How Much Does Obama's Summer Reading List Cost Your Library?

Laura Crossett and Jennie Rose Halperin posed this interesting question, so we looked into it.

Turns out—no surprise to those following ReadersFirst--not so very much in print but a lot in digital.

Read their post here.

A few highlights:

Former President Barack Obama recently released his highly anticipated annual summer reading list. We love a good list, but it got us thinking about what it takes for libraries to offer these books to their patrons. We’ve written about Obama’s books before – The New Yorker reported that 949 copies of his latest memoir cost the New York Public Library $51,962, the equivalent of 3,000 print copies.(!) Play the games on Ebooks for Us to learn more.

The print books cost an average of $16.38 each – $225.84 for all fourteen titles. The library owns those books – it can keep them for as long as they hold together. The average cost of each ebook, when licensed from Overdrive, came to $54.57. And as a reminder, that $54.57 is a license–it gives the library the right to lend the book for two years (or for a number of checkouts, with both number set by the publisher).

As one of the authors on Obama’s reading list (and indie press/intellectual freedom advocate!) Hanif Abdurruqib titled his book, There’s Always This Year. But instead, we have to paraphrase Bob Marley, another Obama favorite: “Them [big publisher’s] Belly Full, but We Hungry.”

How long will we stand for this?

Does Digital Ownership Matter for Libraries? Let's Talk About It

Collaborating For Access: Does Digital Ownership Matter For Libraries?

Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at 1p ET

From the DPLA, COSLA, and ReadersFirst:

What if libraries could circulate ebooks the same way they circulate print books: one user at a time with the ability to transfer titles to other hosts and libraries as they see fit? Can this model, now offered by dozens of indie publishers to libraries nationwide, help us all better fulfill our missions in an increasingly digital space? 

In this Collaborating for Access webinar, the eighth in an ongoing series presented by COSLA, DPLA and ReadersFirst, we will discuss the recent announcement by DPLA and Independent Publishers Group of their groundbreaking agreement that now allows libraries to own, rather than merely license, digital books they acquire through the Palace Marketplace. But how much does digital ownership really matter? Join us to learn more about the new model, discuss why it is vital for libraries to own the digital items they collect, explore how ownership could reshape library digital collecting, and think about the future of circulation services. 

Moderator: Michael Blackwell, Director, St. Mary’s County Library

Speakers: 

• Christina de Castell // Chief Librarian & CEO, Vancouver Public Library

• Micah May // Director of Ebook Services, Digital Public Library of America  

• Michael Weinberg // Executive Director, Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy, New York University Law School

• Richard Williams // Vice President, Independent Publishers Group

Register here.

Hope to “see” you there!

The Internet Archive: Escaping the Memory Hole

It’s later in the evening for those of us in the Eastern Time Zone who might attend virtually, but the Internet Archive is hosting an interesting event in October. In-person attendance at the Archive’s Main Library in San Francisco is also possible, and the Library is well-worth seeing.

Let's gather together on October 22nd & 23rd to celebrate the vital role of libraries in preserving our shared digital culture.

• October 22: Tour the Physical Archive
  Join us on Tuesday, October 22, as we take a peek behind the doors of the Physical Archive in Richmond, California.

• October 23: Join our annual celebration—in-person & online!
  Join us on Wednesday, October 23, for “Escaping the Memory Hole.” In a world where major entertainment websites vanish overnight and streaming media disappears from platforms without warning, our digital culture is at risk of being erased. What safeguards are in place to preserve our collective memory?

• This year’s gathering, “Escaping the Memory Hole,” explores the vital role that libraries play in protecting our digital heritage. As corporate decision-makers increasingly control what stays online, libraries like the Internet Archive stand as guardians of our shared digital culture, ensuring that it remains preserved and accessible for future generations.

Links to sign up for in-person or virtual are here.

As RF has frequently noted, and as indeed is axiomatic by now, streaming media, which libraries often can never capture unless the content eventually goes into physical digital formats, is a serious challenge to our mission to preserve. All efforts to solve this problem are welcome. RF sends thanks and well-wishes to the Internet Archive for their many efforts to preserve content that might otherwise be “writ in water.”

Price increases from three of the Big Five

Some of our libraries have seen unusually high costs over the past few months. We asked OverDrive to help us investigate and they shared that Hachette raised prices in May.

When we analyzed the price increase, we found that Macmillan and HarperCollins have also raised prices within the last year.

Details:

Washington Digital Library Consortium compared the price per unit we paid on Big Five titles in 2023 to what the price is now in OverDrive.

We found:

HarperCollins eAudio prices are now 8% higher than what we spent in 2023, and its eBook prices are 15% higher on average.

Hachette eAudio prices are 20% higher now than in 2023, which will be painful going forward because Hachette eAudio licenses expire after 24 months. Hachette eBook prices increased by 4%.

Macmillan eAudio is holding steady, but its eBook prices have increased by an average of 20%. Macmillan's policy has historically been to charge $60 for a 24 month license on a newly published eBook. One year after release, the eBook price used to change to $40. Now, Macmillan eBook titles more than one year old are $55.

WDLC confirmed the Hachette price increases with another large library system in another state and found identical data, so we believe these price increases are occurring for all OverDrive libraries. If you have questions or would like to see the data, please feel free to reach out to RF leadership.

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

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!

Library Future's Take on Hoopla's Content Problem

In “Hoopla's Content Problem: Strange, Skewed Results Still Dominate Catalog,” Laura Crossett and Jennie Rose Halperin document some unfortunate search returns in Hoopla’s Pay-Per-use model: “in trying to offer the most content over quality content, Hoopla serves up an enormous amount of erroneous, low quality information at the top of search results. Top line searches return a plethora of irrelevant, seemingly AI-generated, and even pirated materials that often differ greatly from the choices that librarians make for their communities.”

They contrast searches done on WorldCat and Hoopla for fiction and non-fiction topics, with Hoopla returning “so much of what our colleague Sarah Lamdan of the American Library Association calls ‘vendor slurry,’ or low quality materials” that by any objective standard skew radically to the right and religious, such as a search on “Democrats” that retrieves the titles Whites, Blacks, and Racist Democrats and The Only GOD (caps in the original), the U.S. Constitution, and the Democrats as two of the first hits.

They rightly ask “why does that content rise so high in the search results? Are patrons searching for bestselling authors looking to read poor quality summaries of their work? Should patrons searching for information on hot-button topics be getting such clearly skewed results?”

 Readers may try their own Hoopla searches. Mine validate the criticism. Should America’s Death Spiral from ebookit and the self-published Democrats’ Dirty Deeds and The Ass is a Poor Receptacle for the Head really be coming to the top of a search? Interestingly, a search for “Republicans” does not offer any similar quality (if opposed in view) results in the first ten hits, but others appear later, including summaries of various works such as Summary of Steve Benen’s The Imposters, written by IRB Media. AI generated schlock, anyone?

The authors “are not advocating censorship of materials. Hoopla is free to offer whatever content they want, and libraries are free to select whatever content they feel best fits the needs of their communities. But the key word is select. Hoopla’s model bypasses selection in favor of an all-or-nothing subscription in which you get what you get, and the lack of oversight at the top trickles down to patrons seeking quality information at their libraries.”

To be fair, librarians can suppress content in Hoopla, an activity which, we can hope, would be done on the basis of quality and factuality. The problem is that the “slurry” has become so commonplace that it would have to somebody’s fulltime job to de-select.

My aim in sharing Library Future’s post is not to discourage Indie titles. Far from it. An emphasis on quality Indie and small-press titles is vital as a wedge against outlandish Big 5 license terms (i.e. costs). But are we pushing poorly edited and factually dubious content even while we teach information literacy and fight misinformation? As a library director, my concerns also have to be in part fiscal. Hoopla use is growing for us, and the costs are now all-but unsustainable. Are patrons borrowing mere summaries—which they probably don’t really want— at a cost every time? Are we paying for works that have no more truthfulness than a debunked social media post?

If you are concerned, please consider joining Crossett and Halperin’s call to discuss strategy.

eBook Study Group's Juliya Ziskina featured in SPARC

We are excited to share that library advocate Juliya Ziskina was recently featured in SPARC Online's impact stories. Here is a snippet:

"In law school, Yuliya Ziskina helped write the playbook on open access advocacy for students. As an attorney, she uses her expertise to push for policies that enable libraries to fulfill their mission to the public. She’s also leveraged her advocacy skills as a global leader on making the case for repurposing Russian state assets to compensate Ukraine."

(We checked with her and verified that she uses both Juliya and Yuliya)

Readers First members may know Juliya from her work as a fellow with Library Futures in 2022. Or, you may have encountered her more recently volunteering her legal expertise with eBook Study Group, helping libraries across the country draft legislation to address our challenges with digital library book licenses.

It is inspiring to learn that she also volunteers her expertise as an attorney in several ways on behalf of Ukraine. Juliya says, “Our democracy starts with available information, and public access to research and knowledge…This is the fundamental way that we protect our civil rights and our civil liberties." (She sounds like a librarian!) Juliya, thank you for your tireless efforts!

Survey About Digital Book/Journal Preservation

Sharing a survey from Tony Ageh and Chris Durlacher about preservation of digital materials. It will best be answered by someone who knows the licenses your system signs. Only one response per system, please!

E-PUBLICATION PRESERVATION SURVEY

Are our collective digital preservation efforts sufficiently prioritized and resourced such that we can be confident that the e-publications of today will be accessible to future generations, just as the print publications of the past are accessible to us? Or is there a real danger that a significant proportion of today’s publications could be lost forever?

This important research project is funded by the Arcadia Fund - a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote access to knowledge. As libraries increasingly shift from purchasing printed copies to the licensing of digital material, Arcadia is concerned at the future impact this will have on libraries and their ability to ensure long term access to their collections, to out-of-commerce and, in time, out-of-copyright copies of these essential works.

With particular reference to libraries in US, Canada, EU and UK, this is a survey of the preservation arrangements between libraries and publishers that will ensure that digital publications - e-journals and e-books - are being adequately safeguarded, so that this knowledge can be discovered and accessed by future generations. The responses will inform a landscape analysis describing the current context for preservation of e-publications, to inform a set of recommendations for Arcadia to consider in terms of next steps and further investigation.

It should take less than ten minutes to complete the survey, which is being sent to you as the recognised representative of your library. (Although you may remain entirely anonymous should you choose and are not required to give your name or your organization.) You may also skip any questions you feel unable to answer at this time.

You may complete the survey yourself or forward it to whichever colleague is most knowledgeable about your library’s licensing contracts with publishers. However, please ensure you don’t both complete the survey. The survey requires only one result per library to get the best gauge of the situation.

As soon as possible, after the report has been delivered to Arcadia, the results of this survey will be made available to all those who took part. To assist this, we have asked for a name and an email contact, but remember, the survey gives you the option to skip this page and remain entirely anonymous, and we will happily share our findings with you on request.

Thank you for your time, and here is the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HMZ7T3W

About the researchers:

Tony Ageh until recently was the Chief Digital Officer of the New York Public Library and before that the BBC’s Controller of Archive Development. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Ageh)

Chris Durlacher is a documentary filmmaker who has produced films for many of the world’s major broadcasters, often based on evidence preserved in various libraries and archives. (www.chrisdurlacher.net)

Selection Librarians, Please Help--win a free book!

Claire Kelley at independent publisher Seven Stories Press (she is also a MLIS student at San Jose State University) has created a survey to better understand the needs and preferences of librarian selectors. The responses will be anonymized and shared as aggregate data and in infographics in a presentation for the members of IPC, the Independent Publishers Caucus to facilitate ongoing publisher education about the library landscape.

Claire says Thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey. As a thanks, you are welcome to choose a book you would like to receive from the sevenstories.com website and indicate the title, ISBN, and your mailing address at the end of the survey.

https://bit.ly/LibrarianSurvey2024

Please consider filling out a survey to foster communication with a group that really is interested in giving libraries a better deal

LF Principles for Digital Ownership

Library Futures has gathered a knowledgeable group* to develop principles under which libraries will own rather than license ebooks/digital audiobooks.

As noted in the principles, licensing may have its place. It all depends on terms, with cost obviously being the most significant of those terms. Something fairly priced that would better allow working through long reserve lists on new best sellers is welcome. But digital ownership would enable libraries to fulfill their missions as we do with print—acquisition of a deep and diverse collection, patron access, preservation as necessary—without the ruinous budgetary costs licenses generally tend to bring. Libraries were never intended to be feeding troughs for fat corporations and venture capitalists ceaselessly gorging on public funds.

We are told “These Principles on Library Ownership of Digital Books, including e-books and

e-audiobooks, were developed in order to establish a foundation of trust between publishers and libraries, so that publishers may sell, rather than merely license, permanent copies of digital books to libraries, and libraries are empowered to build and maintain permanent digital collections.”

Five principles are enumerated, allowing libraries the following:

• Purchase digital books and maintain possession of the digital books or have the digital books hosted by a third party of their choice as part of their permanent collections.

• Maintain digital books in a manner that allows them to be accessed, including by updating file formats, as necessary, to ensure compatibility with contemporary equipment and best practices for service.

• Lend digital books, including to patrons of another library via interlibrary loan.

• Transfer digital books within their own systems (e.g., when migrating them from one server to another), to other libraries, or to third-party hosting providers to store on their behalf.

• Maintain reader privacy.

But each brings responsibilities. Libraries must ensure the ongoing fidelity of the texts, respect copyright, prevent abuse, and in general live up to reasonable expectations.

It’s a good start. RF thanks LF and the all-star team they assembled: * Lila Bailey (Internet Archive), Charlie Barlow (Boston Library Consortium), Maria Bustillos (journalist and founding editor of Brick House Cooperative), Becky Chambers (UC Berkeley Project LEND), Greg Cram (New York Public Library), Jennie Rose Halperin (Library Futures), Dave Hansen (Authors Alliance), Nate Hill (METRO), Micah May (DPLA), Michael Weinberg (NYU Engelberg Center), Michelle Wu (former dean of Georgetown Law Library) and Juliya Ziskina (Ebooks Study Group).

Some publishers are already offering digital titles for sale to libraries. Thanks to those! Let’s hope these principles will open a door for more of them. I have high hopes for many Indie publisher. RF doubts any of the Big 5 will come in. They seem—and their lobbyist certain is!—in lock-step with big media to ensure a license economy in which libraries, and consumers, ultimately own nothing. Look at how the pack piles on to a bunch of lies over a bill that would legitimately level the playing field for libraries. But in the Principle’s spirit of a “foundation of trust between publishers and libraries,” I’ll try not to be quite so realisti . . . umm, cynical. Maybe some year there will be a surprise.