Carmi Parker's Macmillan Update for 1/24/2020, A Renewed Call for A National Digital Library and a Brief ALA Impression

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In her weekly update, Carmi Parker, ILS Administrator Whatcom County Library System, notes that 5 more libraries/systems have joined the Macmillan Boycott. 4 of the 5 are from Virginia—the Old Dominion is showing that revolutionary 1776 spirit again in 2020:

City of Calabasas Library (CA) 1 branch, 24,000 population served; Pamunkey Regional Library (VA) 10 locations, 154,000; Blue Ridge Download Consortium (VA) 6 locations, 414,000; Richmond Public Library (VA) 9 locations, 229,000; Newport News Public Library (VA) 5 locations, 179,000.

Also from Ms. Parker:

Impact analysis: Our detailed boycott impact analysis received 438 page views in the last week, and we have received positive feedback from several libraries. The shorter version that we published on ReadersFirst was picked up by InfoToday.com as well as a blog/bargain eBook site called The Fussy Librarian.

Reader behavior: For those interested in data on how people like to read, how they choose what to read, where they go for books, how they use the library, and much more, the Library Journal summary of their generational reading survey is highly recommended.

Amazon’s influence: If you are generally interested in how Amazon is changing traditional publishing, take a look at this article in The New Republic, “Can Amazon Finally Crack the Bestseller Code?” It references a WSJ article that is also worth reading, “Amazon Publishes Books by Top Authors, and Rivals Fret.” (If you hit a WSJ paywall like me, you can dust off your database searching chops and read it in Proquest.)

Michele Kimpton from DPLA shares an opinion piece from The Inquirer that makes a renewed call for two national digital libraries, one public and one academic, to be “funded by the super-rich” in an endowment but also “fees paid by local, state, and academic libraries and others. Special breaks could exist for cash-strapped communities and schools.but controlled by librarians.“ The authors, Corilee Christou and David H. Rothman, argue that library budgets cannot keep up witjh digital demand, that libraries would tap into the digital archives rather than be supplanted, with library-minded people controlling selection and preservation to ensure intellectual freedom is never threatened by narrow local interests/restrictive laws. RF opines that there are many details and possible pain points to work out, but the idea is intriguing. Now, to build a $20 billion endowdment . . . .

Friday is e-book day at ALA, with ALA ASGCLA openg space for RF, the SimplyE Community, and its own Consortial E-Books Interest Group. I’d summarize the mood so far thusly:

  • Libraries are willing to engage Macmillan (and all publishers) as business partners to work towards common interests.

  • Macmillan’s embargo is a non-starter. We’ve made a proposal for a model to them, and we’d like to hear a counterproposal. What will it take to end the embargo—just tell us. We can talk

  • LIbraries need to advocate for a model we would like from the publishers. Since no exisitng single model works, it is likely to be hybrid perpetual use/metered (and perhaps subscription) model. Several medium-sized publishers have worked with DPLA Exchange (Biblioboard, Abrams, Workman) have shown that flexible models can work. If we are ever to partner with Amazon on its “exclusive” content, some new model will be necessary, since Amazon does not think any current library model is good for authors.

  • While patrons want access to best sellers, we are creating our own problem by constantly investing most of our funds and Readers Advisory work in Big 5 content we struggle to acquire, afford, and maintain access to. We too create best sellers and give visibility. Our best band-for-buck (and our future) increasingly looks like working with publishers that will offer good models at reasonable costs. Many talented authors are publishing in new places. Let’s showcase them.

Other ALA updates will follow.