Digital Book World has the story of the meeting between ALA president Maureen Sullivan and the AAP. One just knew that it wasn’t going to be all smiles and giggles.
Yet some of the responses perplex me.
1. The comment from “an executive from Perseus Book Group” who said “our executives are confused as to what is a library.” OK, I can see if the question is about the future of libraries and the changes that we are undergoing. But truly, libraries have remained much the same as they have been. We are working on new services and embracing change, but we continue to lend the books that publishers publish without penalty pricing and with ownership of the items. To my jaded ears, I heard “what are libraries willing to become to play ball with publishers on e-books.” But that’s probably just me.
2. There was also the request for more details about models that libraries would recommend. Wait! We have an answer for that in Ebook Business Models for Public Libraries that actually lists essential pieces for e-books to work in public libraries. But that doesn’t seem to be detailed enough. The challenge was to be more specific. OK, but could we address those three critical issues first? I think we are happy to be specific further on the in process, after all titles are included for library purchase, there is an option to own the e-books, and e-books are integrated into existing processes.
I seem to be getting more and more jaded as these conversations continue. So I am glad to have others out there speaking for me in a much more rational tone. At the same time, publishers and libraries do need to work together to solve this, not just reject each other’s concerns.
And yes, the various pilots have me happy. But if they don’t address the issues at the heart of the situation, I expect they will just add more fuel to a fiery situation.
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/laprimadonna/
