DPLA, IPG: Groundbreaking Agreement Provides Libraries with Permanent Ownership Rights Over Tens of Thousands of Digital Titles

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Chalk one up in the Good News category; libraries now have the right to OWN rather than just license content.

“The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and Independent Publishers Group (IPG) have announced a groundbreaking agreement that will transform how American libraries provide access to books for millions of readers.

Through this landmark collaboration between IPG and DPLA, libraries around the country will now have the power to purchase and own in perpetuity, rather than merely license, tens of thousands of ebook and audiobook titles from dozens of independent publishers. The agreement will empower libraries to fulfill their mission to provide access to books for readers nationwide. Publishers such as Austin Macauley, Arcadia Publishing, Dynamite Entertainment, Dover Publications and JMS Books, alongside dozens of other renowned indie publishers, are participating in the deal.”

Example publishers (not exhaustive, only includes publishers with 50+ books on offer)

  • Austin Macauley Publishers

  • Otbebookpublishing

  • Babelcube Inc.

  • Jms Books Llc2

  • The History Press

  • Eerdmans

  • Image Comics, Inc.

  • Dreamspinner Press

  • Arcadia Publishing

  • Casa Creacion

  • Wayne State University Press

  • Publication Consultants

  • Dynamite Entertainment

  • Braunfell Books

  • ePublishing Works!

  • Oni Press

  • Barakaldo Books

  • Archie Comic Publications, Inc.

  • Megan Publishing Services

  • Dover Publications

  • Nyla

  • Funstory

  • Book Boutiques

  • DSP Publications

  • Patavium Publishing

  • Mike Watson

  • Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

  • Harmony Ink Press

  • Porirua Publishing

  • Kregel Publications

  • Next Chapter

  • Michael van der Voort

  • Acelette Press

  • Goylake Publishing

  • Microcosm Publishing

  • Kc Global Enterprises Pty Ltd

  • Pelican Publishing

  • Deborah A. Cooke

  • Total Publishing

  • Spunky Girl Publishing

  • Shadoe Publishing

  • Archaia

  • Celtic Hearts Press

Search a full list of titles here. Costs range from $3, with most in the $10 - $30 range. A few academic titles are more costly, but then their print equivalents tend to be costly as well.

View the terms of ownership here.

What’s not to like? For a change, libraries can truly treat digital books like we do print books. Even “perpetual access” was never guaranteed, witness the Amazon debacle with 1984. We can circulate them one person at a time. We decide if we want to weed them. We can transfer hosting, should we choose, and arrange to have them as long as we want. Most of all, we don’t—as we currently must with every ebook from the Big 5— have to keep paying over and over to keep access.

The cost is also a plus. I have reason to believe that the first book acquired under the new model is Maryland Freedom Seekers on the Underground Railroad. Retail cost is $24. For $29, Maryland Palace libraries have long-term ebook access.

Ownership of digital may not necessarily right in every circumstance. A whole range of models can—and should—benefit libraries. But thousands of books that we don’t have to re-license at reasonable costs is surely something to celebrate!