Alan Inouye's ALA Public Policy & Advocacy Update, September 19

Thank you to Mr. Inouye for keeping librarians informed on ALA advocacy and news:

ALA POLICY & ADVOCACY UPDATES

Upcoming:  Our staffer Marijke Visser will be a panelist at the upcoming National Tribal Broadband Summit hosted by the U.S. Department of the Interior (in collaboration with USDA and IMLS). Panel on Wednesday:  Community Connectors: Tribal Libraries Make Broadband Work 

https://www.doi.gov/tribalbroadband

Upcoming:  CopyTalk webinar--"Fair Use as Cultural Appropriation." Speaker will be Dr. Trevor Reed, associate professor of law at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. October 1, 2020 at 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific.

https://ala-events.zoom.us/j/92413260126?pwd=aUZESE5YcU5Wd25kK1NRUGFuQmp4UT09  (passcode 530231).

ALA submits reply comments to the FCC in agreement with CDT opposing the NTIA petition for a rulemaking on Sec. 230 of the Communications Act.

https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10915052046779/Am%20Library%20Assn%20comment%20on%20FCC%20Sec%20230%20rulemaking%202020-09-15.pdf

ALA releases new report on tribal broadband

ALA news release: http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2020/09/tribal-libraries-partners-leverage-federal-e-rate-deliver-high-speed 

Rep. Ben Ray Lujan references report and introduces into the record. Video clip.

https://twitter.com/LibraryPolicy/status/1306668767565447174

Article on the report that features ALA staffer Marijke Visser:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/libraries-municipal-fiber-broadband-new-mexico-native-reservation/?itm_medium=topic&itm_source=2&itm_content=1x0&itm_term=2356592

ALA releases new report on the formerly incarcerated and libraries

https://twitter.com/ALALibrary/status/1306010410630479872

http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2020/09/new-ala-report-highlights-how-library-services-aid-formerly-incarcerated

The FCC recognizes America's libraries for heightened efforts to close digital divide during the pandemic

https://www.fcc.gov/document/commissioner-starks-announces-2020-doer-honorees

http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2020/09/america-s-libraries-honored-fcc-inaugural-doer-award

ALA submitted comments to the FCC on the Eligible Services List for the E-rate program

https://twitter.com/AlanSInouye/status/1304345741134041091

https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10904134405716/ALA%20E-rate%20ESL%20Reply%20Comments%2009042020.pdf

ALA files comments with FCC on broadband mapping. We agree with SHLB and ADTRAN that data collection should explicitly include community anchor institutions. WC Dockets 19-195 & 11-10.

https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10917232133257/ALA%20Mapping%20Reply%20Comments%2009172020.pdf

ALA supports the BRIDGE Act introduced by Senators Bennet and King. ALA named in Congressional news release. Support broadband deployment.

https://www.bennet.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?id=B5E0A100-9BFC-4839-A5CB-22028644A34B

Steven Yates, an ALA Policy Corps member, meets with Sen. Shelby to make the case for federal funding for libraries during the pandemic

https://twitter.com/HeyLibraraman/status/1304169573462179842

ALA Midwinter Meetings and Exhibits (Conference) is virtual. A strong lineup is emerging.

https://twitter.com/AlanSInouye/status/1306161568107966466

ARTICLES & NEWS

CEO John Sargent of Macmillan Publishers is departing the firm at the end of the year

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/books/macmillan-john-sargent.html

https://fortune.com/2020/09/18/one-of-the-great-enemies-of-the-public-library-is-departing/amp/

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/sargent-leave-macmillan-us-after-disagreements-direction-firm-1219575#

Imminent decision on the next U.S. Register of Copyrights:  Needs to be someone who will fairly reflect all stakeholders and views

https://twitter.com/AlanSInouye/status/1303633888154136581

New AEI Report:  "Combined shortfalls in all state and local government revenue streams are likely to be on the order of $240 billion for the current fiscal year."

https://twitter.com/AEI/status/1304845988729966592

Generation Work-From-Home May Never Recover:  The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/10/career-costs-working-from-home/615472/

Goodbye, Open Office. Hello, ‘Dynamic Workplace.’ With their headquarters largely empty amid the pandemic, tech companies are reconfiguring their open-plan spaces to appeal to employees when they return, with opportunities for collaboration and focus workers can’t get at home.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/goodbye-open-office-hello-dynamic-workplace-11599883273?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1

In the New Yorker:  How Can We Pay for Creativity in the Digital Age?  There’s still money to be made, but it’s mostly not the creators who are getting rich.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/14/how-can-we-pay-for-creativity-in-the-digital-age

DPLA launches Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection

A Press Release from DPLA on a timely and much needed digital collection:

September 10, 2020 – Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce the launch of its new Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection. The collection makes freely accessible nearly 200,000 artifacts, including images, videos, letters, diaries, speeches, maps, diaries, and oral histories, from DPLA’s more than 4,000 partner institutions that document the contributions and experiences of Black women during the women’s suffrage movement as well as Black women’s activism from the 1850s to the 1960s. A highlight of the Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection is the Ida B. Wells Barnett Papers from the University of Chicago, a collection of correspondence, diaries, articles, speeches, newspaper clippings, and photographs from Wells Barnett’s storied life and work as an activist and suffragist. In the coming months an exhibit featuring items from the life of activist and suffragist Mary Church Terrell, courtesy of  Oberlin College, and the Charlotta Bass Papers, documenting the life of the publisher, activist, and leader Charlotta Bass, courtesy of the Southern California Library, will be added to the collection. The new site also includes a timeline that reveals the breadth and depth of Black women’s activism over more than a century and short biographies that give context to materials related to both well- and lesser-known suffragists and activists.

Key to the development of the Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection was a set of partnerships, announced in July 2020, with the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library; Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston; Tuskegee University Archives; the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University; and Southern California Library. These collaborations, powered by funding from Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda Gates, enabled these partner institutions to digitize artifacts related to Black Women’s Suffrage in their collections. These artifacts will include records from the Grace Towns Hamilton Papers, Atlanta Urban League Papers, and Neighborhood Union Collection at Robert W. Woodruff Library; records from the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club Papers at Avery Research Center; the Tuskegee Women’s Club Journal at Tuskegee University Archives; records from the personal papers of Mississippi businesswoman, church leader, and civil rights activist Clarie Collins Harvey at Amistad Research Center; and records from the Charlotta Bass Papers at Southern California Library. Details about these partnerships and digitization efforts can be found here.

“We are thrilled to be able to connect scholars, students, and the public with this rich and diverse collection to help bring to life and contextualize the legacies of these inspiring Black women,” said DPLA Community Manager Shaneé Yvette Murrain. “The Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection is the culmination of nearly a year of work by our team and partners,” added DPLA Executive Director John S. Bracken, “We are especially proud to help elevate these important stories at this transitory time in American history.”

The launch of the Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection was celebrated on September 8, 2020, with Race, Power, and Curation, the most attended virtual event in DPLA’s history. It featured a keynote by Dorothy Berry, the Digital Collections Program Manager at Houghton Library, Harvard University, on the importance of curating Black Collections and intentionally centering Black Stories. DPLA board member Elaine L. Westbrooks, Vice Provost of University Libraries and University Librarian at UNC-Chapel Hill, opened the session talking about the impact of curatorial choices, and Yusef Omowale of the Southern California Digital Library discussed his organization’s work with the Charlotta Bass papers. In addition, representatives from DPLA’s Metadata Working Group, Leanne Finnigan and Penelope Shumaker, described the creation of a Harmful Content Statement, and DPLA Community Manager Shaneé Yvette Murrain, along with UI/UX designer Jasmine Lockwood, walked through the process of creating the collection. A recording of the event is available here. 

DPLA extends its thanks to all of our partners, our staff members past and present, and all of those whose creativity, dedication, and hard work contributed to the creation of BlackWomensSuffrage.org. Please find a full list of credits here. 

Maria Bustillos on the Lawsuit Against the Internet Archive

Maria Bustillos, writer and a founding editor of The Brick House, has published an op-ed in The Nation discussing the lawsuit by four of The Big Five publishers against The Internet Archive (IA). As noted previously by RF, the suit began against the IA’s National Emergency Library, which brought near unlimited access to works (mostly out-of-print and not in license) to educators, students, and the public during the COVID pandemic. Even after the IA shuttered the Emergency Library, however, the suit continues as appears aimed at the IA’s Open Library, which provides two-week one-person-at-a-time access to digitized books (again, the vast majority of which are in ”orphaned” copyright status or not in-print or licensed). The ultimate target appears to be Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) digitizing titles that a library owns and stores so that they cannot be physically checked out. In essence, the digital copy circulates in place of the print copy, allowing great access and chance of preservation.

Though RF has often voice its support of CDL and written about this lawsuit before, we invite librarians to read Ms. Bustillos’s piece. It is a clear and well-written account of the importance of CDL and the wrong-headedness of the lawsuit.

A few highlights:

But what’s really at stake in this lawsuit is the idea of ownership itself—what it means not only for a library but for anyone to own a book.

For-profit publishers like HarperCollins or Hachette don’t perform the kind of work required to preserve a cultural posterity. Publishers are not archivists. They obey the dictates of the market. They keep books in print based on market considerations, not cultural ones. Archiving is not in the purview or even the interests of big publishers, who indeed have an incentive to encourage the continuing need to buy.

But in a healthy society, the need for authors and artists to be compensated fairly is balanced against the need to preserve a rich and robust public commons for the benefit of the culture as a whole. Publishers are stewards of the right of authors to make a fair living; librarians are stewards of cultural posterity. Brewster Kahle, and the Internet Archive, are librarians, and the Internet Archive is a new kind of library.

The for-profit publishers in the lawsuit, however, do not care for this idea. What they allege in the complaint is this: “Without any license or any payment to authors or publishers, IA [the Internet Archive] scans print books, uploads these illegally scanned books to its servers, and distributes verbatim digital copies of the books in whole via public-facing websites.”

What this ominous description fails to acknowledge is that all libraries that lend e-books “distribute verbatim digital copies of the books in whole via public-facing websites.” Yet the publishers claim later in the same document that they have no beef with regular libraries. They love libraries, they say (“Publishers have long supported public libraries, recognizing the significant benefits to the public of ready access to books and other publications”), and are “in partnership” with them: “This partnership turns upon a well-developed and longstanding library market, through which public libraries buy print books and license ebooks (or agree to terms of sale for ebooks) from publishers.”

The real issue emerges here: The words “license ebooks” are the most important ones in the whole lawsuit.

Publishers approve of libraries paying for e-book licenses because they’re temporary, just like your right to watch a movie on Netflix is temporary and can evaporate at any moment. In the same way, publishers would like to see libraries obliged to license, not to own, books—that is, continue to pay for the same book again and again. That’s what this lawsuit is really about. It’s impossible to avoid the conclusion that publishers took advantage of the pandemic to achieve what they had not been able to achieve previously: to turn the library system into a “reading as a service” operation from which they can squeeze profits forever.

Libraries have operated on those principles for thousands of years, collecting, preserving, and sharing knowledge not for profit but as a public good—requiring nothing. For many centuries, young people of limited means have been the explicitly intended beneficiaries and users of libraries. Some of those young people grew up to write books themselves. It would be a tragedy if the profit motive were to succeed at last in putting an end to that.

Exactly! The lack of a perpetual license option from The Big 5, the need to constantly relicense, the absence of licenses on many culturally significant works, the possible disappearance of licenses on books as they age, and the Big 5’s treatment of literature as a commodity create an intolerable burden on libraries. We seemed doomed to a carousel of only what the Big 5publishers think is commercially viable now. We again call upon The Big 5 to come to the table to negotiate better license terms, encourage libraries to explore mid- and smaller publishers offerings that have better terms and prices—let’s MAKE a market rather than relying on the big publishers alone—and reiterate our support for CDL. Publishers, drop this suit! Is a library boycott of the publishers pursuing it, in support of CDL, out of the question? Nobody is talking about one . . . yet.

Panorama Project: “Immersive Media & Reading 2020” Consumer Research to Launch in September

The Panorama Project has put out a press release explaining that a consumer survey, undertaken with partner Portland State University, will “help understand how readers discover, access, and consume books in all formats (print, ebook, audiobook)—before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is the whole text. RF looks forward to seeing the results:

CROSS-PUBLISHING INDUSTRY INITIATIVE TO MEASURE ENGAGEMENT AND BUYING BEHAVIORS ACROSS PRINT AND DIGITAL FORMATS—BEFORE AND DURING THE PANDEMIC

The Panorama Project’s Immersive Media & Reading 2020 consumer survey, in partnership with Portland State University, will officially launch in mid-September 2020. The cross-publishing industry research initiative will help understand how readers discover, access, and consume books in all formats (print, ebook, audiobook)—before and during the COVID-19 pandemic—and how that engagement compares to other immersive media, specifically film, TV, and gaming.

"Portland State University is proud to be working with Panorama Project, BISG, the Authors Guild, ALA, IBPA, and PubWest to bring forward this important study that will broaden our collective understanding of book engagement and consumption within the wider media ecosystem,” said Dr. Rachel Noorda, Director of Book Publishing & Assistant Professor at Portland State University (PSU). “Working together with the committee, we have designed a study to address concerns across the book industry, and we are looking forward to analyzing the results."

The survey and methodology were developed by the Panorama Project’s Consumer Research Committee which was chaired by Dr. Noorda, and included representatives from the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), Authors Guild, American Library Association (ALA), Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and PubWest. It will be fielded in two waves (mid-September and late-October), and the data will be analyzed by Dr. Noorda and her colleague, Dr. Kathi Inman Berens, Associate Professor of English and Book Publishing at PSU. The final report will be published by and made publicly available through the Panorama Project in December.

“The ongoing pandemic’s uneven impact on the publishing industry—including authors, bookstores, and libraries—obviously forced us to revamp our approach to this research, and I’m sincerely thankful for each committee member’s invaluable contributions throughout the process,” said Panorama Project lead and committee secretary, Guy LeCharles Gonzalez. “One of Panorama Project’s primary goals is to establish a foundation for cross-industry collaboration that can produce useful and transparent data that can be widely shared and analyzed. The committee’s collective insights and expertise ensured we’ll not only capture useful data this year, but we’ve also established a strong foundation for ongoing and deeper research.”

"Conducting relevant industry research is one of BISG's four primary objectives,” said Brian O'Leary, Executive Director, BISG. “The industry needs a longitudinal study of how consumers view books in the broader media landscape, and Portland State is well-positioned to conduct this survey and interpret the data coming from it."

In addition to aligning engagement with books to other immersive media, another key goal of Immersive Media & Reading 2020 is to understand public libraries' role in the discovery, consumption, and purchasing behaviors of readers who use libraries for more than just books.

"There is a paucity of data about how libraries operate within and positively influence the larger media ecosystem—which includes ebooks but also other media,” said Alan S. Inouye, Senior Director, Public Policy & Government Relations, ALA. “The collection and analysis of such data is a challenging endeavor, as longitudinal data are needed to answer many of the most important questions. ALA thanks the Panorama Project for undertaking this ambitious and needed study."

Funding for Immersive Media & Reading 2020 was generously provided by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), American Library Association (ALA), Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and OverDrive.

For more information on the Consumer Research Committee and the research methodology, please visit panoramaproject.org/immersive-media-reading-2020.

Andrew Albanese's Update on the Publisher/IA Lawsuit

Andrew Albanese of Publishers Weekly reported today that attorneys for the 4 publishers suing the Internet Archive (IA) and the IA archive itself have set out a one year discovery plan for the case, with “the first proposed deadline for initial fact disclosures on September 11, 2020, and would conclude with expert depositions due by September 20, 2021.”

Some of the disclosures would include the following:

• All aspects of the operations of the Internet Archive, Open Library, and National Emergency Library, including without limitation the development and application of “Controlled Digital Lending.”

• Defendant’s reproduction, display, distribution, and public performance of Plaintiffs’ Works alleged in the Complaint.

• Defendant’s fair use defense and other defenses.

• Defendant’s justifications for and promotion of “Controlled Digital Lending.” {CDL]

• Plaintiffs’ legal and contractual rights in the Works cited in the complaint, and the copyright registration for such Works.

• Plaintiffs’ sales, licenses, or agreements relating to the Works.

• Plaintiffs’ enforcement actions related to the Works.

• Plaintiffs’ actions related to the Works during COVID-19.

• Damages, including Plaintiffs’ claims for damages for willful infringement, as permitted by the Copyright Act.

RF has previously discussed this suit and CDL. While recent digital content commercially available under license may have to be eschewed—though that content is among other things precisely what is being litigated—CDL offers fair access to and preservation of thousands of titles that in a massive market failure are not available to readers, including Pulitzer and other prize winners. RF reiterates its support for CDL and calls upon librarians everywhere to defend the practice, with proper safeguards including removal of content upon request..

Price Creep in Canada? RF is Watching

Although the majority of Hachette e-books remain at $65 for 24 months , our Canadian partners have seen some price increases. All prices below are in Canadian dollars:

Queen: All The Songs: Teh Story Behind Every Track Estimated at $150 on pre-order

The Idea of the Brain: The Past and Future of Neuroscience $120

Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown $90

More than Ready: Be Strong and Be You $84

A-List Angels: How a Band of Actors, Artists, and Athletes Hacked Silicone Valley $84

The Less Dead $106

Simon & Schuster is not above a little price gouging either:

Reaganland: America’s Right Turn, 1976-1980 $163.99

USA prices seem stable for now. What gives, Hachette and S&S? Why the jump? Why these titles? We’ll be looking for more examples. and will be posting as we see them. If you are going to jump prices, could you at least consider a perpetual access option?

A Position Paper from Carmi Parker: Flexibility, Efficiency, Fair Pricing

Carmi Parker, ILS Administrator from Whatcom County Library System, has written a position paper based upon a study of over 11,000 digital title licenses and nearly a decade of looking at trends. Based upon revenues that might be gained from print equivalents, the model proposed considers how offering metered and perpetual licenses at different costs can provide flexibility without publishers losing revenue. The paper looks at different license models, benefits for libraries and publishers, library budgets, how library digital content vendors can improve services, and how all stakeholders might have a “win” by working together. Why is $15 for a 30 circ metered licenses “fair”? Download the paper to see.

”Neither libraries nor publishers are satisfied with the license terms currently applied to books in eFormats. We are not in agreement on what availability models and prices are fair, in part because we are still breaking new ground with these formats, their capabilities, and how to measure success. This position paper, by Readers First Working Group member Carmi Parker, proposes a single licensing model that aligns with print but optionally enables the unique capabilities of eLending: perpetual licenses and concurrent use.

The proposed model moves us toward:

• improved flexibility, which will help libraries better support the healthy culture of reading valued by both libraries and publishers

• increased efficiency for libraries for whom each model creates incremental work

• no significant cost increase for libraries or revenue decrease for publishers

In addition to introducing the model, the paper describes the evolution of license terms since 2011, analyzes the impact of the model changes on collections, and suggests how adjustments might benefit both publishers and libraries. Finally, it submits recommendations for moving forward.”

Download the position paper

Amigos Presents SimplyE Training Sessions

For librarians just learning about SimplyE, the library content “one app to rule them all,” Amigos is presenting training sessions; even librarians more familiar with the app can learn from a refresher. RF can vouch for Amigo’s commitment to and expertise in deploying the app. The app itself is the best realization so far of the principles on which RF was founded. We encourage exploration of the app, and Amigos is making it easy.

From Amigos:

SimplyE gathers ebooks and audiobooks from multiple vendors into a single, easy-to-use interface for your patrons. Instead of using a different app for each e-content service, patrons (and your library staff) need only use one. 

An open source solution - if your library has the technical expertise - you could host SimplyE yourself. If not, Amigos is available as one of the official hosting providers and will host for libraries across the United States. Contact us for more information!

 Wednesday September 2

11 am–12 pm CDT

Register today!

App Interface & Searching: An introduction and deep dive into how the SimplyE interface looks and how it works. What are the differences between the iOS and Android apps? Why do the books show up in the order they do? Can I search by phrase? We will go over all this and more.

Bring your device with the current version of SimplyE, log into your library, and work alongside Christine Peterson as you discover details of the app.

Watch for more sessions (all are Wednesdays, 11am – 12pm Central time):

September 16: SimplyE: Roles & Library Configuration

October 7: SimplyE: Modifying Metadata

October 21: SimplyE: Lists & Lanes

November 4: SimplyE: Troubleshooting

November 18: SimplyE: Statistics

Back-to-School Resources from the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is touting resources for students, parents, teachers, and librarians to help with back to school when many have made the wise choice to learn virtually during the pandemic. The following links come from a blog post.

For Students

If you need homework help, The Internet Archive has a huge array of textbooks and study guides. If you’re looking for primary sources to cite in your History assignments, our 26 million historical books and texts are a great place to start; if you’re trying to get through English class we also have thousands of works of literature from around the world.

And if you need a study break? We have a huge collection of educational software and computer games you can play around with. (Not to mention plenty of less-educational games, too!)

For Parents

Do you have a budding history buff, wildlife biologist, artist, or stargazer on your hands? Looking for books to entertain and educate them with? We’ve created a number of handy resource guides on a range of subjects, from astronauts to zebras. You can also check out some previous compilations of our favorite collections!

Of course, one of the best ways to support your child’s education is by reading to and with them. The Internet Archive’s Open Library contains thousands of children’s books to check out and enjoy together.

For Teachers and Educators

Over the past several months, the Internet Archive has collaborated with a number of educational specialists to determine how our collections can best serve teachers. If you’re trying to plan for an online semester, are wondering how to increase your students’ digital fluency, or want to prepare for long-term distance learning trends, you can find expert analysis and advice on our blog. And if you want to leverage the Open Library to get new material or find lesson plans to make curriculum preparation easier, our doors are always open.

For Librarians

As a nonprofit public library, we know that now more than ever, libraries and librarians matter. While digital librarians are facing unprecedented situations—and formerly analog librarians are being forced to adapt—we’re providing useful resources to library and archive professionals everywhere. You can learn more about how we can enhance course reserves on our blog, or browse our American Libraries archive to explore some of our partners’ collections. We proudly sponsor both Archive-It (an institutional web archiving solution) and the Open Libraries program (which allows libraries to expand their digital holdings using our collections). If you’d like to learn more about how the Internet Archive can help you provide more digital materials to your patrons, sign up for an upcoming webinar!

The Internet Archive has pulled a number of resources in one place to help during this most difficult time. It is another arrow i the quiver of librarians looking to provide resources.

News about CDL from The Internet Archive

Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) remains in the news. While there is no sign that 4 large publishers are dropping their suit against the internet Archive (IA), the IA has shown how one publishers is using CDL for discovery of titles and driving sales:

Small Publisher Embraces Controlled

Digital Lending to Connect With New Readers. Jason C. McDonald, author and publisher at AJ Charleson Publishing LLC, recently made three books available through Controlled Digital Lending.  Said McDonald, “I really support libraries and Internet Archive’s lending program is basically an international library. It spans borders. The whole purpose is to get these resources into the hands of people that need them in a way that is controlled — and it’s free.”

Also in the news, the IA congratulates and associate for winning Public Knowledge’s IP3 Award:

Knocking Down the Barriers to Knowledge: Lila Bailey Wins IP3 Award. Lila Bailey, Policy Counsel at Internet Archive, has been awarded the IP3 award by Public Knowledge for her significant contributions in the area of intellectual property. Said Chris Lewis, President and CEO of Public Knowledge, “Working at the intersection between copyright and information access, Lila has been instrumental in promoting equitable access to contemporary research through Controlled Digital Lending—the library lending practice currently under threat because of a legal challenge from large commercial publishers.”

Rf reiterates its support for CDL. Used properly, it promotes the exchange of information and preservation of texts without disadvantaging authors.