“Does the publishing community understand why librarians would balk at increases on the order of 100% or 200%?” wonders Carrie Russell of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) over at the District Dispatch blog of the Association’s Washington Office. That’s a good question—one that needs a response steeped in indisputable data. Fortunately, Russell explains, … Continue reading Ebook Economics 101
Responding in no uncertain terms to reports that the Hachette Book Group will hike the price of backlist ebooks to the library market by 104% starting October 1, ALA President Maureen Sullivan issued the following statement this morning: “When Hachette announced it was stepping back into the library ebook market this past May with pilots that … Continue reading This Just In: ALA Decries Hachette’s 104% Library Ebook Price Increase (Corrected)
Hachette will increase backlist ebook prices by an average of 220% starting next month, according to an email from OverDrive released by Gary Price at InfoDocket (and subsequently reported here). I cannot help but ask the same question of Hachette that I asked of Random House when it increased prices over 300% this past spring: … Continue reading Has Hachette Forgotten How to Publish?
In the past months, the prices of ebooks for libraries—and in particular, some large price increases—have received considerable attention. But these discussions typically occur in the abstract. I decided that a focus on actual prices would greatly illuminate the challenges that libraries face. Thus, Douglas County (Colo.) Libraries compiled a new monthly price comparison report … Continue reading The Visible Hand of the Market?
As a school librarian, I am currently being inundated by vendor emails from not only the upcoming ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, but also the near-concurrent ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference being held just down the coast in San Diego. This does, however, make for some interesting comparison points for marketing … Continue reading Does OverDrive Really Care About Libraries?
Proposition 13, the California property tax–cap initiative that unleashed an era of fervent antitax sentiment and activism across the US, is 34 years old today. The necessary two-thirds of the voters who turned out passed the People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation on June 6, 1978. Stable funding for public services, including libraries, hasn’t been … Continue reading Happy Birthday, Prop. 13
A spring proposal by District of Columbia officials to eliminate more than 50 school librarian jobs for the next academic year has triggered a public relations nightmare for the city council, where the proposal originated. “Libraries have long been one of the really weak links in the District of Columbia Public Schools,” grassroots activist Peter … Continue reading D.C. Officials Feel the Heat over Planned School Library Cuts [UPDATED]
About a week ago, an ALA colleague popped into my office with an epiphany. “Libraries will never die out. You know why? If they didn’t exist, people would be inventing them.” As you might imagine, that got us to talking and finding examples—and it certainly wasn’t hard. Little Free Libraries, anyone? They are springing up … Continue reading Why Ebooks Need Libraries
The following is a statement issued today by ALA President Molly Raphael: While I appreciate Random House’s engagement with libraries and its commitment to perpetual access, I am deeply disappointed in the severe escalation in ebook pricing reported today. Calling on our history together and our hope to satisfy mutual goals moving forward, the American … Continue reading ALA Calls on Random House to Reconsider Major Ebook Price Increase
Five librarians associated with the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement’s People’s Library offered their views on democracy, protest, and the difficulties of providing reader’s services under radically different circumstances at “A Library Occupies Wall Street,” Saturday morning as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting Masters Series. All five spoke of their personal experiences as part … Continue reading The Librarians of Occupy Wall Street
There was a moment in ebook history when things could have gone either way. The Amazon Kindle was flying off the shelf, the Nook was just getting started, and everyone was pretty happy about $9.99 ebooks . . . and then Steve Jobs came along with iBookstore and the iPad. And really, all this mess … Continue reading It’s (Kinda) Steve’s Fault, Actually
The URL had barely expired November 27 on a bold online petition demanding the restoration of strong school libraries in every American school when another campaign got off the ground to gather 25,000 signatures within 30 days in favor of mandating quality education for America’s children through the provision of fully funded school libraries run … Continue reading Sign Here for School Libraries
