Limits on library e-books stir controversy
Library books get plenty of wear and tear. But do popular books really wear out after just a year?
That鈥檚 the stated logic behind a new rule for e-books published by Harper Collins. As reported, the publisher plans to allow each 鈥渃opy鈥� of a library e-book to circulate only 26 times before the license expires. (For popular titles, LJ noted, that would equal a year of use for libraries with a 2-week checkout, or 1.5 years for libraries with a 3-week window). The president of sales for Harper Collins told Library Journal the limit 鈥渨as arrived at after considering a number of factors, including the average lifespan of a print book, and wear and tear on circulating copies.鈥�
A protest movement sprung up fast. There鈥檚 , at least one small , and a Twitter hashtag, #hcod, to follow the story and comment on it. Mega-popular Harper Collins author Neil Gaiman, asked in , called it 鈥渋ncredibly disappointing,鈥� noted . Another compared it to book burning.
The comments on the LJ article swung heavily against the new rule (not surprising, considering the audience), though a few said some cap wasn鈥檛 unreasonable. The gist was that a cap of 26 seemed arbitrarily low, that the books should be discounted if their use was so severely limited, and that librarians, not corporations, should decide when to weed the collection. One librarian, commenting on a , brought it all back to books: 鈥淚 knew when I read Jasper Fforde's 'The Well of Lost Plots' 鈥� the plot focuses on some in the Book World pushing for upgrades to UltraWord, a system that allows a book to be read only 3 times 鈥� that it was only a matter of time before life imitated art... As a librarian, I'm appalled that a publisher would try this. Not surprised, just appalled.鈥� One librarian summed it up in as 鈥淭he Publisher of Tolkien Has Taken A Business Lesson From Sauron鈥�.
Despite the backlash, Harper Collins is, at least, making e-books available to libraries. As Library Journal noted, 鈥渢wo other members of the publishing "big six" 鈥� Macmillan and Simon & Schuster 鈥� 鈥渟till don鈥檛 allow e-books to be circulated in libraries at all."
Interested in reading more? This post from includes a lineup of responses.
Rebekah Denn blogs at .
Join the Monitor's book discussion on and .
Thomas Jefferson's books 鈥� sought by researchers for decades 鈥� have been found
