Vinjamuri’s article sheds some much needed light on the publisher/library dispute. The ALA’s study on the state of American libraries indicates the trend in reading formats is leaning more and more towards ebooks. Publishers have not yet come to a reasonable agreement on how to price or sell ebooks to libraries. Libraries have to keep up with their communities, communities that increasingly demand ebooks, “providing access to eBooks is three times as expensive as physical books” (Vinjamuri, 2).
How can this be when ebooks are advertized as up to 75% cheaper than the printed copies? This is where law and the publishers come in. Currently only Random House and HarperCollins offer a substantial amount of titles to libraries, at a high price. Ebooks purchased by the libraries through Random House cost up to eight times more than the prices advertized by Barnes and Noble and Amazon. The Greater Phoenix Digital Library owns 100 digital copies of Fifty Shades, at 84 dollars a copy. Harpercollins offers more reasonable prices, but the books expire after 26 circulations. The other four big publishers either do not sell to libraries at all or offer very limited titles at high prices (Vinjamuri, 4).
Vinjamuri offers what he feels is the best solution under the current copyright laws that would benefit both the publishers and the libraries: charge libraries per lend based on cost per circulation. This is a reasonable solution, especially considering the high price paid per copy to publishers like Random House. The publishers will still make money, and won’t lose money in providing books that don’t “sell.” The borrower data also benefits the library in developing their own collections and what they acquire or don’t acquire from the publishers. This model also saves money on the price per book. Instead of having to buy 100 eighty dollar copies of a best seller, more can be bought as needed because they are paid for by circulation.
Until the First Sale Doctrine can be updated to include eBooks as physical property and not just licensing, the proposed temporary solution is the most cost efficient, and future efficient, way to bring more ebooks into the libraries and appease the publishers.
Collection Development -- Fall 2013 