Have you heard the big news? Penguin Random House announced December 3 that it will implement perpetual access for all of its eBook titles and cap prices per title. The new structure will phase out the Penguin model of one-year lending and reduce the price for some previous Random House titles with a $65 cap on all Penguin Random House e-titles starting January 1. Sounds good until you compare this cap with what a consumer pays for eBooks and print titles. This is progress, but is this as good as we can expect in library land?
American Libraries has been keeping track of “the Big Five publishers (Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Hachette Book Group) and the terms they offer to libraries for their ebooks.”
Their “updated matrix (PDF file) provides a complete list of the distributors that each publisher uses and fuller information about library consortium access, including specifics for public, academic, and school library access.”
Things to note:
Among the Big Five, only Hachette Book Group does not offer public libraries the opportunity to license its ebooks through consortia
The publishers are not as open to school library consortia.
Academic library consortia may license from Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Macmillan.
Simon & Schuster does not license to academic libraries at all.
Image by melentia2012. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.
If you are looking for e-book updates, these snippets have been supplied through my membership in the American Libraries Association.
The Big Six and library lending: An update
Rob Maier writes: “In May 2013, when I started to track the Big Six and their library lending terms, there were many changes taking place in the publishing world. I assumed that I’d be issuing updates at least monthly. Instead, we entered a time of limited change until September 25, when Penguin resumed licensing its ebooks through OverDrive. Since OverDrive is the leading provider of ebooks to public libraries, the lack of access to Penguin titles has been frustrating to say the least.”… AL:E-Content, Sept. 27; OverDrive Digital Library Blog, Sept. 25
Penguin drops side-loading requirement
Matt Enis writes: “In a quick reversal of its position on Kindle lending, Penguin on September 26 loosened the terms of its renewed agreement with OverDrive. The publisher has agreed to allow library patrons to download ebook titles wirelessly via OverDrive’s ‘Get for Kindle’ function instead of, as initially announced, first downloading titles to a computer, and then side-loading those titles to their Kindle classic or Paperwhite using a USB cord.”… Library Journal:The Digital Shift, Sept. 27
Scribd offers ebook subscription service
Scribd announced October 2 it is offering its own subscription service for ebooks. The service will cost $8.99 a month for an unlimited amount of books and will have many HarperCollins titles. Scribd is a six-year-old document-sharing company. Laura Hazard Owen writes:“Overall, the service is a strong contender in this emerging space, and if you’re trying to choose between Scribd and Oyster, you’ll have to consider selection, design, and platform.” Nate Hoffelder notes apotential problemwith content availability…. TeleRead, Oct. 1; GigaOM, Oct. 1; The Digital Reader, Oct. 1
OverDrive releases library circulation APIs
Adam Sockel writes: “Last year we introduced the initial set of OverDrive APIs that enable approved vendors to deeply integrate OverDrive-hosted catalogs and nearly one million digital titles with their apps and platforms. These included the ability to access catalog metadata, see the availability of a title, and search the library’s collection. The all-new Circulation APIs are now available on the OverDrive Developer Portal.”… OverDrive Digital Library Blog, Oct. 1
Source:American Libraries Direct, 10/2/2013
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
Have you heard the big news? Penguin Random House announced December 3 that it will implement perpetual access for all of its eBook titles and cap prices per title. The new structure will phase out the Penguin model of one-year lending and reduce the price for some previous Random House titles with a $65 cap on all Penguin Random House e-titles starting January 1. Sounds good until you compare this cap with what a consumer pays for eBooks and print titles. This is progress, but is this as good as we can expect in library land?
