Penguin Taking Ebooks, Going Home

November 22, 2011

[UPDATE: Scroll to end.] Loaning ebooks is like playing with some other kid’s ball on the playground. There is always a risk that the other kid will take back his or her ball and go home, leaving you and your friends empty-handed. Yesterday, Penguin took back its ebooks and left OverDrive and libraries who had purchased Penguin books through that service standing around wondering what happened.

The Library Journal/School Library Journal’s blog The Digital Shift has more in-depth coverage of the latest kerfuffle. Despite the “high value [Penguin places] on the role that libraries can play in connecting our authors with our readers” as Penguin stated in a response to Library Journal, apparently this policy change came out of nowhere. The OverDrive blog states that the company was “instructed to suspend availability of new Penguin eBook titles from our library catalog and disable ‘Get for Kindle’ functionality for all Penguin eBooks” in an “abrupt change in terms” last week.

The changes:

All Penguin books through OverDrive have been removed from Get for Kindle access;
Previously purchased books from Penguin are still available in their original ebook formats (but not Kindle);
Penguin books already available through OverDrive will still be listed for new or additional purchases;
However, no new books from Penguin will be offered on OverDrive at this time.

The concern behind this seems to be the security of the digital files; the statement from Penguin references a need to “forge a distribution model that is secure and viable.” Nate Hoffelder, writing at The Digital Reader, raised some questions about this reasoning.

If they’re really concerned about security then they will have to kill their ebooks entirely. OverDrive uses the exact same DRM as on all the major ebookstores. If OverDrive is not secure enough then no one is. And if the Kindle ebooks aren’t secure enough then why does Penguin still sell ebooks in the Kindle Store?

My concern is that this demonstrates yet again the danger in thinking that a license (especially a third-party license such as through OverDrive) is in any way comparable to ownership. It seems OverDrive is as much at the mercy of publishers as we are at the mercy of OverDrive’s changes in terms of service.

This is a game libraries have to play; I just wish we could bring our own ball.

UPDATE: ALA President-elect Maureen Sullivan issued a statement this afternoon noting, in part, that “this situation is one more log thrown onto the fire of libraries’ abilities to provide access to books—in this case titles they’ve already purchased. Penguin should restore access for library patrons now.”

Tagged Under

Latest Library Links

15h

ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and the Writers Guild Initiative are hosting a unique series of writer’s workshops that help participants use writing to reflect on experiences, share insights, identify a path forward, and make their voices heard. The workshops will pair 25 librarians with professional film and television writers. All librarians are invited to apply by December 16. Participants will be randomly selected for the four-session online series taking place from February 1 through March 8, 2025.

Office for Intellectual Freedom, Nov. 20
19h

Cass Balzer writes: “What would you do to keep your child clean, dry, and healthy? Skip meals? Miss bill payments? Take on an extra job? For nearly half of US families with young children, the answer is: All of the above and more. A National Diaper Bank Network study found that in 2023, an unprecedented 47% of families with young children nationwide struggled to afford diapers. In response, libraries have stepped up to distribute these critical supplies. Though they can be challenging to fund and coordinate, these programs are immensely popular and—for many communities—vital.”

American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
23h

Ana Ndumu writes: “For more than a century, American libraries of all types have helped immigrants integrate, worked with municipalities to cultivate welcoming communities, and supported laws to shape our immigration system. With immigrants making up 13.8% of our population, the US is more racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse than ever before. But for many library workers, staying abreast of the fraught immigration policy landscape is challenging. Laws shift rapidly, with initiatives introduced or eliminated according to political agendas. Here are additional resources library workers can use to educate themselves or network with others administering to immigrant communities.”

American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.
4d

Michael Kan writes: “Are you still using ‘chocolate,’ ‘naruto,’ or ‘monkey’ for your passwords? You really need to stop. All three are among the most commonly used passwords, putting your accounts at risk of hacking, according to new data from NordPass. The password manager’s sixth annual list of the top 200 most commonly used passwords is pulled from a 2.5TB dataset of stolen logins taken from various sources.” ZDNet offers tips for creating stronger passwords and improved security measures.

PC Mag, Nov. 14; NordPass, Nov. 13; ZDNet, Nov. 14
4d

John Sharp writes: “Athens and Fairhope are two fast-growing cities in the fastest-growing areas of Alabama, and there is no mistaking their conservative bona fides. But according to early statistics about library card applications, their libraries appear to be bucking a trend embraced by conservative-leaning groups and the Alabama GOP: Their patrons appear to be trusting the libraries. More than 60% of parents at Fairhope Public Library and Athens-Limestone County Public Library have signed off on all-access passes for their children with no restrictions on library usage.”

AL.com, Nov. 17
5d

Katie Gaddini writes: “Book bans may have mushroomed in the Trump era of reactionary politics, but they have a well-established history in America. One woman in particular, Norma Gabler, redefined the current strategy and logic behind modern book bans. Called ‘education’s public enemy number one,’ by critics in 1980, Gabler led the crusade against the so-called secular trend in school textbooks throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Even though Norma and her husband Mel worked together, Norma was the public face of their efforts for decades.”

Time: Made By History, Nov. 13
5d

Many members know Bill Ladewski as executive director of the Reference and User Services Association, an ALA position he has held since 2019. In early September, Ladewski added another title to his CV: director of Member Relations and Services. In this role, he and his team are charged with providing service and information to the Association’s nearly 50,000 members. Ladewski answered our 11 Questions to reintroduce himself to the ALA community.

AL: The Scoop, Nov. 19

View more Latest Library Links

Penguin Taking Ebooks, Going Home

Share

Tagged Under