An Update on Maryland's Digital Content Legislation

Andrew Albanese of PW recently updated on the progress of Maryland’s library digital content legislation, requiring “a publisher who offers to license an electronic literary product to the public to also offer to license the product to public libraries in the State on reasonable terms that would enable public libraries to provide library users with access to the electronic literary product.”

This article has several quotes from me, but is nevertheless worth a read. :-)

For now, I’d just like to reiterate that we in Maryland libraries don’t view this legislation as being somehow “against” any publisher. We’d like access to content on reasonable terms. Certainly a librarian’s and a publisher’s definition of “reasonable” might differ. We hope for fruitful negotiations.

The separate Senate and House bills have passed in their respective chambers. By “electronic literary product,” it should be noted, the primary intent is ebooks and digital audiobooks. Libraries face gaps in access to streaming video and other media, but we’re starting with the basics. The bills now must be to be reconciled (so the verbiage is unified) and sent to Governor Hogan. We hope Governor Hogan will sign the bill. We plan a celebration if the bill does pass, thanking our legislators for their strong support of Maryland readers.

So, if it does pass, some big questions. What is “reasonable”? RF has often suggested that a variety of models are necessary, including a perpetual option at a premium price and a metered (by circ, NOT time) model. The idea is to allow for long-term use (and to avoid having to relicense every title) while meeting high initial demand. Of course, price is the real issue: at the right price, any old model will work. If we paid $0.25 a circ, in public libraries at least, the other terms would generally be unimportant. The publishers I’ve spoken with are not keen on the perpetual access model, but it is the most popular in the survey of librarians we took a while back, hence the need to offer more for it. So, how about $30 to $45 (depending on the title) for (say) a 40 circ license and $75 to $100 for a perpetual license? Perhaps no publisher will agree with the former, but this pricing would offer a better return than they get on print titles (which might well last longer than 40 circs and for which we often pay nearly half cover price). Perhaps most librarians would balk at this cost for a perpetual access license. So, get one or two of perpetual on very popular titles, and know that you’ll not have to license that title again in two years and all your long running popular series will not have gaps. Meanwhile, if you have the funding, stock up on the metered licenses as well to meet immediate demand.

We could get very complicated. How about tiered pricing? All libraries are not created equal, so give a price break to qualifying small/rural/underfunded libraries. How about a subscription? I pay, say, $10,000 a year and a publisher lets me have up to 10,000 hits on a catalog. Royalties complicate everything, and library vendors will have to make their sites more robust to handle multiple models at point of licensing. Ownership and circulating titles in a “pretend it’s print” fashion (under copyright, not licensing) would be wonderful, but will we get that with most publishers? The two basic models (perpetual/metered) would at least be a start. Please share your thoughts on what might work!

So, let’s all talk and let’s all listen. If Amazon (and Audible and Blackstone) lead the way, not because of any legislation, but because they think they can work with libraries profitably, excellent. Maybe others will follow.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that for now at least it wouldn’t be nice to see other states (and maybe even the county) work on legislation like Maryland’s. Rhode Island seems poised to to lead. Legislators, who often support libraries, are standing by.

Washington Post's Geoffrey Fowler on Amazon and Libraries

In “Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you,” Geoffrey Fowler ranges far to investigate this important library (and reader!) issue. The piece is well-worth a read (disclosure: I’m quoted in it).

I’d like to add two updates.

The first is that the Maryland legislation requiring publishers that license ebooks and digital audiobooks to consumers also license to libraries under reasonable terms has now passed both House and Senate unanimously. A big thanks to Maryland legislators for their support of Maryland library readers!

Second, as noted previously on RF and elsewhere, and in the aryticle itself, Amazon and DPLA are in negotiations to provide “exclusive” content to libraries through the DPLA Exchange and SimplyE. My understanding is that these negotiations are ongoing and fruitful. Perhaps the negotiations will conclude successfully. If so, and if Amazon adopts some of DPLA’s licensing offerings, featuring multiple options at point of purchase, then Amazon will leapfrog from pariah over some other big publishers to become “Good Friend” of libraries and set a good example for other large publishers to follow. In libraries, at least, we won’t have Amazon to kick around anymore.

Perhaps I’m being too optimistic. But as effective action and vaccinations begin to push back the pandemic in places that are being responsible, hope is becoming somewhat easier. There would still be much to work on to make digital content truly effective and sustainable in libraries, but Amazon delivering would be a good step. It is much to hope for, but hope we in libraries may. Amazon, don’t go breaking our hearts!

Urge your Senators to Build America’s Libraries!

The ALA as shared the following message:

We believe that every community in America deserves great libraries. That includes great librarians and library workers, great collections and programs, and great equipment, library buildings, and bookmobiles.

Library facilities are an essential part of our nation’s civic infrastructure. But for too long, this has unfortunately been overlooked by Congress. The Build America’s Libraries Act would provide historic funding to improve our nation’s libraries.

Introduced on January 28, the Build America’s Libraries Act (S. 127) would provide $5 billion in funding to repair, modernize, and construct library facilities in underserved and marginalized communities. Yes, you read that right – $5 billion with a B!

We love America’s library facilities, but we know that the current lack of federal funding is a barrier to enabling the programs and services our communities need. Most library buildings are decades old, including nearly 800 of the original Carnegie libraries which are still in use today. They face many modern challenges, such as adapting ventilation for the COVID-19 pandemic, preparing for natural disasters and extreme weather, and meeting current connectivity and accessibility standards to ensure service to all members of the community.

Federal funding for library buildings has not been provided in more than 20 years. But as the nation works with this new Congress to recover from a historic pandemic and reckon with the legacy of racial injustice, now is the time to think big. The Build America’s Libraries Act would prioritize funding to communities with high poverty rates, as part of a strategy to begin to reverse decades of underinvestment in communities of color.

Go here to support this legislation

Columbia University Joins Library Simplified

Columbia University has become the first academic library to deploy the Library Simplified (SimplyE) app.

A post comments as follows:

A limited number of ebooks available from our collections are available now; more will be added on an ongoing basis. 

The best way to see which ebooks are currently available is to download the SimplyE app and add Columbia University Libraries. Users can also click the “Read on SimplyE” link for available titles in a CLIO record. For more help on using SimplyE, see our guide. 

Millions of items from our collections are already accessible online through CLIO, including 40% of our print holdings that are temporarily available digitally due to COVID-19. With SimplyE, even more books are available in a streamlined digital format, though they will also continue to remain available in other formats through publishers.

RF congratulates Columbia for being the first to adopt the “One App to Rule Them All” and hopes the student and faculty experience will be enhanced by having one place to see most content.

Andrew Albanese on Current Library Digital Content Ecosystem

In “OverDrive CEO: Publishers, Librarians Still Searching for Fair E-book Lending Models,” PW’s Andrew Albanese reviews OverDrive CEO Steve Potash’s blog post on the company’s advocacy for new license models. The piece becomes a wider look at the current state of library digital content and some developments that will shape our practice in the future, including the start of Library Futures and its advocacy for greater library digital content access, Fight for the Future’s Who Can Get Your Book campaign aimed at expending equity and access, Amazon talking with DPLA about sharing its exclusive content, and the publisher lawsuit against the Internet Archive’s Open Library. The piece is well-worth a read. It does contain a quote from yours truly, but look at it anyway.

It is certainly sharping up to be another interesting year. RF is pleased that new groups are joining it in advocacy for enhanced library digital content but concerned that our efforts not get fragmented. We encourage all the stake-holders to work together as much as possible so that efforts are coordinated rather than duplicated. It’s a lot to keep up with. We at RF will try to keep readers informed as events transpire.

In the meantime, as we have commented on some of these issues before, here is our summary:

Amazon talking with DPLA: if Amazon adopts DPLA’s models that allow for options at point-of-license, and thereby sets an example for other large publishers, this development could be even more important than the sharing of content though even the sharing is alone is important. Amazon, please also find a way to work with libraries internationally!

Publisher Lawsuit against the Internet Archive: Drop it and negotiate. Librarians, Controlled Digital Lending is worth having, and voicing support for the IA is good.

The IA: Saving "Last Chance" Books

The Internet Archive has posted about saving “last chance” books—so worn or damaged that only digitization gives them an opportunity to continue telling their story.

“Sometimes they arrive tied up in string because their binding is broken. Others are in envelopes to protect the brittle pages from further damage.

Aging books are sent from libraries to the Internet Archive for preservation. Thanks to the careful work of the nearly 70 people who scan at digitization centers in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, the books get a second life with a new audience.

Scanners sometimes call these “Last Chance Books” and they take pride in restoring them. As they turn the pages one at time to be photographed and digitized, they develop a daily cadence—but it must be adjusted with fragile materials.”

Learn much more in this interesting blog post.

The End of Library Ownership?

Library Futures is hosting a discussion of a The End of Ownership:

Monday, February 22 @ 4PM ET

Do we own the digital goods we buy? In The End of Ownership: Personal Property in the Digital Economy, legal scholars Jason Schultz and Aaron Perzanowski explore the meaning of ownership in the age of the end user license agreement.

The tour de force has been called “a lively must read” and “excellent, enraging, eye-opening” by Ars Technica and Cory Doctorow.

Digital ownership is particularly important for libraries. As library services increasingly move online, significant collections have become inaccessible, unaffordable, or worse, subject to limitations striking at the ability for a library to loan books to patrons.

In this discussion, learn about the unique challenges facing libraries in the digital space, how to unlock a library’s “superpower,” and how you can join us in the ongoing fight for the right to lend.

The authors will be joined by Kyle K. Courtney (Harvard University and Fair Use Week founder) and Meredith Rose (Senior Policy Council, Public Knowledge)

It’s free and should be interesting. Register here.

Myth Busting: Controlled Digital Lending

The Internet Archive and Library Futures have announced a joint webinar:

“[T]his webinar will address the most commonly repeated myths about controlled digital lending, countering misinformation and disinformation about the library practice now in use by hundreds of libraries to provide digital book lending to millions of students, scholars and library patrons.

Especially at a time when countless school, public and college libraries are closed, understanding the realities about libraries and digital lending has never been more important.

Attendees will hear from authors, librarians, copyright specialists, and policy experts as they respond to the common misconceptions about libraries, digital book lending, copyright and controlled digital lending.”

Register here.

Mythbusting Panelists include:

• Kyle K. Courtney, Harvard Library

• Sandra Enimil, Yale University Library

• Dave Hansen, Duke University Libraries

• Jill Hurst-Wahl, Professor of Practice

• Andrea Mills, Internet Archive

• Jennie Rose Halperin, Library Futures

• Brianna Scholfield, Authors Alliance

• Michelle Wu, Professor of Law

• Tucker Taylor, Circulation Librarian

Now that’s an impressive panel. RF encourages attendance. [Disclosure: RF is a coalition partner with Library Futures.]

The DPLA Exchange Expands Offerings

Micah May, Director of Ebooks Services for the Digital Public Library of American, has announced an increase in ebooks and digital audiobook offerings and the number of publishers offering its three flexible licensing models. RF notes with interest the expansion in offerings for the Big 5 and hopes some of the might adopt the flexible offerings, which greatly improve libraries’ ability to offer content efficiently. Notable for its absence among the Big 5 is Penguin Random House. RF looks forward to a day when PRH might also work with DPLA and hopes it might be soon.

“I am pleased to share that you now can find more than half a million ebooks and audiobooks from over 1,000 publishers on the newly redesigned DPLA Exchange, the only library-owned ebook and audiobook marketplace.

Our offering includes titles from publishers like Hachette, Harper Collins, Macmillan, and Simon and Schuster as well as hundreds of mid-sized and independent publishers.

Notably, ebooks from many of these publishers, including Workman, Abrams, and dozens of independent publishers like Dreamspinner Press, JMS, Funstory, and Arcadia, are available with up to three flexible licensing options that are unique to the DPLA Exchange: 40 lends with up to 10 concurrent; unlimited one-at-a-time; or 5 concurrent loans at ¼ the price. We believe that these flexible licensing models really set the DPLA Exchange apart from other providers, and allow libraries to truly maximize access for their patrons.

Earlier this year, we launched audiobooks on the DPLA Exchange, and that offering has already grown to more than 25,000 titles. We recently added MacMillan Audio, MacMillan Young Listeners, and Behind the Wheel.

In addition, the DPLA Exchange offers seamless integration with DPLA’s Open Bookshelf collection of 10,000 (and growing!) free, high-quality ebooks curated by our Curation Corps of volunteer librarians from across the country.

You can find out more about the DPLA Exchange here or start browsing titles. Please feel free to get in touch with any questions. In the meantime, I hope you’ll join us tomorrow, January 27th, at 3 pm ET for a free webinar, Simply E and Digital Resource Solutions for the Second Wave, presented with EveryLibrary Institute. You can find more information and register here. “

Library Futures Launches

Library Futures, a new non-profit, has launched, championing “the right to equitable access to knowledge” and seeking “to empower libraries to take control of their digital futures.” {Disclosure: the ReadersFirst Working Group is listed as a supporting organization on their website.]

Here is a press release dated 1/25/2021:

Library Futures Institute, a new 501(c)(3) that will empower libraries to take control of their digital futures and fight for the right to equitable access to knowledge, launched this week with a social media campaign celebrating a technology-positive vision for libraries.

Focused on six core principles that champion the rights of libraries to lend materials in a digital environment, Library Futures will enable libraries to fulfill their mission, providing non-discriminatory open access to culture for the public good. Through advocacy, grant making, education, and community, the organization will respond to 21st century needs, operate at the speed of change, and level the playing field between publishers and the public.  

In coalition with organizations including Authors Alliance, Boston Public Library, Creative Commons, EveryLibrary, Fight for the Future, Internet Archive, Public Knowledge, Readers First, SPARC, and the Special Libraries Association, this public interest alliance seeks to enable collective action while building power through an innovative advocacy organization. “We need Library Futures now more than ever to organize the voices of librarians to fight for the role of libraries as a public resource for information in the digital age,” says Chris Lewis, President and CEO of Public Knowledge. 

“I am very excited to be a part of Library Futures. This organization is poised to make real change at issues I care about deeply - issues that are challenging libraries today - access and equity,” says Kyle K. Courtney, Copyright Advisor and Program Manager at the Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication and Chair of the Library Futures Board. “Digital library books—when loaned correctly—can be a pivotal tool libraries use to preserve great works, provide patrons with access to books, and defend patron privacy. I hope the community will join us in standing up for the future of libraries.”

“I am honored to be leading this organization, which will take on major issues in libraries and help usher in a more inclusive digital future for teachers, learners, and researchers from every walk of life,” says Jennie Rose Halperin, Executive Director.

The campaign can be reshared from the Library Futures social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and inquiries regarding press, coalition partners, donations, or volunteer opportunities can be directed to jennie@libraryfutures.net.

Please visit the Library Futures website at https://libraryfutures.net, sign up for the mailing list, and stay tuned for future developments and opportunities.

RF notes substantial overlap in mission with Library Futures and looks forward to joint action for the good of libraries.