SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

February 25, 2011 by Gary Price

It's Always Something: "Publishing Industry Forces OverDrive and Other Library eBook Vendors to Take a Giant Step Back" (via Librarian by Day)

February 25, 2011 by Gary Price

From a Librarian by Day Blog Post:

Yesterday I received an email from OverDrive with an attachment titles OverDrive Partner Library Update from Steve Potash [CEO over OverDrive], I glanced at it and filed it away in my to-read pile for a later date (which honestly means I may never have gotten to it). This morning Heather Braum brought it to my attention via this post by Joe Atzberger.
The contents of this document are spun in a positive way and there are some great things coming from OverDrive, but in between the good news is some bad news, some really bad news.

Here are a few points from the letter Steve Potash sent yesterday. The full text (PDF) is available on the Librarian By Day Web Site.
1. Publishers are concerned about e-book licensing agreements where what you purchase is yours forever. Keep reading.
2. Next week OverDrive will announce that one publisher, Harper Collins] will implement a plan that places new e-books (it’s not retroactive) checkout limits on each licensed title. The one-copy/one-user model continues but now after 26 checkouts the book will no longer be available without relicensing the book. This is the case for other ebook providers not only OverDrive.
3. But that’s not all!
From the Potash Letter:

Our publishing partners have expressed concerns regarding the card issuance policies and qualification of patrons who have access to OverDrive supplied digital content. Addressing these concerns will require OverDrive and our library partners to cooperate to honor geographic and territorial rights for digital book lending, as well as to review and audit policies regarding an eBook borrower’s relationship to the library (i.e. customer lives, works, attends school in service area, etc.).

4. What about members of consortia and shared collection?
Here’s something for them:

Another area of publisher concern that OverDrive is responding to is the size and makeup of large consortia and shared collections. Publishers seek to ensure that sufficient copies of their content are being licensed to service demand of the library’s service area, while at the same time balance the interests of publisher’s retail partners who are focused on unit sales.

Again, the full text (PDF) is available here.
All of this comes after a massive amount of media attention and an large influx of new e-book borrowers who are at least willing to try the service even if they often have to jump through hoops to access the material.
Another problem, the inability to find an e-book to borrow without waiting several weeks has been the case for the INFOdocket team in Maryland and Florida.
Both of these concerns are mentioned in a superb commentary by Eric Hellman on his Go to Hellman blog.
So, the library world is providing a service that the media likes to report on and users appear to appreciate even with its many problems. In other words, library-based e-books have become a popular service at many libraries and what happens, some publishers (we don’t know how many) want to change the rules about licensing material. It’s not that they can’t change licensing agreements but what about working with the library community (aka their customers) to try and find a solution that works for all parties prior to making an “here’s what we’re doing” announcement.
What’s the point of marketing/promoting a service and then have to make significant changes in an area as important as cost because the service is being used?
See Also: Comments by Peter Brantley (via Reading 2.0)
See Also: “HarperCollins Puts 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Circulations” (via Library Journal)

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Publishing

SHARE:

E-Books

About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

Andrea Jackson Gavin Appointed Inaugural Program Director of the HBCU Digital Library Trust

Below is the Full Text of the Announcement Letter (via the Harvard Library): We are delighted to announce the appointment of Andrea Jackson Gavin as the inaugural Program Director of the ...

U.S. Census Releases 2020 Data for Nearly 1,500 Detailed Race and Ethnicity Groups, Tribes and Villages

From the U.S. Census: The U.S. Census Bureau today released 2020 Census population counts and sex-by-age statistics for 300 detailed race and ethnic groups, as well as 1,187 detailed American ...

Book Bans Spike by 33% During the Last School Year, According to New Research by PEN America

From PEN America:  The number of public school book bans across the country increased by 33 percent in the 2022-23 school year compared to the 2021-22 school year, according to ...

Penn State Leads Big Ten Academic Alliance Project on Open Homework Systems; ChatGPT Usage is Rising Again as...

AI ChatGPT Usage is Rising Again as Students Return to School (via Bloomberg) Universities Rethink Using AI Writing Detectors to Vet Students’ Work (via Bloomberg) Amazon AI-Generated Books Force Amazon ...

$800,000 Budget Cut Proposed: West Virginia University Library System Plans to Reduce Staff, Modify Space Amid University Cuts;...

From WCHS: Following the vote to cut 28 majors and more than 100 faculty positions at West Virginia University, the university’s library system could be the next to take the ...

American Library Association (ALA) Releases Preliminary Data on 2023 Book Challenges; Highest Number of Book Challenges Since ALA...

UPDATE LeVar Burton to Lead 2023 Banned Books Week as Honorary Chair (via ALA) —End Update— Below is the full text of a statement released today by the American Library ...

Harris County Libraries Declared a 'Book Sanctuary' Amid State Crackdown; UCLA Library Receives $4.2 Million Political Cartoon Collection...

Acquisitions UCLA Library Receives $4.2 Million Political Cartoon Collection Spanning Centuries (via UCLA  California At 20, San Jose’s MLK Library Remains a Partnership For the Books (via The Mercury News) ...

The Lens Loads Now Open Dataset From Crossref of Retraction Watch Papers; Digital Science Announces Brand Redesign for...

Clarivate Clarivate Unveils Citation Laureates 2023 – Annual List of Researchers of Nobel Class Digital Science Digital Science Announces Brand Redesign for ReadCube and Papers Internet Archive IMLS National Leadership Grant ...

New From AUPresses & Ithaka S+R: "Print Revenue and Open Access Monographs: A University Press Study"

From a Joint News Release: The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) and Ithaka S+R today publish “Print Revenue and Open Access Monographs: A University Press Study.” This report is the ...

Making IIIF Official at the Internet Archive; Exploring Equity on Wikipedia; & More News Headlines

American Library Association (ALA) ALA Introduces New LibGuide on How to Explore and Use Library of Congress Digital Collections In Library Programming ALA ‘s Committee on Library Advocacy Releases Update ...

Journal Article: "Redesigning Research Guides: Lessons Learned from Usability Testing at the University of Memphis"

The article linked below was published today by Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL). Title Redesigning Research Guides: Lessons Learned from Usability Testing at the University of Memphis Authors Jessica McClure ...

University of Illinois: Information Sciences Professor Developing Tool to Make Data Visualizations Accessible to Blind Researchers, Students

From the University of Illinois:  JooYoung Seo, a professor of information sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is developing a data visualization tool that will help make visual representations of statistical ...

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Tweets by infoDOCKET

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2023 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.