Webinar of Interest

Please consider joining us for a (free!) webinar:

Collaborating for Access: Libraries and Independent Authors

Thursday, February 1, 2024, at 3p ET

At our seventh in the Collaborating for Access series of webinars presented by COSLA, DPLA and ReadersFirst, we’ll look at ways libraries can drive discovery of and benefit from the inclusion of self-published titles in their collections. Highlights will include a look at the Indie Author Project, the Indie Catalog Selection in Palace Marketplace, and insights from library leaders and independent authors themselves.

Speakers will include:

Tyora Moody, Independent Author

Nash Steele, BiblioLabs Indie Author Project

Miriam Tuliao, DPLA Curation Corps

Kelvin Watson, Executive Director, Las Vegas-Clark County Library District

Moderated by Michael Blackwell, ReadersFirst

Please register here.

Toward a digital library ownership model

If priced fairly—a HUGE if—licensing of library digital content is useful and even helpful. But all too often, libraries end up having to re-license books they have already paid for once, or twice, or even many times, often under ruinous terms, at least when compared to our ROI in print. Are you tired of the paying over and over, of the keeping track of what and how often you’ll need to renew, and of seldom being able actually to EXPAND your digital collection?

Me too!

That’s why this news from the Digital Public Library of America of an ownership model is so welcome. Here’s a link to the full story—well worth a read!—and here’s the most important part of today’s announcement from the DPLA’s Micah May:

While the intellectual case for library ownership is strong, practical solutions have been difficult to come by. In particular, few libraries have the capacity, or interest, in building the tech infrastructure required to host hundreds of thousands of ebooks. Thankfully, one thing has changed since library ownership was first pioneered a decade ago: We now have a library-driven platform for management and delivery of e-content, The Palace Project. Having heard the renewed interest from libraries in ownership of digital content, we set out to explore whether The Palace Project platform could offer a solution.

In short, in the model we are developing, libraries would own the titles, just as they do with physical books. Libraries would be able to both transfer their books to other libraries and to update books as needed for preservation or to adapt to new formats. Rights holders would retain copyright to their works and all subsidiary rights. Lending would be restricted to one reader at a time with Digital Rights Management (DRM) unless waived by the rights holder.  We would also provide libraries the option of hosting their books in Palace Marketplace or another provider.

We are developing this model through conversations with a number of leading librarians and legal experts, including at a workshop this fall convened at NYU by Jennie Rose Halperin of Library Futures. We have also been discussing this model with publishers and book distributors; while these conversations are in an early stage, we are buoyed by the feedback we are receiving. We hope to be able to roll out an implementation of this model in the first half of 2024. If you’d like to talk more about digital ownership or The Palace Project, please reach out to me at micah@dp.la.

A variety of fairly priced models, with ownership, metered licensing, and subscriptions/pay-per-use could help libraries use their limited $$$ wisely. Owning might, for example, perhaps initially cost more but allow for long-term preservation while short-term demand would be met by other options. Ownership could make many purchases that seem less viable under licensing seem attractive, bringing greater attention to newer, perhaps more diverse authors. Publishers, we won’t spend less if you give us better deals. Why not try something new?

More Whoppers from the AAP

MassLive’s Alison Kuznitz has explored Massachusetts’ efforts to enact a law for fair library ebook pricing in “Publishers look to make edits to Mass. lawmaker’s E-book access bill.”

RF commends State Rep. Ruth Balser for her efforts to give library users a fair shake in a market that is all-too unfair.

As usual, the Association Of American Publishers (AAP) have provided opposing testimony riddled with falsehoods.

Here are the claims, according to the article: “the proposals conflict with the U.S. Copyright Act, which protects the distribution of literary works among authors and publishers. Authors would not be properly compensated and intellectual property would be devalued should the bills move forward” ‘They [ebooks] can be easily copied, made perfect copies, made unlimited number of copies, that publishers approach their licensing of e-books to libraries for digital lending in a different way than physical books’.”

How are these lies? Let us count the ways.

Conflict with the U.S. Copyright Act? Nope. As explained by Authors Alliance Dave Hansen, in the article: “This bill does no such thing -- it’s carefully and narrowly crafted. It doesn’t compel publishers to license. Instead, it merely provides that Massachusetts and its contract law will not be used to aid publishers in their efforts to limit libraries’ rights.” Publishers can publish what they want and charge what they want. They just can’t license in this state except under fair terms. Saying this law would be a violation of copyright doesn’t make it so.

Authors not compensated? Nonsense. If we could get fair terms, librarians would if anything license more. MORE authors are likely to be compensated,, especially authors who may not be best-sellers, as libraries get more varied and deeper content. The income would simply be distributed differently, but the total amount of income might well grow. Possibly readers would discover—and ultimately buy—more books. Publishers could easily ensure more authors were compensated. Don’t blame libraries for your greed.

Intellectual property would be devalued. No, costs would simply reflect what publishers get from print in libraries rather than the inflated prices of the current unfair licensing.

Piracy from library ebooks? Ha ha ha ha ha! Bogus! Piracy is a problem, but please show us how it stems from library ebooks. They are digitally protected and the people borrowing them don’t need to pirate. I could claim that if publishers offered fair terms, there would be less piracy because more people would borrow legitimately with as much authority as the AAP can cry piracy. I won’t make that claim. There’s no proof. But please show proof of instances of piracy stemming from library ebooks. I’ll wait.

How can anyone believe these transparently weak claims?

Here’s one last one: “This legislation threatens the entire creative economy.” No. This legislation would stop the plutocratic international mega-corporations that control publishing, too often at the expense of creators, from ripping off libraries and trying to drive readers from libraries and force them to pay for books they will never really own.

Good on you, Massachusetts!

Books Aren't Being Banned?

The American Library Association sent an email saying a witness at a congressional hearing claimed “books aren’t being banned.” It seemed such a bizarre claim that I checked it out. Lindsey Smith, a leader in the Orwellianly named “Moms for Liberty” group did say “I would like to address the lie that parental groups and Moms for Liberty are ‘book banning.’ If removing a sexual explicit book from school libraries is what you see as book banning, then you need to reevaluate your language.”

That spinning sound you hear is poor George once again revolving in his grave.

That’s an interesting argument. I’ve heard it argued that removing a book from a library isn’t “banning” because anyone can still “buy the book from Amazon.” That’s bogus. You’ve removed access to a book from someone—someone who may not have the financial wherewithal to buy the book—who might want to read it and put it behind a pay wall. The government may not have banned the book. In that location, you HAVE. And if a person uses an organized political movement to intimidate and demand removal of books that professionals have deemed worth reading and many might wish to read to help understand themselves, you are banning the book. Or at least trying. Fortunately, many others are fighting to keep First Amendment rights, with one person not dictating to others what should and should not be available in a library.

How is removing award-winning books from libraries based on content you object to—but many others do not—not banning, in that time and place?

But why expect logic, I guess.

Speaking of objections, it might be asked what this has to do with ReadersFirst and library digital content. The answer of course is everything. Digital content platforms are a book banner’s dream. Imagine being able to remove thousands of book without even having to burn them?

So, while RF assumes people interested in library digital content are already signed up, we again share the ALA’s plea to fight the banners:

Don't let the book ban deniers win. Tell Congress to support librarians and educators by opposing book bans and share with your community to bring new people into our pro-freedom to read movement:

Tell Congress: I Stand for the Freedom to Read

Book ban denialism is dangerous, and it's dead wrong. In our preliminary data on 2023 book challenges, we found some troubling results:

  • Book bans have increased by 20% from the same point last year

  • Book challenges are on the rise in public libraries, and accounted for 49% of those documented by ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), compared to 16% at the same point last year.

  • "Serial book banners" are also on the rise, with 11 states reporting challenges of 100 or more books - up from 6 last year.

So, in the face of continually rising challenges, how do we resist?

We fight back by growing our movement and showing that the vast majority of Americans stand for the freedom to read diverse and challenging books. Help grow our movement by clicking below, writing to Congress, and sharing with your community:

Resist Book Bans Now - Write to Congress, then Share!

Transcript from DPLA/COSLA/ReadersFirst "Collaborating for Access # 6"

Here's a link to the recording of the most recent DPLA/COSLA/ReadersFirst "Collaborating  for Access": www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPqbEKTSRJI

What do librarians REALLY want from publishers, and how can smaller and independent publishers create a better ecosystem? In our sixth Collaborating for Access webinar, COSLA, DPLA, and ReadersFirst are partnering with the Independent Publisher Caucus to bring together librarians and smaller and independent publishers to explore how they can work together to provide greater access for patrons. Topics will include: Opportunities for independent publishers in the library market; licensing options that are most attractive to libraries; and ways that libraries and independent publishers can work together to mutual benefit.

Licensing to meet best-seller demand from the Big 5 is not working for us. We can offer fewer titles unless limited budgets are stretched to breaking point. Collections suffer in depth and diversity. Enhancing our use of medium and smaller publisher offerings can benefit authors . . . and us, with studies showing that collections grow, “power user” patrons read more, and circulation rise without cost increase. It will require developing more discovery methods and highlighting of available high-quality but lesser known works. Hey, our readers have to wait for the most popular titles anyway. Let them wait a little longer and give everyone more to choose from. Maybe YOU will help create the next best-selling blockbuster.

Rally for the Right to Read

Penguin Random House, Booklist, and the ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans are hosting a special event today:

TODAY
Join us for Rally for the Right to Read:
A Banned Books Week Event

TODAY at 2 PM ET, join Penguin Random House, Booklist, and Unite Against Book Bans for a special Banned Books Week event as we premiere the video of Ibram X. Kendi’s motivating and moving speech from Rally for the Right to Read at the 2023 ALA Annual Conference.

Get a sneak peek of Dr. Kendi’s speech.

Introduced by Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director of the American Library Association, in conversation with Chris Jackson, EVP, Publisher, & Editor-in-Chief of One World—this hour-long webinar will celebrate the right to read and librarians’ role in providing access for all.

Learn more and register for free here.

While digital content can reach into areas where books have been removed from library shelves, we’ll all be stronger for fighting for this fundamental right everywhere. I attended and saw Dr. Kendi at the ALA Conference. His speech is well worth a listen!

A RF/COSLA/DPLA Webinar of Interest

Collaborating for Access: Libraries and Indie Publishers

Oct 5, 2023 2 PM EST

What do librarians REALLY want from publishers, and how can smaller and independent publishers create a better ecosystem? In our sixth Collaborating for Access webinar, COSLA, DPLA, and ReadersFirst are partnering with the Independent Publisher Caucus, to bring together librarians and smaller and independent publishers to explore how they can work together to provide greater access for patrons.

Topics will include: Opportunities for independent publishers in the library market; licensing options that are most attractive to libraries; and ways that libraries and independent publishers can work together to mutual benefit.

 Please register here: https://dpla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ilpuml7FQ6iVUlqYnumiIA

Claire Kelley

Seven Stories Press

Director of Marketing

sevenstories.com

Hope to see you there! 

Library Futures Announces Some Webinars of Interest

 https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_goFgKmeUT1G2qWjwEhZktw#/registration

 Unacceptable Loss: Video Game Preservation in Libraries and Archives

Join Phil Salvador (Video Game History Foundation), Laine Nooney (NYU and Unboxing Pod,) and Meredith Rose (Public Knowledge) to discuss Salvador's new report "Survey of the Video Game Reissue Market in the United States."  Our results question whether the commercial market alone can adequately preserve the medium of video games, particularly for the needs of researchers. While this study does not make specific recommendations for improving the state of game availability, it instead offers statistics that can guide future discussions about the role of cultural institutions in video game preservation.

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exploring-the-anti-ownership-ebook-economy-tickets-668163594297

 The Anti Ownership Ebook Economy

The Engelberg Center's recent report The Anti-Ownership Ebook Economy: How Publishers and Platforms Have Reshaped How We Read in the Digital Age explores the forces shaping today's ebook landscape. We will discuss the forces that have shaped current licensing models, how those models impact data flows and privacy, and how the relationships between publishers, platforms, and purchasers influence the ecosystem. 

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJeBcl9D_swntdv1ZLNz0JyZG7AHYORv2rjD5TY1Dsq0rEZQ/viewform

Open Educational Resources for Public Libraries 

Open educational resources (OER) have gained traction at colleges, universities, and K-12 schools. But with an emphasis on textbook prices and affordability, OER's primary talking points have missed the mark with public libraries. Still, there are ample opportunities for open education to find a home in public libraries, from programming and digital literacy to makerspace repositories and more!

 

Join us for an informal conversation with Alex Houff (Digital Equity and Virtual Services Manager at Baltimore County Public Library) and Alex Sharp (Director of Library and Information Services at Tennessee Wesleyan University). This learning circle will be facilitated by Michelle Reed, Library Futures' Research Manager and former Director of Open Educational Resources at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.

IA Appeals Recent Legal Ruling. What Might We Hope and Fear For?

The Internet Archive has announced its appeal of the Hachette vs. Internet Archive case.

The Internet Archive’s Chris Freedland posted thusly: “As we stated when the decision was handed down in March, we believe the lower court made errors in facts and law, so we are fighting on in the face of great challenges. We know this won’t be easy, but it’s a necessary fight if we want library collections to survive in the digital age.”

IA Founder Brewster Kahle adds “Libraries are under attack like never before. The core values and library functions of preservation and access, equal opportunity, and universal education are being threatened by book bans, budget cuts, onerous licensing schemes, and now by this harmful lawsuit. We are counting on the appellate judges to support libraries and our longstanding and widespread library practices in the digital age. Now is the time to stand up for libraries.”

With publishers pursuing the suit even after the IA dropped the National Emergency Library, which did not strictly adhere to Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) parameters, it seems clear that the suit is all about CDL. The publishers are driven by money—not that authors always benefit—and ensuring that licensing is THE (only) way digital is used in libraries creates more revenue than allowing libraries some of the rights they have with print. CDL after all is an arguably legal way to get the right to share digital titles as if they were print, one person at a time.

The surprise—unpleasant for the publishers—is that the recent ruling allows for CDL as long as a print title does not also have a digital version for license.

The problem is that this “allowed” CDL use is a technicality of sorts. The judge said that the suit as presented only allowed a ruling on the digital titles.

Expect the publishers, either in the appeal or in some other suit, to challenge this use, even though a library digital copy of a print book—especially of one out-of-print—costs them no revenue if shared via CDL.

We can hope that a different judge will consider this part of the copyright law: “Congress shall have Power . . . To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.” Digital copyright is seriously unbalanced against libraries and the greater public weal. If so, the IA has a chance in their appeal, asking to do what libraries can do in print: share fairly acquired texts fairly.

We must hope that even if the IA doesn’t carry the day completely, that print books without digital versions somehow remain allowed under CDL. Libraries can already create digital copies for preservation, but what good are those copies if they can’t be shared? This is to doom many works to oblivion simply because the publishers see no commercial value in them. Keeping digital copies around until the works eventually become fair use is not a viable option.

Doesn’t this use seem a fair compromise? Oh well, don’t expect to see it become law under the current makeup of Congress, with too many legislators looking out for corporate rather than human welfare. (And no, corporations are not human nor “people.”)

There is much to fear: losing CDL, a valuable tool and one of the few ways we can hope to preserve and share sustainably, especially as copies of print works invariably become fewer and fewer and ultimately too rare or valuable to share via traditional interlibrary loan.

Libraries really can’t survive without some sort of publishing industry. We might wish for some dialog. But that would be a foolish wish in a time when industry after industry wants to destroy ownership and promote licensing. Wishing for better from their publishing partners in advancing literacy then—for aren’t we one the same team, in the end?—RF wishes that libraries will support the IA and CDL and fears only our silence in the face of vast corporate power and wealth. Stand up for our library users. Stand up for ourselves.

Alan Inouye's September 4th Policy and Advocacy Updates

ALA Senior Director, Public Policy & Government Relations and Interim Associate Executive Director Alan Inouye has provided some useful updates, many of them centered on intellectual freedom. The temporary injunction of Texas HB900 is important news—let’s hope that the injunction becomes permanent and appeals are quashed. The dubious constitutionality of government acting as de facto censor under hopelessly vague standards and operating under prior restraint are bad enough, never mind the crushing burden placed on publishers and book sellers.

POLICY & ADVOCACY UPDATES

 -- Continuing:  Join the Unite Against Book Bans campaign. Tell your friends and colleagues.

https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/

-- Upcoming:  September 19 is National Voter Registration Day. Your library can participate. ALA is a Premier Partner of NVRD.

https://twitter.com/LibraryPolicy/status/1692616793989304354

Post-Conference Debrief with ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office.

https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2023/07/post-conference-debrief-with-alas-public-policy-and-advocacy-office/

              Highlights from the Rally for the Right to Read at 2023 ALA Annual Conference:               https://twitter.com/UABookBans/status/1679960763367055360

 Ninth Circuit Affirms the Server Test in Hunley v. Instagram. ALA was part of an amicus brief led by EFF. Our counsel Jonathan Band explains in this article:

https://www.project-disco.org/intellectual-property/ninth-circuit-affirms-the-server-test-in-hunley-v-instagram/

 Unite Against Book Bans (UABB) campaign recent partner posts:

People for the American Way: https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/grandparents-for-truth-mobilizes-against-book-banning-and-censorship/

American Federation of Teachers:  https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/reading-opens-the-world/

Authors Guild: https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/freedom-to-read-write/

National Coalition Against Censorship: https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/some-good-news-for-a-change/

ALA, ATALM applaud FCC Report and Order to support Tribal, small and rural library E-rate applicants

https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/07/ala-atalm-applaud-fcc-report-and-order-support-tribal-small-and-rural-library

https://twitter.com/LibraryPolicy/status/1682139417299894272

 ALA joined Coalition Letter (led by New America Foundation) to FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel Urging Final Rules for 6 GHz that Avoids Creating a “Wi-Fi Digital Divide”.

https://twitter.com/AlanSInouye/status/1688895635968135168

              and ALA joined an earlier letter on unlicensed spectrum:

              https://twitter.com/MCalabreseNAF/status/1687174891571965952

ALA via the Library Copyright Alliance submitted comments for the 2024 AGOA Eligibility Review for South Africa Post-Hearing.

https://twitter.com/AlanSInouye/status/1689416999317684226

 "Public libraries are the latest front in culture war battle over books" in the Washington Post features Lisa Varga, Exec Dir of Virginia Library Association and member of the ALA Policy Corps.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/07/25/library-books-bans-lgbtq-virginia/

https://twitter.com/AlanSInouye/status/1683971898181394433

Freedom to Read Foundation and AASL joined an amicus brief against HB900--which has been blocked by a federal judge (preliminary injunction):

https://twitter.com/AlanSInouye/status/1692359434427613508

 Former President Barack Obama asks you to join the United Against Book Bans campaign

https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1680928209183932418

 ALA endorses three nominees for the FCC and urges swift confirmation

https://twitter.com/AlanSInouye/status/1679241165340549123

NEWS & ARTICLES

Sen. Reed tweets out Library Card Sign Up Month

https://twitter.com/SenJackReed/status/1697600091907928474