Take heart, it appears the big six publishers are hearing the outcry from libraries about their e-book policies and are making an effort to produce a workable model specifically for libraries. Although the details of Macmillan’s prototype are not yet being shared, this article does a nice job of summing up the state of affairs with the “big six” at this point in time. Go to the Digital Shift for your cliff notes on this subject….
Tag Archives: ebooks
E-Books Programming
Last Friday, I attended a virtual conference called eBooks: Benefits, Challenges, and the Future. The event was produced by Seflin, one of the multitype organizations in Florida. The programming was just excellent and included big names like: Stephen Abram (Gale-Cengage Learning), Chad Mairn (Novare Library Services), Nik Osborne, J.D. (Indiana University), Jamie LaRue (Douglas County Libraries, CO), and Sue Polanka (Wright State University). If you don’t follow these people online, you should consider doing so. These people are doing the deep thinking and hard questioning about the current and future state of e-books. What I appreciated most about the content was that it was a good mix of big picture thinking along with the down and dirty details of file formats, devices, and contract details too. We need it all!
I am hearing of interest in the Central MN region for programming around e-books, which we would like to provide in early winter. The challenge of such programming is finding the proper balance to meet the greatest need. Watch for more details and be prepared to respond to questions about your ebook needs.
As society conditions us to respond to the eight second sound bites, how do we slow ourselves down enough to still do the necessary deep thinking? Are we truly being reflective in our practice? I don’t know about you, but I am working on it, one day at a time!
Unglue.it
Have you heard? Just this afternoon, the site Unglue.it launched! Unglue.it is a crowd-sourced funding site for campaigns to license previously published works under Creative Commons to provide free e-book use for all. Together, authors and publishers (right’s holders) set a fee threshold — generally $5,000 to $25,000 — that must be hit within two to six months. Through pledges from book lovers (and book loving organizations), the book will become “unglued” when the fee threshold is reached. Due to the Creative Commons license, the book will no longer have DRM restrictions, and can be copied and shared without copyright fears. To find out more about Unglue.it and to view the five current campaigns, visit the site directly at https://unglue.it/, or go to http://tinyurl.com/6sejmzb for a detailed article about Unglue.it!
HarperCollins Online Petition
Have you signed? There’s an online petition titled “Tell HarperCollins: Limited Checkouts on eBooks is Wrong for Libraries”. So far the petition has over 61,500 signatures. You can access the online petition and related information here. How long before this petition has an impact? Only time will tell, but try we must!
The HarperCollins Debate
By now you’ve no doubt heard about HarperCollins’ decision to limit ebook checkouts to 26 per title. Perhaps you’ve even formed a strong opinion about the topic yourself. Now we have an opportunity to learn about some key reactions and responses from libraries that won’t stand for it! The article More Libraries Decide to Give HarperCollins the Cold Shoulder describes the actions taken by libraries and library organizations across the country. What is your library’s response (if any)?