Comments on: New Zealand Publisher Fears Libraries

By: Really WTF?

Really WTF? — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:50:49 +0000

AL, I think you completely missed the point.

E-books are a completely different beast than print books.

With one copy of a print book, you can check it out to one patron at a time until someone else wants it, and when the cost of maintaining that book becomes too expensive, or it stops circulating enough to keep you sell it or toss it.

With one copy of an e-book, you can check it out to every patron with a library card, at the same time, and forever (here forever applies to the patrons keeping the book, and the libraries storage of the e-book). And if the e-book format is the only version of the book available. There is absolutely no need of those patrons going out and purchasing the book when they can get it forever, for free.

(Then of course the DRM argument comes in, and the librarians say “not so fast”, free access and all, etc.)

They are quite different.

By: Mr. Kat

Mr. Kat — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:57:55 +0000

That completely goes against the current trend: people are reading shorter and short blocks of text.

Putting books on cell phones is not going to get kids to read more!

By: I Like Books

I Like Books — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:12:39 +0000

Maybe the rest of the readership has moved on, AL, but have you seen this article?

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Mobile+and+Wireless&articleId=9127538&taxonomyId=15

Among the benefits of the coming utopia that technology will make for us, electronic books will be “more colorfully and engagingly written”, and kids will read more books because they can read them on cell phones instead of on paper.

Just thought you’d want to know.

By: Anonabus

Anonabus — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:21:16 +0000

I’m sure we’d all like to buy your e-book, as long as it isn’t from New Zealand.

By: AngelaB

AngelaB — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:52:28 +0000

I’d rather have libraries buy my e-book than no one.

By: Librarian of the Future

Librarian of the Future — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:17:06 +0000

The AL should be careful of these New Zealanders. A friend of mine had his dog eaten in New Zealand once. Or maybe it was New Guinea. I forget.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:03:06 +0000

This is the kind of thing first semester library school grads argue about and write papers defending or proscribing. It’s on the ethics and collections development syllabi for a lot of courses. But I thought AL thinks library schools don’t do relevant stuff.

Like this.

By: Mr. Kat

Mr. Kat — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:09:06 +0000

The truth of the matter is that the Digital era has had a more damaging impact on all those nice Information laws and copyright restricitons and what publishers can and can’t make libraries do then all the work form teh 300 years prior. Just look at last weeks discussion about the evil Elsevier. You put your name to that voluntary TOS and you might as well through out your “Fair Use” document along with everything else you hold near and dear that allows a library to make information “As free as possible.”

By: sidney

sidney — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:42:17 +0000

I’m wondering if this is some weird New Zealand thing. American publishers seem much more afraid of Google than of libraries.

By: another f-ing librarian

another f-ing librarian — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:23:21 +0000

hah.

1. libraries are *not* free. they are a pre-paid service. that’s the part about the libraries buying books from people like new zealand guy.

2. new zealand guy is not just stupid. he’s ‘hit his head really hard getting out of the car that morning and now he’s retarded’-stupid.

2.a. new zealand guy hasn’t evidently *ever* been to the library — he just doesn’t like the *idea* of the library. it is clear that he doesn’t understand the concept that the library only has the ability to lend as many electronic copies of an e-book as it has purchased. if they’ve bought one copy, patron has that copy for n weeks, and no other patrons can read it.

3. one thing i use the local library for, is to examine books to see if i *want* to buy them. then if i do want to buy them, i go to the bookstore and buy them; or i go to amazon & download them to my kindle2.

4. there’s something a little bit icky about libraries. they make you give the books back. sometimes you have to give them back before you’ve finished reading them. that sucks. and that’s a book i might buy, too. if i’m liking reading it.

5. if new zealand guy thinks we’re all going to suddenly buy $200 scientific books sight-unseen, he also became insane when he hit his head getting out of his car.