Finding Common Ground in New York
On February 21, American Library Association (ALA) President Julie B. Todaro led a delegation to meet with publishing and library organizations in New York City. Unlike similar previous trips, however,...
View ArticleNewsmaker: Steve Potash
Steve Potash founded OverDrive in 1986 and built it into the predominant provider of ebooks, audiobooks, and other digital media for American libraries and schools. It is estimated that OverDrive has...
View ArticleAmazon squeezes publishers
For many librarians, the pipeline from author through publisher through distributor to reviewer to library just is what it is. And so it might have remained, had publishers simply folded ebooks into...
View ArticleCanada, oh Canada: Fighting back on ebook pricing
Go to Twitter. Type #FairEbookPrices. Any questions? Our Canadian librarian colleagues are telling the world: Big publishers are ripping us off, big time. If you’re one of the Big Five publishers, this...
View ArticleDCL Ebook Report, July 2015
Isn’t it just an amazing coincidence how similar the prices are from OverDrive and 3M? Take Elin Hilderbrand’s The Rumor, selling for $84 to libraries, but available to consumers for $14.99, as shown...
View ArticleDigital publishing: In praise of pioneers
We all know that digital publishing is disruptive. And when the Powers That Be are threatened, it’s not surprising that they circle the wagons and shake their fists. “Nobody expects the Spanish...
View ArticleThe Open Ebooks Initiative
I listened in on a Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) webinar on July 15, 2015. The conversation centered on the Open Ebooks Initiative (announced by President Obama on April 30, 2015). In brief,...
View ArticleThe Ebook Pricing Wars
Perhaps it’s easy for me to say, being out of the ebook pricing wars now (i.e., safely retired), but much of the publisher angst over ebook pricing terms to libraries strikes me as responding to...
View ArticleALA Responds to Penguin Random House Ebook Licensing Announcement
Penguin Random House has announced that it will implement perpetual access for all of its ebook titles and cap prices per title. ALA welcomes improvement in long-term access and pricing, but the new...
View ArticleALA, Publishers Talk Ebook Lending Terms for Libraries
Last week a delegation of ALA leaders met with senior corporate executives and library marketing executives of Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Penguin Random House. ALA’s most specific request...
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