The article includes several quotes from Jo Budler, Kansas State Librarian on the current state of eBooks in KS. It also includes comments from:
- Lea Currie, head of collection development at KU Libraries
- Sherri Turner, assistant director of the Lawrence Public Library
From the University Daily Kansan:
“We’ve had a contract with OverDrive since 2005, and pricing was pretty steady up until a year ago,” Budler said. “There were two things in the renewal that were pretty problematic.”
The first problem, according to Budler, was a price increase of 700 percent. The state library currently pays OverDrive $10,800, but that cost would have increased each year under the new contract, reaching $75,000 in the third and final year.
The second problem was that the new contract left ownership of the content with OverDrive. The current contract gives the state library permanent access to all of the content it purchases. Under the new contract, the library would have lost all of the content if and when it left OverDrive.
“We said ‘no,’” Budler said. “We’re challenging that we lease rather than own.”
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The current contract with OverDrive ends December 5. Butler said the new contract with 3M provides for the libraries ownership of content, and other state libraries may not have reached such favorable terms. The state library will start testing 3M’s system in December. Budler said 3M was a little behind in its development of the state library’s platform, but that she didn’t think there would be any gap in downloadable availability between the end of the current contract and the beginning of the new one. More than half of the library’s e-books, and 40% of the audio books are currently moving over to the new 3M platform.
Read the Complete Kansan Article
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