Getty Images
Before Sarah Adler moved to Maryland last week, she used library cards in Virginia and Maryland and Washington, Washington, D.C., home and neighboring counties to read books online. The Libby app is a simple and easy-to-use service from Overdrive, which gave it access to millions of titles. When he moved, he picked up another card, and the access to another library’s e-collection, as well as the library’s large consortium. She finds a page on her phone, through the app, between working on her novels and caring for her 2-year-old, doing almost all the reading. Even at home with her husband, during the epidemic, she read more books, mostly historical historical romance and literature. In 2020, she estimates, she has read 150 books.
He says Adler buys “rarely” books, which I feel bad about. Someone who hopes to be published one day, I feel bad for not giving the writers money. ”
Orrowers like Adler tend to drive publishers crazy. According to Overdrive, checkbooks of eBooks, which have partnered with 20,000,000 libraries worldwide, have increased percent of ebooks by the same period last year, after the epidemic closed the physical branches of many libraries this spring. Another service, Hupla, which connects publishers to libraries, says that since March, U.S. And Canada has added 9,439 library systems, increasing its membership by 20 percent.
Some public libraries, new to digital collections, enjoy exposing their readers to new types of reading. The Archer City, Texas, library of 9,000 people has received a grant to join Overdrive this summer. Gretchen Abernathi-Kak, director of the library, says the new ebook collection has been “really stunning.” “The last few months have been very stressful and negative.” These ebooks are “something positive. It was something new. ”
More expensive ebooks
But the growing popularity of library ebooks has also raised long-standing tensions among publishers, who fear digital lending eats up their sales, and public libraries, which are trying to serve their communities during the one-time pay generation crisis. Since 2011, five of the industry’s publishers પે Penguin Random House, Hatchet Book Group, HarperClins, Simon & Schuster, and Mum Camillan પાસે have limited library lending of e-books, either time-two years, for example – or number of checkouts – most often. , 26 or 52 times. Readers can browse, download, join a waiting list and return digital library books from the comfort of their home, and books are automatically removed from their devices at the end of the lending period.
Result: Libraries typically pay between and 20 and 65 65 per copy – an industry average survey of 40 40, according to a recent survey – compared to the 15, a person can pay to buy the same ebook book online. Instead of owning an ebook permanently, libraries should decide at the end of the licensing term whether to renew or not.
The growing demand for digital materials has prompted some librarians to shift what they buy despite fears of a budget cut amid economic weakness. U.S. And a recent survey of libra00 libraries in Canada found that one-third have spent less on physical books, iDobooks and DVDs since the epidemic began. 29 percent have fixed or reduced their budgets.
But Michelle Jesske, director of the Denver Public Library and president of the Public Library Association, says the publishers’ licensing conditions make it “very difficult to provide ebooks for libraries.” “Pricing models don’t work well for libraries.” Between January and July, the Denver system saw 212,000 more book downloads compared to the same period last year, an increase of 17 percent.
Last year, Macmillan took an extra step, limiting each library system to a single digital copy of a new proprietary copy – half of its normal price – until it was on the market for two months. John Sargent, CEO of MM Camillan, said he was concerned that there was too little friction in the library’s ebook lending. “To borrow a book [the pre-digital days] Days are required to transport, return the book, and pay the advance penalty when you forget to return on time, he wrote in a letter announcing the policy. “In today’s digital world, there is no such friction in the market.” Many libraries, rather than the Camillan policy argument, damage the large urban system already struggling to keep up with the demand for new and significant books set up to boycott publishers.
Covid closings
But in mid-March, days after libraries across the country closed, Mac Camille abandoned the policy. “There comes a time in life when differences should be put aside,” the sergeant wrote in the memo. A spokeswoman for the ministry declined to comment.
Librarians argue that digital lending promotes long-term sales by introducing readers to authors of books whose books they might not otherwise buy. Research by the Panorama Project, an organization funded by Overdrive, suggests that library book clubs, and the marketing that accompanies them, do not accelerate or affect sales of the same book title. This year, for example, e-book sales grew 7.6 percent during the month of June, the NPD Group said. The Panorama Project is doing more thorough research on this issue.
“I think one of the things we’ll see in this year’s postmortem is that the importance of libraries is becoming clearer,” says Guy Le Charles Gonzalez, project leader at the Panorama Project. “Any publisher that comes out by 2020 doesn’t lose their budgets too much – they’ll take libraries that way” (also, he says, Amazon).
Some publishers have made changes during the epidemic. Penguin Random House is expanding a year-end program that licenses ebooks and iDobooks for a year at half the price that libraries normally pay. It makes it easier for a library to, say, load a license for a popular bestseller and then let them go when supporters no longer demand a penny. (A Random House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.) Many publishers have also created single-epidemic- or social-justice-related programs, releasing titles for new avid readers. Some smaller publishers still allow libraries to license ebooks on a permanent basis. Amazon’s publishing arm does not sell digital copies of its books to public libraries.
But tensions between libraries and publishers persist. Libraries want more flexibility and make sure they have longer storage, says Michael Blackwell, director of St. Mary’s County Library in Maryland and program director of advocacy group Readers First. “Whether or not [the pandemic] It’s about persuading publishers to do better with us, I don’t know, “he says. “To be honest, I’m skeptical.”
At the same time, Jessica and others are worried about transferring most of their collections online, as some residents do not have an ebook reader, laptop or Wi-Fi access. Librarians in Denver have rolled out their laptops and free Wi-Fi program, where they hope ventilation and distance will protect everyone against the virus. They clean borrowed laptops between uses.
This debate has attracted attention in Washington. The House Antistress subcommittee began investigating the competition in the Digital Marketplace last year, and subcommittee chairman David Cecilin (D-Rhode Island) met with advocates for the library. “The whole point of this negotiation [between libraries and publishers] Alan Inoy, senior director of public policy and government relations at the American Library Association, says the last decade has seen a place where libraries have almost no rights in the digital age. “In the long run, there is a need to change the environment or the game. Means law or regulation. “
The story originally appeared on Wired.com.
