[Web4lib] Kindle lending

[Tim Spalding]

What form will pushing and advocacy take, exactly? It seems to me that
while technology is sure to change, the basic parameters of the
discussion change won't. If I'm wrong, someone tell me how.

The simple fact is that libraries used to be able to buy something at
the same rate as everyone else, and then lend it out to different
people until it fell apart. They didn't need to push for that right.
It was implicit in notions of physical ownership under common law and
codified in the Fair Use doctrine. Publishers have never liked it, but
it didn't matter what they thought about it.

Now it does matter. As I calculated in a blog post, the average public
library is "spending" something like $0.50 per read today(1). That's
not a number publishers are ever going to be happy with. And it will
certainly be publishers--not libraries--who make the law here. eBooks
are in their infancy, but the ebook market (about 7%) is already twice
as large as the entire library market (3-4%). If libraries are going
to influence the debate, they better do it soon!

Of course, there will be exceptions. Publishers will be glad to sell
libraries titles that consumers won't buy on their own, or that don't
get a lot of reads per copy. That means much of what academic
libraries buy is safe--to the extent continuing to pay $200 for some
Brill monograph is safe. They will also be relatively more willing to
cut deals if libraries make the experience difficult--as the UK
Publishers are now advocating--foisting opportunity cost on the reader
and therefore reaching people unwilling to pay ebook prices. (The same
principle is why coupons work. The extra work involved gives the
sellers a way to price discriminate.)

But public libraries are not going to be able to do what they do
now—serve as a magical value-creation engine that takes a $10 or $20
book and turns it into hundreds of dollars of effective value. Costs
will rise. And when libraries stop offering a true value multiplier,
and become a mere subsidy, they will lose support.

So, I ask, what will the adaptation look like? What advocacy or
refocusing can libraries engage in—or what external force—will change
the basic economic dynamics of ebook lending? Believe me, I want to
figure that out as much as anyone.

My answer:

* Emphasize paper; it embeds a model that works.
* Stop advocating for library-hostile systems among your patrons; for
example, stop lending Nooks and Kindles when their very terms of
service prohibit a library from lending them!
* A "buying consortium" is a pipe dream, but I could see a pledge to
buy only ebooks of certain sorts.

I imagine a logo that goes on the paper book, webpage or ebook.
Instead of saying "Organic" or whatever it says "Library Friendly." It
indicates that the author and publisher have agreed to a certain slate
of lending rights. Moral suasion of this sort can be very
effective--especially if the notion spreads early, before everyone
takes it for granted that the publisher sets all the terms.

Best,
Tim

1. Counting only materials, not buildings, staff etc. http://bit.ly/c4dbMI

On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 2:22 PM, Laura Krier <laura.krier at gmail.com> wrote:
> I completely agree: If libraries disappear it will be because we
> didn't adapt to the changes that ebooks require. But I also think
> there's a big difference between adapting and trying to make our
> services work with ebook models as they are currently being put
> forward by vendors, and pushing for models that work better for us (or
> creating them ourselves).
>
> I do think that libraries who are trying to make current models work,
> by lending out ereaders themselves or trying to work with overdrive
> and other similar vendors, and doing good things, as long as they are
> aware that these should be stopgap efforts only, while we advocate for
> library lending models of digital materials that actually work.
>
> And I'm not willing to give up on the notion of creating our own
> digital libraries, especially of unique local materials. I think the
> legal battle is worth it, to establish our right to digitize content
> and allow it to be distributed on a non-profit basis, in the same way
> libraries have operated for hundreds of years.
>
> Laura Krier
>
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 11:10 AM, Jesse Ephraim
> <jephraim at roanoketexas.com> wrote:
>> I agree with Bill.  As a profession, we tend to spend far too much time fretting about whether a new technology or trend will threaten the existence of libraries.  If libraries disappear, it will be because we didn't adapt to the changes and revise our services accordingly.  When it comes to technology, we are our own worst enemies.
>>
>
> --
> Laura Krier
>
> http://www.lauraek.net
> http://kitchenilliterate.wordpress.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/



-- 
Check out my library at http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding