The War between Publishers and Libraries over E- Books - Essay Example

The War between Publishers and Libraries over E- Books and Why They Should Not Be Fighting Ever since books were published, the history of mankind was completely changed; it was now possible to transmit and share knowledge and information in a manner that was easy and convenient for users. Books allowed the owners to read and gain knowledge while also allowing them the freedom to revisit the material in the future. People with material to share, for example scholars and story tellers found a way in which they could get their work edited, reviewed and published in large quantities without them spending much money. Publishers then got an important role to play; they published authors’ works and sold/ marketed it, with the author getting a share of the profits through royalties (Altbach and Hoshino 488-490). Because books can be expensive and since a user may want to just refer to a small section within a book or published material, libraries were conceived. Libraries played, and still continue to play an important link role between the publishers and users of published material. Patrons would register to be members / patrons of library and borrow books for a given time period. Libraries therefore became important customers for publishers; they would buy books in large quantities to stock their libraries ensuring that publishers always had a ready market for their published works. Because paperback books have a shelf life due to wear and tear from use or even loss, publishers have always had a market for replacement books and material. Enter the digital age and the information super highway; books can now be published in electronic form. This is a convenient means of publishing; publishers incur less cost in the material (paper) that the books are printed on. Libraries also can buy and stock the published material at a lower price compared to the paperback books and stock them in their online repositories for onward lending to their patrons. And this is where the problem lies; e-books can be borrowed infinite number of times; there is no wear and tear or the threat of loss; and because they are initially cheaper than paperback books, libraries make good money from the lending of the e-books. However, publishers feel shortchanged, primarily because the e-books can be lent unlimited number of times to an unlimited number of people, even concurrently. The fear among publishers is the potential in loss of revenue and since e-books are electronic, there is fear that they may lose on revenue and have unauthorized use should borrowers choose to share the e-books that have borrowed. This paper reviews this problem by discussing the background of the problem, reviewing the reasons advanced by both the publishers and librarians, evaluates them and proposes an amicable solution in which all parties (authors, publishers, libraries, and users of the published material) will all benefit. This paper will strive to use only scholarly articles as its reference and where such resources are used, proper citations will be made. The cause of the sharp disagreement between publishers and libraries over e-books stems from the issue of costs, the lending of e-books, and the owner of the contents of the e-books. Do libraries contribute to the sale of books or do they destroy them? This is the matter at the center of the battle between libraries that are represented by the ALA (American Library Association), and the Big Six book publishers. The current battle is occurring in a scene that will be ordinary to the individuals who followed the music industry business problems in the course of the past recent decade (Johnson). Publishing is changing significantly as it tries to adapt to the ascent of eBooks and the expanding force of online book sellers like Amazon, the fall of book shops and a surge of low-cost outside-the box titles. Regardless of the great years that some publishers are encountering, most publishers have realized that keeping up sales and profits is indeed hard in the present environment. Whether they're destined to fail or not is disputable, however no standard publisher is at a comfort zone in the present environment of e- books and technology. The scene is additionally shifting for the libraries (Helmer 21-30). The Information Age has postured various difficulties to the general population library, as Steve Coffman dexterously discusses in "The Fall and Decline of the Library Empire." Libraries have attempted to comprehend their part in groups as innovation has changed. Notwithstanding urging kids to peruse and giving books, they have moved from giving access to online databases to classifying the web then giving work stations and now broadband access as the citizenry need for data has revolutionized. The shift in perusing towards eBooks presents a specific issue for them in light of the fact that it’s occurring with startling velocity and presents huge mechanical difficulties (Coffman). Notwithstanding the focal issue of setting e-books prices, libraries are battling with the copyright ramifications of eBooks, their part as caretakers and promoters of perusing during a time where distributed is blasting, managing innovation delegates and getting access to the recently accessible abundance of independently published works. In a society in which book shops vanish consistently while the quantity of books accessible to peruse has increased exponentially, libraries will play a steadily urgent part (Zimmerman 67-75). Much more than previously, we will rely on libraries without bounds to help find extraordinary books. Libraries are now changing themselves around the nation to make more advantageous associations with their groups, with book clubs and as work and meeting places for neighborhood citizens. To publishers, the library will act as the showroom without bounds. Guaranteeing that libraries have proceeding with access to distributed titles provides for them an opportunity to meet this part, however an essential obstruction remains: how eBooks are acquired by libraries. The answer for the current conflict issue lies in comprehending that the contention publishers and the libraries have is the wrong contention. It is in view of the standard of the printed book and in that capacity exhibits a progression of recalcitrant difficulties for both publishers and the libraries. By altering the model for evaluating an eBook, both sides could discover a reasonable and fair determination to the current stalemate. The focal issue for libraries is basic: they accept that withholding eBooks from libraries altogether, evaluating them higher or restricting gives all weaken the library's center mission. Between the expense of eBooks and an innovation segment, giving access to eBooks is three times as lavish for her as physical books. Ebooks lending is expanding at an exponential pace, estimated at 200 percent every year; this pricing weight is critical and its being felt the nation over. The test to libraries is not immaterial. Four of the six publishers are not giving eBooks to libraries at any cost. The other two – Harper Collins and Random House stand out with two separate models. Random House revised eBook valuing from 2012; while the costs on some books were brought down, the most prominent titles expanded in cost – some drastically, and this is the main issue of concern. Publishers are not reading from the same script, and each is developing their own method or rules for selling e books to libraries, while others are not selling them to libraries at all. That is a major cautioning sign for libraries, as completely 80% of loans – and an imperative piece of their activity – originates from successes. While it appears to be likely that a large portion of alternate publishers will inevitably play, the terms may be more regrettable than those. Librarians feel that they help book sales; some people decide to buy books after borrowing them as part of their collection or for future reference, or even to gift someone. This is only possible because the individual borrowed the book from their library; the advent of technology means that borrowing is even cheaper and fast; you just log in. Libraries also buy non-sellers, dead stock that rarely ever gets borrowed; libraries buy books based on the evaluations of publishers and whether a book is a bestseller or not, but when libraries buy such books in large volumes, they end up with dead stock that no one is borrowing. So there is no guarantee that the books libraries purchase from publishers will give them any revenue, in fact, they may suffer losses. Dissimilar to physical book shops, they don’t return or mash the non popular book titles. Librarians need to pay the publishers when the purchase for the title is made, not after it’s sold or borrowed, and not exactly when they give it out to their patrons. As clients, libraries feel that the risks that they face in such situations have not been satisfactorily handled by the publishers (Woodward 13). Libraries Stimulate book Sales– This is partly true; the libraries point to the fact that borrowers tend to buy books for keeps after going through them. Blockbusters and Bestsellers Sometimes Cannibalize: A large portion of e-borrowers should think about purchasing a hit title if they couldn't find the title at the library. Regardless of the possibility that this number may be small, libraries presumably don't expand deals for books effectively on the smash hit records (Woodward 14). Libraries Aid Older Titles and give New Authors a boost: Most publishers are miserably unsophisticated with setting book costs. They unreasonably markdown successes and wind up charging a higher cost for new and obscure creators. By evacuating the value obstacle to full-book testing, libraries can help these writers construct taking after and verbal deals. Libraries merit Big-Customer Book Pricing – This contention is genuine yet immaterial under present law. Libraries state that in spite of the fact that they are littler than Amazon, Barnes & Noble and merchants like Ingram, they are still huge clients. They merit lower costs than individual purchasers instead of higher costs. The issue is that this is a contention that accepts that libraries own what they purchase. It's valid for physical books – which is the reason libraries get special valuing to common shoppers. However it is not valid for eBooks. Libraries permit eBooks as opposed to purchasing them. In this way, libraries are dealt with like affiliates as opposed to end (Woodward 17) Publishers’ stress that library eBooks will hurt their eBook deals. They have less grating than physical books. When they discuss contact, publishers imply that borrowers don't hold eBooks late, they arrive in a split second for the following supporter in line, they never destroy and they don't even oblige a trek to the library (O’Brien, Gasser and Palfrey15). To some degree, distributers might likewise see eBooks as an approach to enhance a circumstance that they were never truly content with: unlimited loaning of retail-estimated books eBooks Do Not Wear Out or deteriorate– This contention is exaggerated; even e books have a shelf life after which they must be replaced as people are not interested in them, and some publishers set a limit to the number of times a book can be borrowed EBooks Are Borrowed Frequently – Publishers probably did not look at a mainstream book from their library as of late. In the wake of joining on a rundown, a library patron gets a call when the book gets to be accessible and on the off chance that she doesn't get to the library that same day another person on the waiting list may get the book. Toward the end of her rental period she will likewise get a call if the book is not returned unequivocally on time. This may represent maybe a couple extra eBook loans throughout the span of a year, yet not more (O’Brien, Gasser and Palfrey15). One Can Borrow eBooks Without Having to Visit the Library – On this, publishers have a more substantial contention. The evacuation of the need to visit the library could draw in a totally diverse buyer to get eBooks. It is estimated that 31% of eBook library borrowers say that they "seldom or never" visit the physical library. While 36% said that they had obtained a book in the wake of getting the same title from the library, over half would think about acquiring as an eBook from an online retailer in the event they could not access it from the library (O’Brien, Gasser and Palfrey15). Why there should be no war between publishers and librarians over E-books A clash over e book pricing is not the main problem – it is only a side effect. The center issue is possession versus authorizing, and this is the one issue he shines over as though it’s of restricted outcome. Regardless of how savvy and successful his proposed "pay-every circ" model may be I have an issue obliging it given how rigorously and accurately the main problem has been evaluated to be. The recommended new evaluating model is just a smart thought if libraries are ready to acknowledge authorizing and not owning. Even singular purchasers who buy eBooks through sellers like Amazon and iTunes don't really own them – even business end-clients are compelled to acknowledge permit instead of altogether responsibility for item they paid for (Geist 73). I don't think anybody considers that reasonable or right. On the off chance that it’s not adequate for them, why would it be a good idea for it to be worthy for libraries? e-Books get composed through the same demonstration of creation as print books. On the off chance that a print and a digital book have the same substance, they ought to be esteemed the same way. The organization of the work can include esteem: eBooks include comfort for the patron, they can join upgraded substance through mixed media, and they're (conceivably) less demanding and less expensive to deliver and circulate for the distributer. Yet this included worth based the arrangement is optional – and far less – than the essential estimation of the work's content. If anything, eBooks ought to be less costly than print on the grounds that they're tangibly less extravagant to create. Configurations will dependably change. Conveyance channels will dependably change. At the same time the mission of libraries stays consistent. The evaluating models and business connections that libraries keep up with asset makers and wholesalers need to reply to our central goal – NOT to the specific organization of the asset. We oppose surrendering possession models in light of the fact that our main goal to our group continues as before paying little heed to the configuration that assets take. This article proposes that eBooks be treated like software in which the material is not ‘sold’ but licensed based on use, just the way a user can download and use a given software title and pay for it. 3.0 Conclusion Publishers and libraries are fighting over book pricing models for EBooks, in a war that is completely unnecessary. Librarians argue that they deserve discount pricing because they buy in bulk, they stimulate the sale of eBooks, help new authors and old book titles get sales, and sometimes also buy titles that do not sell, and have to pay for them upfront. Publishers argue that eBooks do not suffer wear and tear, they can be lent out several times, and users can borrow them without visiting the library. All these may be true, but they are not the issue, merely symptoms of a turf war and uncertainty especially by publishers. Formats will keep on changing; we had vinyl records, then CD’s, and now digital music players. The solution is to treat eBooks as software that is charged per use, where users pay for a license. Works cited Altbach, Philip G, and Edith S. Hoshino. International Book Publishing: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Pub, 1995. Internet resource. Coffman, Steve. "FEATURE: The Decline and Fall of the Library Empire." FEATURE: The Decline and Fall of the Library Empire. Information Today, 1 Apr. 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. Geist, R.A. "A ``license to Read'': the Effect of E-Books on Publishers, Libraries, and the First Sale Doctrine." Idea. 52.1 (2012): 63-100. Print. Helmer, John. "Publishing and the Social Web Report from the Second Semantico Online Publishing Symposium, London, November 2011." Logos. 23.2 (2012): 21-30. Print. Johnon, Dennis. "Libraries Respond to Penguin, and It's Not Pretty » MobyLives." Melville House Books. Melville House, 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2015. . Kaushik, A. & Kumar, A. Application of cloud computing in libraries. International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology, (2013). 3(4), 270-273. Liu, Q., Safavi-Naini, R., and Sheppard, N. Digital Rights Management for Content Distribution. Proceeding ACSW Frontiers ‘03 Proceedings of the Australasian information security workshop conference on ACSW frontiers 2003 – Volume 21 Pages 49 to 58 O'Brien, David, Urs Gasser, and John G. Palfrey. E-books in Libraries: A Briefing Document Developed in Preparation for a Workshop on E-Lending in Libraries. Cambridge, Mass.: Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 2012. Internet resource. Woodward, Jeannette A. The Transformed Library: E-books, Expertise, and Evolution. , 2013. Print. Zimerman, Martin. "E-books and Piracy: Implications/issues for Academic Libraries." New Library World. 112 (2011): 67-75. Print. Read More