It all starts with a question: How come whenever I want to check out an e-book from the local
library, there always seems to be tons of holds on it?
Can't they just press control+C a bunch of times?
My name's Peter, and this is stacks and facts.
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So. I like reading books.
I like getting lost in a good story, and I like how when I’m reading, the world just
kind of vanishes for a bit and time gets a little... flexible -- like when I’m on a
flight from one place to another, and the experience is otherwise not great.
And to be honest, I’m not super fussed about the book’s form, as much as I am about having
access to the book in the first place.
So while I -- obviously -- enjoy experiencing a physical, printed book, in a pinch e-book
is fine.
Sometimes, it’s actually what I prefer.
But.
E-Books -- that is, books that are stored and delivered electronically -- present some
unique challenges to how you and I experience them.
And it all comes down to the fact that e-books are digital objects, not physical.
Sure, we may read an e-book on a device of some sort, but the e-book itself is just a
series of bits: ones and zeros encoded onto a hard drive or into memory, and converted
with software to an image, sound, or tactile input and presented to us through an interface.
E-Books, like most digital objects -- think apps, music, and movies -- have a few constraints
that tend to not apply to *physical* objects.
I already mentioned the big one: that the user has to have access to a device if they’re
going to consume it.
But they’re also subject to different laws.
That’s because rather than being your physical property that you can hold with your hands
and *do with what you please*, they are the intellectual property of the authors and publishers
who create them.
This is is not so different from a physical book -- while you may own *the object* that
is the book, the words contained within it are still the intellectual property of the
author or publisher.
That’s why you can’t just go around photocopying your books and then selling the photocopies
to your friends, without infringing on copyright.
But, you *can* take your physical book, and lend or give it to whomever you want.
This is thanks to what’s known as the “First Sale doctrine” in the United States, or
the concept of “exhaustion” in other places.
The general idea is that when a *copyright holder* sells a copy of their work, the buyer
is buying the object, and the rights, to sell, display, or otherwise dispose of it however
they see fit.
The original copyright holder has thus exhausted their rights to the book.
Not to the *intellectual* property -- the story or contents that are printed in the
book -- but the *physical* property -- the paper, ink, and other materials that the book
is made of.
This concept is the backbone of how libraries work.
Once a book is given or sold to a library, the library owns it, and can do whatever it
wants with it (within the bounds of copyright law, of course) without having to pay royalties
or fees to the publisher or author.
Now, since e-books aren’t physical objects, you might be starting to see why they’re
a little bit stickier.
And because governments have been generally terrible at understanding and legislating
technology, there is no “first sale” equivalent, exactly, for digital information -- which
is a disservice to consumers, and to publishers and authors.
I don’t want to veer too much off topic, but many of us first saw this manifest in
a big way in the late 90’s and early 2000’s when the Recording Industry Association of
America sued literally thousands of people, and Napster, for illegally distributing MP3’s.
But that’s a whole ‘nother video.
Once I make it, I’ll put a link to it here so you can find it if you’re watching this
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So, go ahead.
Make my day.
Please?
So, how do e-books work?
When you buy an e-book from Amazon, you aren’t actually buying the book, but a license *to
use* the book.
You’re paying for access, but that access is tightly controlled: you can only view it
by logging into your Amazon account on a device that runs Kindle Software.
That software is responsible for 1) downloading the book, 2) verifying that you are who you
are, 3) verifying that you are a licensee for that book, and 4) decoding and presenting
the file that has the book’s content.
This is all known as Digital Rights Management, or DRM, and it’s how copyright holders maintain
control over their intellectual property in an environment where it’s otherwise really
easy to make a copy of something.
And y’know, it makes a lot of sense that this is how Amazon manages their e-books.
At the end of the day, it’s in their best interest financially to control their intellectual
property.
Although I couldn’t find numbers (corporate secrets being what they are), I feel confident
enough saying this because they make enough money from e-books that they release a new
physical Kindle device almost yearly.
This is mainly because once they’re written and the file is created, e-books have almost
no overhead compared to printed books.
But.
The way that they, and other publishers, license e-books makes it difficult and incredibly
expensive for libraries to acquire them.
And it’s important to note that the terms of *my* license with Amazon are very different
from the terms of a library’s license with publishers.
Now, *my* license specifically says that it’s for my personal use only, and that I’m not
allowed to give it to anyone else, unless I loan it through Kindle to other Kindle users,
then my access is temporarily taken away and granted to them instead.
This is okay, but it limits who I can loan my books to: Namely, I can only loan them
to folks who use Kindle, but not to folks who use any of the other e-reader platforms
out there.
And I can’t choose to give the license away for good -- say, to my local library, or a
friend, or a school -- if I decide that I just don’t want it anymore.
So when libraries license e-books from publishers, they buy their own license that *allows* for
loaning out -- and these tend to look very different from the licenses that folks like
you and me get.
The biggest difference is that I presumably get to keep the license for as long as Amazon
is in business and can provide it to me.
But when libraries buy licenses from publishers, oftentimes they have some form of expiration
built in, which is automatically enforced with DRM.
Once the license expires, the library loses access to the book and can’t loan it out
anymore, without buying a new licence.
So after a specified period of time has passed, or after a book has been loaned out a certain
number of times, the license is exhausted and the library either buys it again -- or
gives up access.
And the thing about the licenses that publishers sell to libraries is that they’re… expensive.
Like, really, really expensive.
While you and I might be able to buy an e-book for 8.99 off of Amazon, a library might pay
nearly 10 times that amount, especially if it’s a new book or a best seller.
This, my friends, is why the library never seems to have the e-book (or audiobook) version
of what I want available when I want it: They’re way more expensive, and they expire.
And it’s not because it’s more expensive to make an e-book for a library than it is
for an individual; it’s because publishers are worried that if libraries offered e-books
more readily, people would stop buying them.
Not unlike how the RIAA was afraid that illegally shared MP3’s would be the downfall of record
labels everywhere.
They weren’t.
Spoilers
Now, I understand where the fear comes from… kind of.
It makes sense to think that given the choice between getting something for free and paying
for something, folks would opt for the free option.
And a lot of people do -- e-books are incredibly popular with library patrons.
But the thing is, people like owning stuff, too.
I love owning stuff! See for example:
[capitalism ditty]
After peaking in popularity around 2014/2015, e-book sales have been down while print book
sales have been going up.
So what if publishers *re-imagined* the purpose of e-books in libraries?
Instead of seeing them as competition to sales of e-books, what if they were seen more as
marketing tools?
Publishers could get creative with how they license e-books, getting more eyeballs on
pages before the books come out, and generating buzz.
Maybe they could work with libraries to offer something like, “enjoyed this book?
Use this link on the last page to buy your own copy for $4!” as a way to both increase
sales for those who want a copy to keep, AND to drive folks to go to the library and build
some goodwill with the folks who know their community’s wants and needs the best.
The Libraries. I'm talking about libraries.
Wouldn’t that be great?
Now of course I’m just spitballing ideas here, y'all-- but it’s because I want to get across the
idea that, if publishers take the time and think about how they could work WITH libraries
to serve communities, rather than seeing them as a competitor -- they might end up doing
some good for themselves, too.
Libraries create readers, readers make more money over their lifetimes, and that money
gets spent on books, so publishers have something to gain from getting creative.
But enough from me -- what ideas do you have?
How do you think publishers can change their pricing model in a way that’s good for them,
and for libraries?
If you’re a librarian, how would you feel about libraries facilitating something like
discount codes at the end of e-books?
And if you’re a publisher or work for one, or maybe if you're an author,
what would make you feel more comfortable working with libraries directly?
Let me know in the comments below, or tweet at me -- @StacksEtFacts.
As always, thanks very much for watching my video!
Be sure to subscribe if you haven't and you like what I'm putting down,
and until next time -- don’t forget to ask questions.
Ok bye!
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