Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Lending E-Books

I was reading an article on the Ventura County Star website about the struggles between libraries and publishers over e-books. The Camarillo Library has a collection of over 1,400 digital books. They're treated pretty much like print books. Only one person can check them out at a time and when the loan period ends, the book disappears from the renter's e-device. Then the next person can check it out.

Problem is, the big six publishers are not liking the idea of libraries lending e-books. Four of them refuse to open their e-catalogs to libraries. The other two are charging extra money or limiting lending. At one point, Random House tripled its prices to libraries.
A recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project found 28 percent of American adults own a tablet or e-reader, with ownership nearly doubling during the last holiday season. 
 The article noted that libraries are wrestling with how much to spend on e-books since they don't actually own them.
A Kindle owner can buy Jonathan Kellerman's "Victims" for $12.99, for example, but a library must pay $84 to lease access to the same e-book through Overdrive…
 Plus, libraries can't share the e-books among facilities. And they can't accept e-books as donations.

I'm thinking librarians know how many times a print book can be checked out before it is too worn to be kept on the shelves. Why not apply that number to e-books? Say, if the average print books can hold up to 30 readings before it is too damaged to lend anymore, then an e-book can be lent 30 times before it disappears and the library buys a new one.

 What ideas do you have on this?

15 comments:

  1. It's a shame that publishers are blocking ebooks at every turn. I think the "worn out" solution would be an equitable one. Why would a library be charged more than the asking price? That's outrageous!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I expect Blockbuster had the same kind of deal when they rented out videos, although they were able to eventually sell them. Not everyone uses the library and the people that do tell their friends if they have read a good book so it sounds to me that publishers are missing out on a good marketing opportunity. They just keep shooting themselves in the foot.
    Amazon, who moves with the times, has struck a great idea of "lending" books with their KDP program. It seems that is doing well for self publishers. My sales have increased since signing up for it.
    I like the idea of using the same premise of a worn out book for an e-book.
    Ann

    ReplyDelete
  3. Using a "free" book as enticement to buy other not-free books has been proven to work. It seems like that would work as the model for libraries. Thanks Ann and Laura.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's been a lot of disputes on this question over here as well. For instance airport bookstores fear that people will rather download an e-book from their hometown library rather buying a printed copy in the airport. Not sure it's a real problem. Still I'm a returning customer in airport bookstores >:)

    Cold As Heaven

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cold As Heaven, my husband, who travels extensively, really loves his iPad. One big reason is that he can download several books and not end up having to pay for a hardback at the airport store.

    ReplyDelete
  6. the big 6 publishers seem to be running scared over this surge in e-book business and they don't know how to respond. Charging more, whether it is to libraries or individuals, is not the answer. In my opinion if they charge a fair price across the board, they would get more volume business that would make their bottom line look good.

    Some of this is all about control. The big 6 had so much control over publishing for so many years, they are reluctant to share that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I agree with Maryann - I think it's coming down to control.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Library books last much longer than 30 reads (the copy of The Help I borrowed had been read 44 times and was still presentable)but publishers want to over charge for ebooks while forcing libraries to deaccess the book after 30 reads.

    As to Amazon "moving with the times", I guess that's a nice way of looking at a predator aiming for a monopoly. I don't blame publishers for their fear. Amazon is taking over their industry with a tactic that would be illegal in other cases-- underpricing the book below cost. The $9.99 Ebook price is the hook to get us onto Kindles and off paper books. This price won't last, as books can't be written, edited, and marketed for that price. When Amazon rules the industry no one will be happy with the pricing of ebooks then. Standard Oil ran the other oil companies out of business with undercutting, and then jacked up their prices to make billions.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Same with me, Helen. Today I bought Truth by Peter Temple in an airport right by the Russian border >:)

    Cold As Heaven

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think it's too late to put the genie back in the jar. For decades, the big publishers ruled the world. Now Amazon is taking over. That won't last forever. Something new will come along and rule. It may even circle so that the big publishers come back into power. But I don't think that authors who have now felt what it's like to have control will give it up without a fight.

    I'm not sure we need the big guys telling readers what is good writing. Readers can decide for themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's going to take a decade or so probably before all of this gets settled. Anything new always sets people off kilter for a bit. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. In Australia, govt paid publishers or authors commission for books borrowed from the libraries. Perhaps if you have this system in USA, the big publishers will be more willing to release their ebook catalogue.

    My Darcy Vibrates…

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think it would be an opportunity for indie authors - if libraries would give them a chance to place their titles. Why not?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Here's an innovative library doing some really cool things, including having buy links in their online catalog. http://www.cipacatalog.com/pages/Library-eBook-Partnerships.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. That sounds like a reasonable solution!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...