Ebooks in libraries

[Masters, Gary E]

I have been attending the 3rd Annual Electronic Book 2000 Conference and
Show and until Thomas Peters (Center for Library Initiatives) spoke never
heard the phrase "fair use."  I did  hear a great deal from Dick Brass
(Microsoft) who thought civilization would fail if the money stopped going
to the publishers.  He did acknowledge libraries after a question but
thought that they were a historic way to cheat publishers.  (My
translation.)  Peters was quite good in his presentation "Text and Text -
Bearing Devices" and I encouraged him to publish it.  

Now, I like what ebooks will become and think that the eye strain problem
will soon be gone and that the ebook has a great way to put many pages in a
small package (why not elibrary instead of ebook?) , stay updated, mix
media, and even present information to people who can not read.  I saw a
device to produce Braille from an ebook at one tenth of the current cost for
translators.  It was a prototype from NIST, but a bold expression of
engineering.  

I have notes and handouts, so if there are questions that I can answer -
please feel free to ask.  I will do what I can.  

However, most of my thinking is about payment.  The British library model
keeps coming to mind.  It seems that if there is any way to keep track of
royalty payments it will come out of the British experiment or perhaps ILL.
All books are not alike and there is no point of dividing the pot evenly.
Perhaps we can even get money flowing to those that contribute to research
articles.  If research were paid according to the number that read it, one
might expect an improvement in quality of writing.  But perhaps not.  

But here is the point of my message.  There are bright people who contribute
here.  Perhaps we can devise some payment method that seems fair and is not
out of line with what people think fair  AND is easy.  I am working on my
thoughts, but they seem divided between micropayments and having some
umbrella payment.  How?  I don't know.  It is a mystery.

Also, not the point, but perhaps more important, lets keep in the face of
ebook publishers with fair use and make sure that it stays fair.  We may not
get all that we want, but they seem interested in cooperation.  NISO is
working on it.  There was someone from ALA there.  After all, we could be
their best customers.  They could be our best resources.  

That would be nice.




Gary E. Masters
Librarian (Systems)
CDRH - FDA
(301) 827-6893