If you saw my previous post about publishers who refuse to sell e-books to libraries, you may remember I encouraged you let them know how you feel about their restrictive policies. It seems the Librarian in Black had the same idea. As the Director of the San Rafael Public Library, she has posted the contact information for those publishers who make their electronic content unavailable to libraries and patrons. Please join us in the fight to provide access to the bestselling books you want to read, in whichever format you choose to read them. Thanks for your help!
Author: Karrie McLellan
Why Can’t I Download That Book?
Have you ever tried to download a bestselling novel from the library, only to find it wasn’t even listed catalog? You can find it in print from the library, but not the electronic version. What gives?
The short answer is publisher fear. Some publishers refuse to deal with libraries for fear their profit margin will shrink. Others impose a variety of restrictions that make purchasing an e-book far more expensive than purchasing a print copy. For an example, check out this post from Library Journal that explains why our library no longer judges purchasing titles from HarperCollins to be a wise use of taxpayer money. Still others, such as Penguin, have issues with Amazon, and libraries get caught in the middle.
For an excellent explanation of this convoluted mess, see this summary by the Times Colonist. Please understand that we, as librarians, would love to be able to purchase all of the e-books that you, our patrons want to read. We are doing are best to convince publishers that allowing library patrons to borrow their books may stimulate sales, rather than steal them. If you would like to add your voice, the publishers in question include HarperCollins, Penguin, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan. Contact them and let them know what you think about their policies concerning e-books and libraries.
After writing the first draft of this post, I saw an article in Consumer Reports about publishers named above, who are currently under federal investigation for fixing prices on e-books in the US and Europe. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out…
OverDrive App Updates
For those of you using the OverDrive App to download e-books and audiobooks from the library, get ready for some useful updates. According to an OverDrive blog post, the following updates are already available for Android, Blackberry, and Windows phone users, and will become available to iOS (iPod, iPad, iPhone) users soon. [edit: early audiobook return for Apple devices became available on 2/17/12.]
Updates in OverDrive Media Console 2.4:
- Ability to return audiobooks early. (E-books have always had the capacity to be returned early.)
- Use the dictionary feature to look up words while reading.
- Use Wikipedia search while reading.
If you already have the OverDrive Media Console app installed on your device, it should update automatically next time it is opened. If it does not, try downloading the new version from the Android Market or directly from the OverDrive site.
Happy reading!
Highlighter Tool
Have you ever been reading an article online and wished you could highlight a passage? Even better – share the highlighted portion with friends? Awesome Highlighter lets you do just that in several different colors! After you highlight text/pictures on a web page, you can add a note or just click done. (There is a 2000 character limit.) Next, you are given options on how to distribute this information, including creating a short link automatically, emailing, copying to clipboard, or sharing via social media sites. The parts you’ve highlighted are the only ones that show up on the share. How cool is that??
More on the SOPA/PIPA Strike
Fight for the Future, one of the driving forces behind yesterday’s internet strike against the SOPA and PIPA bills, reported in an email that the protest succeeded in getting the attention of lawmakers. Before the protest, only 5 senators spoke out against the bills. Now, the count is 35! For more details about how the strike went, see the SOPA Strike website.
The fight is not yet over. It will take 41 solid “No” votes to permanently stall PIPA (and SOPA) in the senate. Please continue to contact your legislators (easy email form!) to let them know you value your freedom online.