Librarians Feel Sticker Shock as Price for Random House Ebooks Rises as Much as 300 Percent. (This story has been updated to clarify the meaning of “simultaneity” and include remarks from the North Texas Library Partners.) New prices for Random House’s ebooks took effect on Thursday, and as the details emerged a number of librarians across the country expressed dismay at the doubling and tripling in prices they are seeing. “We’re very concerned. These are tough times for libraries. It’s very tough here in Louisville,” said Debbe Oberhausen, manager of collection services, at the Louisville Free Public Library. “We want to provide this service, but this kind of pricing is really going to take a huge chunk of our budget,” she said. On Wednesday, Oberhausen bought Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith for $40 via OverDrive. “We’re happy they are continuing to sell to libraries, very happy,” Oberhausen said.
“Simultaneity” here means that Random House’s titles are available to libraries on the same date the retail edition is put on sale. E-Book Action: Inform and Inspire Your Community | Public Library Association (PLA) E-Book Media and Communications Toolkit | Transforming Libraries. Since January 2012, the ALA Digital Content & Libraries Working Group has focused on e-book library lending – particularly around major publishers that refuse to offer their titles through our nation’s libraries, have dramatically raised prices, or have introduced new restrictions.
And we have made some progress. As of April 2013, all of the “Big Six” publishers are now engaged in library e-lending pilots or provide some/all of their titles for purchase by libraries. (See FAQ for details.) While there has been some movement, it is not enough. Librarians and our allies must speak out forcefully in communities across the country.
Among the tools are templates and guidelines for using them with editorial and news media contacts, news hooks you can use locally, tips for relationship building with media contacts, and links to examples of e-book-related editorials and news stories. Communications Handbook Media relations handbook for libraries E-book Action: Inform and Inspire Your Community. Ebooks & Digital Content | Transforming Libraries. Supporting the “Transformation” of libraries is a priority of the Association’s 2015 Strategic Plan, and the rapid shift from print to digital content is one of the more dramatic developments now transforming libraries of all types. New digital forms of information offer rich and extraordinary opportunities for libraries to expand community access to information and to revolutionize in positive ways the relationship between libraries and users.
At the same time, these new forms of digital content pose new challenges. As libraries struggle to meet the challenges of providing digital content in an environment characterized by significant uncertainty and changing on a daily basis, there is a need for an Association-wide group of experts, broadly representative of the many constituencies within the library community, that can proactively address these digital content opportunities and issues at the highest level and from both a policy and practical perspective. Scope Toolkit More Resources. Connect.ala.org/files/80755/EbookBusinessModelsPublicLibs.pdf. American Libraries Magazine | The magazine of the American Library Association.
An Open Letter to America’s Publishers. Open Letter to America's Publishers. "The following open letter was released by ALA President Maureen Sullivan regarding the refusal of Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin to provide access to their ebooks in USlibraries: It’s a rare thing in a free market when a customer is refused the ability to buy a company’s product and is told its money is “no good here.” Surprisingly, after centuries of enthusiastically supporting publishers’ products, libraries find themselves in just that position with purchasing ebooks from three of the largest publishers in the world. Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin have been denying access to their ebooks for our nation’s 112,000 libraries and roughly 169 million public library users.Let’s be clear on what this means: If our libraries’ digital bookshelves mirrored the New York Times fiction bestseller list, we would be missing half of our collection any given week due to these publishers’ policies.
Digital Content Working Group. Supporting the “Transformation” of libraries is a priority of the Association’s 2015 Strategic Plan, and the rapid shift from print to digital content is one of the more dramatic developments now transforming libraries of all types. New digital forms of information offer rich and extraordinary opportunities for libraries to expand community access to information and to revolutionize in positive ways the relationship between libraries and users. At the same time, these new forms of digital content pose new challenges. As libraries struggle to meet the challenges of providing digital content in an environment characterized by significant uncertainty and changing on a daily basis, there is a need for an Association-wide group of experts, broadly representative of the many constituencies within the library community, that can proactively address these digital content opportunities and issues at the highest level and from both a policy and practical perspective.
Librarian Cites 'Concerning' Trends in Digital Collection Development. The acquisition and management of digital content is becoming increasingly critical. And given their background in collection development, librarians are uniquely suited to assume this task. But there are pitfalls, according to Michelle Luhtala, the department chair of the New Canaan (CT) High School Library. In “Six concerns about trends in digital collection development,” a recent post on her blog Bibliotech.me, Luhtala cites specific practices and misconceptions about econtent, which she’s bringing to the table as a member of an AASL (American Association of School Librarians) group devising guidelines on digital content acquisition. Her post, excerpted here: 6 concerning trends in digital collection development. I recently joined an American Association of School Librarians (AASL) working group that will develop guidelines to help librarians make decisions about digital content acquisitions.
Members were asked to introduce themselves, and to share their experience with eContent. What follows is an excerpt of what I wrote. I share it here, because it includes a few concerns I've been meaning to write about in this blog, so here goes: "Our [New Canaan High School Library] collection includes about 1,400 ebooks, most of which are digital versions of our most popular print volumes. This was intentional, and it is working well. FollettGaleABC-CLIO (annual subscription to leased content)Marshall Cavendish (now owned by Amazon)SharpeSalem PressMackinBarnes and NobleBrainHiveOur students access all our eContent through Destiny. 10,000 Smashwords E-books Acquired by Douglas County Libraries. The Douglas County Libraries in Colorado, an innovator in developing its own e-book lending platform, announced last week that they will nearly double the number of e-books available to patrons via a roughly $40,0000 deal to acquire 10,000 e-book titles from independent and self-publishing service provider Smashwords.
In all, the deal brings the total of e-books owned by DCL to 21,000, but perhaps most importantly, might the agreement point the way toward a smoother e-book future for libraries and publishers? “The deal was culminated through the legal equivalent of a sketch on a cocktail napkin, not a 330 page contract with multiple addenda,” blogged PW contributing editor Peter Brantley, who also reported that additional large library consortia, such as California’s Califa, are expected to follow DCL’s suit.
DCL purchases e-books directly from publishers, rather than leasing them through third-party vendors. Smashwords — Ebooks from independent authors and publishers. A Call for Fair Ebook Pricing: Site-based pricing has small schools overcharged. Over the past few months, the American Library Association (ALA) and its president, Maureen Sullivan, have taken a hard stance with major publishers on the issue of ebooks in libraries. ALA’s attention has been directed at the so-called “big six,” some of whom still refuse to sell ebooks to libraries.
While there isn’t much call for a hardline approach with small, independent publishers of K–12 ebooks, there’s one issue I’d like to address. Author Christopher Harris has created a PDF detailing the digital content pricing challenges faced by small, rural schools like the districts he serves in the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership in Western New York. Under the building- or site-based pricing terms that many K–12 publishers use, the small, rural school districts that I serve are being overcharged for digital content.
We aren’t the only ones who are paying more than our fair share. Publishers are being challenged as well. Home: The Big Picture - MU 5541. GVEP Library Service receives national honor.