Jan's Blog

Upfront I want to say that others have written far more brilliantly than I will about HarperCollins suggestion that their e-book subscriptions will expire after 26 uses.  Library Journal, AndyWoodworth, and ReadWriteWeb have all offered great understanding of the current situation. But this is just too wrong to let it go without saying something.

Yes, HarperCollins appears to be an adversary of libraries and sharing resources. Yes, I agree with Joho the Blog> Harper Collins has lost its mind (although arguably, there was never a soul there in the first place.)  But I am bothered at the lack of response or explanation from library vendor OverDrive--whose webpage proudly proclaims "ebooks from your library: anywhere and everywhere."  Where has OverDrive been in this process?  I still see slipping the notice into an e-mail as a cowardly act.  Come on, OverDrive--"Publishers are re-evaluating eBook licensing terms for library lending services....?" Publishers? For more information on the initial e-mail which OverDrive issued to stakeholders, please read Librarian by Day's account here.

Where does the loyalty of OverDrive fall?  What have they done to advocate for the thousands of libraries which have purchased their services in an effort to provide their patrons with the format that patrons want?

And is this not the company that makes downloading a book to my iPhone about a 5-step process?  Here is where I am going to publicly admit that I have downloaded two books from OverDrive.  I finished reading one of them and turned the other back in.  To be honest, it was such a process that even I (a highly-motivated wanna-be e-book patron), returned to the much more comfortable process of putting my name on the hold list and waiting till the hard copy was available.  OverDrive--you just aren't there yet.  You aren't providing the services that libraries and patrons are demanding.  And you aren't being up front with us either--you do not value either our patrons' needs or the library survival at heart if you just bow down to HarperCollins demands.

And then you want to get into our library card policies? "In addition, our publishing partners have expressed concerns regarding the card issuance policies and qualification of patrons who have access to OverDrive supplied digital content...Select publisher terms and conditions require us to work toward their comfort that the library eBook lending is in compliance with publisher requirements on these topics."  You want to make sure what?--that we don't take our e-reader, iPhone, laptop out of what geographical boundaries?  Libraries today work more and more as groups of libraries, combining collections, and defining what is local not in a single building structure, but within cooperatives and reciprocal borrowing relationships.  Please find ways to work with us as we deal with ever-shrinking budgets and increasing patron demands.

Lastly, I think librarians can do better.  I suggest we do not settle for a company that is "good enough" and now reveals they have no intent to support us anyway.  I hope en masse we will search out open source alternatives and maybe even develop our own--the talent is out there.  And I hope we decide to do that soon.

Keep reading,

Jan