In the well-attended “Do I Own These Ebooks or Not?” session, Kansas State Librarian Jo Budler spoke to the ALA Washington Office’s Carrie Russell about her experiences when the Kansas Digital Library Consortium’s ebook contract was up for renewal, and the vendor proposed a 700% cost increase, and more importantly, would have eliminated the consortium’s ownership of the content it had purchased, changing it to a subscription. Budler recently secured the consortium’s right to transfer most of its ebooks to a new platform.
“What we all have to be cognizant of is knowing what we’re asking for and that the contract that we’re signing gives us that,” Budler said. To ensure that, she asked for the help of an expert—her state’s assistant attorney general.
The assistant attorney general also helped her work with publishers when the consortium switched platforms. Under the original contract terms, KDLC needed the publishers’ permission to switch platforms, famously requiring all 169 of them to be contacted. “One of my staff members went through the list of all the things we bought, and created a publishers list,” and Budler sent a series of three letters to each asking for permission. That got some response, but most of the publishers only agreed when the assistant attorney general sent a fourth, more strongly worded letter.
Much of the program was a fairly free-form conversation with the audience. Matt Tempelis of 3M, KDLC’s new ebook platform, asserted that publishers aren’t a monolithic bloc and that many do believe in the concept of ebook ownership rather than licensing. The issue is far from settled, however, and there is little precedent, so contract terms are key.
Budler urged a positive stance in working with vendors. “I think that the secret of negotiation is to look for a gain-gain for everybody,” she said. “Not being so rigid on either side, and not beating up anybody. The vendors are really doing a service for us.”
