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.
Leaving aside the larger question of business models for a second, let’s tackle what seems like a really simple question. What should be the base unit for pricing digital content? In reality, this is not a simple question at all.
After a productive and hectic ALA Annual Conference at the end of June, there was certainly a temptation to take the summer off from ebooks and libraries, digital content, and anything resembling same. But really, why lounge on the beach or hike in the mountains when you can debate and write about licensing terms for digital content?
Okay, so this is probably the worst kept secret in history, but guess what, authors? Librarians love you; authors are our rock stars. And it isn’t just us. We have shared our love with so many people that they have built whole museums to hold your works.
Something needs to be done about maintaining access to e-content. You know things are really getting out of control when PBS starts signing distribution deals that all but name exclusive providers.
Based on conversations with publishers and deliberations on the ebook market, the ALA today released “Ebook Business Models for Public Libraries” (PDF file) a report that describes general features and attributes of the current ebook environment and outlines constraints and r
What is the ideal size of a group that is purchasing digital content? Some states engage in statewide purchasing of digital resources, but I wonder how well that will continue to work as digital content becomes a larger part of our collections.
David O’Brien, Urs Gasser, and John G Palfrey Jr of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University recently released a briefing document, “E-Books in Libraries.” [Fixed link, SSRN doesn’t support direct downloads] Drawing from a wide v
James LaRue’s post yesterday detailed the costs of ebook lending. In short, when the ebook costs about five times as much as print, you end up spending a lot of money for not a lot of access.
