To modify the saying … Where does a 300lb gorilla apply DRM (digital rights management)? Wherever he wants. And in the case of many publishers that is everywhere. But what exactly is this seemingly ever-present DRM?
ALA President Molly Raphael prepared this summary of the meetings of members of the ALA Digital Content and Libraries Working Group with ebook distributors at the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia, as well as a panel she moderated at the Association of American Publishers meeting:
As the Public Library Association Conference (PLA) gets underway this week, I’m just a little jealous to be missing all the fun. Not that I don’t want to be hanging out with my mom during her spring break enjoying the great weather and checking out Washington’s first-blush cherry blossoms, I’d just like to do both!
As Jon Stewart would say, we need to talk. Look, I understand things are a bit crazy for you right now. Ebook sales are rising, but they are kind of scary at the same time. Contracts, licenses, DRM, all of this is up in the air. So I get it; I see that you are concerned and looking for solutions.
Setting aside for a second the legal and ethical questions, let me first focus on the news that Apple’s FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) system for iBooks has been cracked.
Yesterday, Penguin Group USA called to alert us that they will no longer offer any ebooks or audiobooks to libraries through OverDrive. While libraries are expected to have continued access to Penguin ebooks already included in their catalogs, the effect today is that readers will have less access to Penguin titles through their local libraries.
Today is the end of Penguin books on OverDrive, but perhaps the start of new possibilities. In an announcement yesterday, the publisher gave notice that as of today, Penguin books would no longer be available on OverDrive.
As cochair of the Digital Content and Libraries Working Group, I was very disappointed to miss the meetings with publishers in New York. But in the end I had the best of both worlds.
