This blog entry kind of piggybacks onto Kristy's previous post, so I will try not to be redundant. I just wanted to discuss a talk I went to when I attended the Michigan Library Association conference in Kalamazoo on Wednesday, October 26th.
The talk was called, "Step Away From the Book! Legal issues, eBooks, and Libraries". Since our group has spent so much time analyzing the positives and negatives of eBooks and eReaders in libraries, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to gather some information. The talk was given by Ruth Dukelow, the associate director of the MCLS, or Midwest Collaborative for Library Services.
Ms. Dukelow explained that December 25th, 2010 was the day that would live in infamy for libraries across America. Last Christmas, an massive amount of people received Kindles and the like for Christmas. The demand for Libraries to offer eBook lending services for patrons skyrocketed. This is when the legal issues started to occur.
Many eBook publishing companies, capitalizing on the demand to borrow eBooks from local libraries limited the amount of times a certain book can be borrowed. For example, say Public Library X purchases The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in eBook format from a certain publisher. The publisher states in the contract with Public Library X that the Adventures of Tom Sawyer can only be lent out to patrons 25 times. After the book is borrowed 25 times, the library no longer has the rights to the eBook of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and has to re-purchase it from the publisher in order to keep it in circulation.
Ms. Dukelow pointed out how frustrating this is for Libraries. When a library purchases a physical, bound, paper book from a publisher after that purchase the library owns that book. The library can do whatever it wants to with that book, because they own it and the publisher no longer has control. The library could burn the book if they chose to do so (although, that would be extreme, and very sad).
The fact that Libraries don't own eBooks after they purchase them, and have to re-purchase them after their contract with the publisher expires is causing some friction and issues within the library world. Licensing and copyright law start to come into affect when purchasing eBooks and it creates all sorts of confusion.
So, will it be that one day the system for eBooks will be like the system for print books, in that once they library purchases the book, it is theirs to circulate forever and ever? We don't know yet. But as future librarians, this is an interesting bit of info for us to think about and keep tabs on.
If you would like to contact Ruth Dukelow for further information regarding the legal issues that surround eBooks and libraries, her e-mail is:
dukelow@mcls.org
Team Hedgehog blogs about the effects that eBooks and eReaders are having on the LIS professions.
All the legal complexities are interesting, aren't they? This is an enormously intriguing topic. I found out just a little bit about it when doing research for our group blog. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out as time goes on.--LB
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely an interesting aspect of ebooks. In your post, you question whether or not libraries will eventually obtain "eternal" circulation rights to an ebook that they purchased through a publishing company. I find it hard to believe that such a scenario would ever exist. The fact is, these companies have to make money to survive. They need to pay their staff, the book authors, etc. It simply does not make sense for them if, for example, they only sell one copy of an ebook to a library instead of the ten physical copies they would have sold in the past. I think it will be a long time before libraries and publishing companies come to any sort of agreement over ebook loan caps, but I have to say I can see where both sides are coming from.
ReplyDeleteI did not realize or yet quite understand the fact that when purchasing rights to an eBook, they are only purchasing the book for a limited number of checkouts. After the number of checkouts has been reached, the library must then re-purchase those same rights. This seems to be a ludicrously expensive endeavor, much less reasonable in terms of finances instead of purchasing hard copies. As Katie said additional concerns regarding licensing and copy write laws may arise. This issue is complex because as we all know it the world we live in runs on money, libraries have to provide services that attract patrons, and provide them with the resources they want. Libraries must also consider funding, where it will come from, how much, and how it can be realistically applied. Publishing companies MUST generate finances otherwise they will cease to exist! Such a quagmire to find oneself in!
ReplyDeleteManlove