from their main purpose.
And making it harder for libraries to provide audiobooks to the communities that need them the most is a gross marriage of capitalism and ableism that I - and most of the authors I know - never asked for
We at RF appreciate authors making money, but we hope more will stand up for fair and equal access via audiobooks, and e-books too, for that matter.
Thank you, Ms. Oluo!
Ever read those fine print licenses to obtain software, etc.—you know, the ones so small and so long that you end up needing reading glasses and headache pills? If so, you know that you, the consumer, have something in common with libraries. You don’t really own your e-books. Not in the USA, anyway, and now probably not in Europe.
I can understand not allowing just anyone/everyone to link indiscriminately to something I’ve bought, ur, licensed, but I can’t reassign it without cost to one person who then has ownership?
Apparently not:
Bill Rosenblatt reports the following:
“This week the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a landmark ruling that digitally downloaded files are not subject to exhaustion (the EU equivalent of first sale in U.S. law). This means that consumers don't have the right to resell (or give away, lend, or rent) ebooks and other digital files. This ruling brings EU law into line with the U.S. precedent established by the Second Circuit Appeals Court in the ReDigi case a year ago.
With this ruling, the CJEU took the expected step of following the opinion that one of its Advocates General, Maciej Szpunar, issued back in September. The CJEU was asked by a Dutch court to answer questions of law that would help it reach a decision in a case involving the online sale of "used" ebooks by Tom Kabinet, a Dutch startup.
The questions referred to the CJEU boiled down to one issue: does making a file available by digital download implicate the right of distribution or not? The principle of exhaustion only applies to the right of distribution, so if downloading doesn't implicate distribution, then exhaustion doesn't apply, and the copyright owner can control whether the user has the right to alienate downloaded files. The court ruled that distribution doesn't apply, that the only right implicated in digital downloads is the right of communication to the public. In fact, the CJEU held that distribution only applies to physical objects.
The court also held that making a file available for download through a specific technical mechanism counts as communication to the public even if no one downloads the file. In other words, if Tom Kabinet makes ebooks available on its website, then it still could be infringing copyrights even if no one buys them (or more accurately, spends "points" on them).
The CJEU reached the same conclusion as the U.S. Second Circuit did almost exactly a year ago regarding ReDigi, the digital music resale startup. Judge Pierre Leval found that reselling a digital file involves making a copy of the file rather than sending that file to the buyer. Advocate General Szpunar reached the same result in his opinion.
This brings EU law regarding digital exhaustion/first sale into line with the prevailing precedent in the States... except for one thing. Along the way to reaching its decision, the CJEU also ruled (relying on its own precedent) that making a digital file available for downloading counts as communication to the public even if no one downloads it, as long as the file is made available by "specific technical means, different from those previously used" or is made available to a different set of people from the ones to whom the copyright owner originally sent the files. In U.S. law, the question of whether "making available" implicates any of the rights in the copyright bundle is not settled, although the U.S. Copyright Office took the position in 2016 that it implicates the right of distribution.”
Another loss for readers.
Carmi Parker, ILS Administrator for Whatcom County Library System, continues the advocacy:
“Ten more systems came to our attention this week, so there are now 74 library systems and consortia suspending the purchase Macmillan’ eBooks. These represent 1,144 library locations in 26 states, and serve over 46 million U.S. residents, approximately 14% of the total population.”
The most recent systems, with uses, are as follows:
Connecticut State Library 3,537,000
South Carolina State Library 5,084,000
Handley Regional Library System (Winchester, VA) 131,000
Chesapeake Public Library (Chesapeake, VA) 250,000
James L. Hamner Public Library (Amelia County, VA) 12,900
Massanutten Regional Library 158,000
San Diego Public Library 1,426,000
Santa Cruz Public Libraries 214,000
The Public Library of Brookline 359,000
North Carolina Digital Library 3,368,000
See the full list here.
“Data from Indianapolis: Indianapolis Public Library was one of the top 30 libraries by eSpending in 2017. It details some of the trends it has seen in the last several years in this article in the Indiana Business Journal, with illustrative charts.
Indianapolis Public Library is responding to publisher restrictions by adjusting “its default lending period for e-books and e-audiobooks, from 21 days to 14 days, and it’s lowered the limits on how many e-materials patrons can check out and put on hold.”
Note: my consortium considered changing our checkout maximum to 14 days, but found that almost half of our patrons manually switch from the 14 day default to 21.
Embargoed Tor titles: where are they now? In an effort to understand better the impact of embargoes, several libraries in U.S. and Canada are contributing data to an analysis of Tor purchases and circulation before and after the 2018 “experiment”. Stay tuned for results in early – mid January, and many thanks to our cheerful contributors thus far:
eLibraryNJ
Maryland’s Digital Library
Sacramento Public Library
San Antonio Public Library
Seattle Public Library
Toronto Public Library
Washington Digital Library Consortium”
Thanks for your continued work, Carmi! If RF had a “Person of the Year” Award, you’d share it with Alan Inouye.
On December 17th, the ALA and PLA hosted a web update on the #ebooksforall campaign (with, at moment of writing, 231,784 Signatures on the petition). You may view the update here. Thanks to Larra Clark, deputy director for the PLA and ALA Public Policy & Advocacy Office, for organizational and emcee work..
ALA President Wanda Brown provided a general overview and discussed the formation of the new Digital Content Working Group, which will “explore options to improve access to digital content for libraries and the public,” both in the short term and the long term. Much more on this group’s activities in the month’s to come.
Ramiro S. Salazar, Public Library Association President and director of the San Antonio Public Library, called for united action from the ALA, PLA, ULC, CULC (don’t forget COSLA!) if we are to have any hope for meaningful action. Hear, hear! Mr. Salazar also explains (listen at the end of the program) that PLA has asked Macmillan for the list of libraries it said it consulted with before making its “windowing” decision and for the data upon which it based its windowing decision, claiming that libraries “cannibalize” sales. Mr. Sargent of Macmillan says he must review the data for various reasons but will release it. It will be interesting to see if it stands up to scrutiny. Let’s hope it is released before Mr. Sargent’s forum at ALA Midwinter.
Alan Inouye reviewed change in licensing models i the last five years and outlined action being taken in four areas:
Public Campaign, via #ebooksforall
Direct Engagement with Industry: usually with small groups, trying to build relationships, acknowledging complexity
Federal government intervention: working with “ongoing investigation into competition [or lack thereof!] in digital markets
State-level intervention
The final area is not yet well developed but may become a future focus. It may involve actually laws, but those might vary state-by-state. The ALA may work on a template of possibilities.
Lisa Rosenblum, Executive Director for the King County Library System, discussed their move to boycott Macmillan titles and perhaps more importantly, some of the steps she has taken for state action. She, and other partners in Washington State, are to be commended as leaders in taking action.
Hallie Rich, Communications & External Relations Director at Cuyahoga County Public Library, discussed an interesting template for measuring library marketing impacts for authors beyond the purchasing/licensing of content. What would such publicity cost the publishers in advertising if they were to undertake it on their own? A template may be found here, but it’s probably best to watch the webinar to get the context.
Hats off to all from RF for your advocacy!
RF apologizes for being dilatory about reporting Carmi Parker’s last update on the Macmillan boycott but wishes to catch up because it has news of interest.
10 more systems joined since the previous update:
State Library of Kansas—2,910,000 users
Florence County Library System (SC)—138,000
Colleton County Memorial Library (SC)—239,000
Bergen County Cooperative Library System (NJ) 300,000
York County Library (SC)—5274,000
Oconee County Public Library (SC)—478,000
Greenwich Library (CT_—363,000
Cranston Public Library—682,000
Marion County Library System (SC)—331,000
Horry County Library System (SC)—344,000
Look here for a complete list.
While compiling total numbers is tricky, it seems safe to say that the boycotting libraries serve at least one tenth of the total U.S. Population.
Carmi adds:
I also wanted to share with you this interesting tactic by San Francisco Public Library, which uses Bibliocommons as a PAC. It has edited its MARC records so that the catalog communicates to patrons about the embargo and links to SFPL’s article about it if patrons want more detail.
How it looks in search results
The LA Times published a fascinating article about eReading behavior in California where residents can use multiple library cards. Readers who were surveyed indicate that they are not buying fewer books; they are simply reading more.
“Rather than undermining sales, readers said, borrowing brought literature into their digital diets, displacing podcasts and Instagram with new authors and genres they otherwise never would have picked up. For some card collectors, rediscovering the library through e-borrowing has been so profound that it feels almost spiritual.”
This video says it all: Charleston County Public Library in South Carolina published a video that explains the Macmillan embargo in terms all ages will understand: cupcakes.
Cranston Public Library is the first from Rhode Island to join and is taking an extra step in their physical locations, stating that they are “not promoting or displaying any Macmillan titles to our patrons.”
(Disclaimer: Carmi Parker is a member of RF’s working group).
While Macmillan has of course dominated recent library digital content licensing conversations, other vendors have given us some reason for attention. Susan Caron, Director, Collections & Membership Services for Toronto Public Library, has been tracking Simon & Schuster pricing since the publisher switched form one to two year licensing. RF applauds the longer licensing period but wonders about some steep price increases that have come with it.
Ms. Caron has provide RF with a chart, current as of 11/11/19.
While a larger sample would be helpful and may be upcoming, this 32 title sample is informative. Doubling the license period would perhaps of course double the price, but S&S prices have gone up from 2.2 to 2.9 times the cost. A few Canadian prices (2) dropped slightly but 30 increased from 2.1 to a whopping 9.5 times.
Thanks for extending the license period, S&S, but the accompanying price jumps land you firmly in RF’s “not nice” category this holiday season. Library buyers, take note.
In October, NISO released a draft of the Fasten standards for public comment. Said NISO Associate Executive Director Nettie Lagace in a press release,
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) seeks comments on a new draft Recommended Practice pertaining to the modernization of library-vendor technical interoperability using RESTful web service application programming interfaces (APIs) and standard mobile application intent calls. In the interest of streamlining information transfer between vendor and library systems, the scope of the draft FASTEN Recommended Practice touches on areas such as login/authentication, account information, availability, checkout, streaming options, and more. FASTEN is the acronym used for this initiative, more formally titled as the Flexible API Standard for E-Content NISO.
The objective behind the FASTEN initiative was to replace with more elegant solutions aging, inflexible, and hard-to-use enterprise tools. This required leaving behind disparate protocols, such as SIP, SIP2, proprietary interfaces, web proxy solutions, and more.
Christopher Carvey from Queens Library, who has been involved with the project from its inception, has commented to RF that “The coming standard will have many favorable implications [for] Library web automation, Library mobile applications, and getting eContent to our customers in an easier fashion. [It] will lead to simpler solutions with a lower bar of entry, and more flexible products for libraries. While this is not directly tied to licensing issues, it may give rise to more general interest from our audience, alternative and new licensing models, and other benefits for libraries.”
While the period for public comment is closed, one can view the draft here. Work will continue to develop the standards with public comments in mind.
ReadersFirst was launched with the goal of having the library digital content experience be seamless and easy for library readers. Providing a standard for ILS or other library interface, publisher content, and library vendor platforms interoperate seamlessly is an important step in realizing this goal. Thanks to the NISO Fasten team for their fine and visionary work, which RF encourages all library vendors to act upon.
Ms. Sarah Felkar from West Vancouver compiles a monthly newsletter of Canadian library digital content news that is shared (among other sources) via the Canadian Urban Library Council. There is some overlap, not surprisingly, with other news sometimes shared here, but also interesting posts we in the USA may not typically see. Thanks, Sarah, and thanks, Ann Archer and Lisa Weaver for keeping RF informed!
The BC Libraries Cooperative Overdrive Collection (Library2go) has reached 1,000,000 circulations this year! This is a first for the collection and a sign of the great work that the Co-operative and their team are doing.
https://insights.overdrive.com/dashboards/9c73bd075b2c4533b3c89c312c90ee54
(The ebook collection is available to BC Libraries serving populations of under 100,000)
The Good eReader blog has published a summary of the library licencing terms for the Big 5 publishers
And the Financial Post did a write-up on Kobo
· Good stats and an interview with the CEO
And summary sales trends for the US in September
· Pretty standard for recent trends (audio continues to rise)
Advocacy
The Electronic Frontier Foundation on Macmillan’s embargo
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/11/publishers-should-be-making-e-book-licensing-better-not-worse
An interesting perspective on the Macmillan embargo
https://scrivenerserror.blogspot.com/2019/11/jB08x.html
Publishers Weekly on a meeting with State Librarians and the Macmillan CEO
· COSLA’s Letter https://www.cosla.org/Portals/0/Documents/Press%20Release-Macmillan.pdf
“Ebook embargo on libraries is only the tip of the iceberg“
https://emergentweb.org/2019/11/12/ebook-embargo-on-libraries-is-only-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/
Audiobooks
The secret life of the audiobook narrator
EInk and E-Readers
· Some cool colour eink https://goodereader.com/blog/e-paper/color-e-paper-is-being-tested-by-some-big-name-companies
· And some more eInk demos https://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/e-ink-and-wacom-have-just-unveiled-a-new-type-of-color-e-paper
· A prediction that the eReader market will shrink over the next few years https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/by-2024-ereader-market-size-revenue-to-reach-usd-200-million-2019-11-26
ReadersFirst is an organization of nearly 300 libraries representing 200 million readers dedicated to ensuring access to free and easy-to-use eBook content.
