#ebooks libraries

There was a lot of interest generated last week by Dan Eldridge’s TeleRead article A Big Six publisher officially grants ownership of its e-books to libraries and my tweeting of it.

If the Random House’s VPs quote can be taken at face value, it’s certainly a striking statement:

“When libraries buy their RH, Inc. eBooks…it is our position that they own them….In our view, this purchase constitutes ownership of the book by the library. It is not a license.

All I can say to that is “Yeh, Go Libraries!”, but this statement also makes me wonder what exactly is the position of us mere mortals…the humble eBook consumer?

There’s been an awful lot of debate in recent months about eBook pricing, eBook lending by Libraries, now all heightened by the launch of the Kindle Lending Library in the UK.

But, hang on a minute, haven’t I already got a Kindle Lending Library?... It’s called the Amazon Kindle Store!

No matter how it might seem, when I currently buy an eBook, aren’t I really lending it? (Or, perhaps to be technically precise, licensing it?).

What I’m actually able to do with an eBook I’ve purchased in no way constitutes what I would consider to be ownership.

Suppose I go and buy a book… and here we immediately have a terminology problem (to call them ‘real’ books or ‘proper’ books, is making a value judgement. As is calling them DT books, dead tree books, which I’ve seen used – I’ve still yet to see evidence that an eBook’s carbon footprint is much better), so I’m going to call them aBooks, analog books for now, just to distinguish them from digital eBooks.

Let us start over. Suppose I go and by an aBook. I then read it or don’t like it, can’t get through it, etc.

What do I do with it now?

I can leave it lying around to see if any other member of the family fancies picking it up.

Whether I’ve liked it or not, I might place it prominently on a shelf or table in a public space, at home or work, in an attempt to show off how intellectual, anti-intellectual, cool, sensitive, etc. I am.

If I’ve liked it, I might carefully place on my bookshelves for potential rereading.

If I’ve really liked it, I’m mostly likely to thrust it into the hands of a close friend and say “Hey, you’ve really gotta read this!”.

I could donate it to my local library (in an attempt to save some local tax money).

I might take it down to the Oxfam shop, so that can make some money (and someone else gets to read it).

If I’ve fallen on hard times, I can take it to a second-hand book shop and sell it.

I can leave it somewhere in public, a park bench or telephone booth, where a random stranger might pick it up and read it (this used to be called littering, not it’s called BookCrossing).

I can put it in the recycling and help the planet just a teeny bit.

So, how many of these can I do with an eBook I own?

Well, with a quick look down that list, I reckon you can only really do No. 3.

No. 1 is a vague possibility, but have you ever seen a grown man fighting over eReader? Not a pretty sight!

It’s not that I’m necessarily complaining here. I just like to know exactly where I stand and what the ramifications are.

For a start, will Random House make a similar statement about eBooks of theirs I’ve purchased? “purchase constitutes ownership” or, more significantly, may have been bought by the Norwegian woman Linn (Amazon wipes customer's Kindle and deletes account @Guardian).

A lot of the wrangling over supply of eBooks by publishers to Library providers, Amazon, etc. has been to do with appropriate pricing.

Whilst I accept some of the publishers’ complaints that, surprising though it might seem, eBooks don’t actually cost that much less to ‘deliver’ than aBooks, the problem is, if I am only really lending the eBook, I definitely want it to be priced significantly lower than an aBook!

And I suppose it’s too much to ask that the button on Amazon be changed from a ‘Buy’ button to a ‘Lend’ one?

We all love a good Lee Child novel, but if asked if we’d like to lend one (albeit in perpetuity, there’s only so much re-reading you can do) for 24p less than buying a copy, I think I know what the reply would be.

Life is hard enough as it is living in a ‘digital by default’ world, particularly at Christmas. The traditional choices of books and albums are no longer options for my loved ones, because I’m continually reminded on my screen: “This item cannot be purchased as a gift at this time”.

This is immediately followed by “Why not?”, which echoes my cry every time.

So yes I am complaining, but might be assuaged by the use of a little bit of imagination.

Just suppose, for example, that I were to donate an eBook title (which, after all, I’ve already paid for and would be deleted from my eReader and account) to be advertised on the Oxfam website for a ‘one off’ download with the proceeds going to Oxfam? (Satisfies No. 6)

Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library acknowledges that we naturally do No. 1 and No. 4 (A Prime subscription can be shared), why not a bit more flexibility in the Kindle Store Lending Library?

I fully understand that eBooks are a steep learning curve for the publishing industry. The music industry is only now really getting to grips with the technology after all these years. But their paranoia and pre-computer mentality isn’t helping them or their customers.

I recently heard an eBook discussion on BBC Radio 4 which was all very upbeat and positive until a member of the audience mentioned public libraries. Even though it was radio, I could ‘see’ the expressions change and the colour drain from the publishers’ faces. One conceded they’d be happier with eBook lending if it were restricted to customers having to visit the Library to download the eBook!?

Certainly, if eBook readers were more aware of the situation regarding the eBooks they’ve bought, they might be more interested in availing themselves of the free eBook lending now available from public libraries (although these aren’t as comprehensive as they should be due to the intransigence of publishers and of Amazon, not extending Libraries access to Kindle in the UK).