The past couple weeks have taken us on a wild ebook roller coaster ride. Penguin pulled Kindle access and then it was restored—but libraries still aren’t getting new Penguin titles for lending in a digital format. Despite the e-whiplash that seems to come from following the changes in ebook news, I am feeling very positive this week. Perhaps it is the general spirit of Thanksgiving that has been in the air, but from my perspective things aren’t as bad for libraries as it may seem if you only read the headlines.
There are many smaller success stories around ebooks and libraries that can be missed when big kerfuffles dominate the digital content news. I am incredibly thankful for the partnerships that have been growing between school libraries and K–12 publishers. From small, independent publishers to some of the largest content producers in the business, things are working out rather nicely. Here are some totally unsolicited thanks that I wanted to send out as examples of why we need to continue to work with our publishing and vendor partners.
Moving beyond the big six publishers that dominate national library ebook conversations, there are many great companies like Rosen Publishing, Inc. that work closely with school and public libraries to provide a wealth of digital resources. Rosen recently launched an amazing series of enhanced ebooks looking at states. Spotlight on New York includes 12 books enriched with timelines, primary source historical documents, maps, and reading by a voice actor. Even better, Rosen was very willing to work on flexible purchasing options.
Independent publishers aren’t the only ones meeting ebook needs in schools. Gale Cengage Learning also provides great options for purchasing ebooks for library use. The Gale Virtual Reference Library has moved beyond just reference to include other nonfiction books that can easily be purchased for consortium access.
Even school-focused book jobbers like Mackin are working to support ebook adoption. The company’s site includes easy-to-read license terms for each publisher’s ebook offerings. Mackin also recently launched a portal for e-content called Via that pulls together all of a library’s digital content into a single point of access.
So what is the difference? Why are things working so nicely in the K–12 market? There are a couple of significant differences. First, the smaller publishers producing and selling for the K–12 market don’t have as much of a market beyond schools and libraries. Furthermore, most of the content is nonfiction written on contract with rights assigned to the publisher. The fiction that is available tends to either be of a specialized nature (like Orca’s hi-lo books or Capstone’s books that are designed for reading instruction) or from authors that are not as well known in the public sphere.
Admittedly, then, this post is doing a bit of apples-to-oranges comparison. But I still wanted to share a bit of positive news in the ebook world. It is also important for libraries to send out a thank-you to those publishers and vendors who are working with us. Those that are not providing library lending need to be pressured, but let’s make sure we are giving plenty of attention to the companies that are collaborating and innovating.