#hcod

I have enjoyed reading OverDrive’s response this morning: http://overdriveblogs.com/library/2011/03/01/a-message-from-overdrive-on-harpercollins-new-ebook-licensing-terms/

  I applaud their transparency and their thoughtfulness in their decisions.

  Please keep advocating for libraries and readers!

This is the text of the letter sent by the president of the Minuteman Library Network, a consortium of 43 public and academic libraries (by one of which I am employed) in eastern Massachusetts:

March 22, 2011  

Mr. Brian Murray HarperCollins Publishers 10 East 53rd Street New York, NY 10022  

Dear Mr. Murray:  

I am writing to inform you that the 43 member Minuteman Library Network (MLN) in Massachusetts has voted to stop licensing HarperCollins eBook titles from our vendor OverDrive. We took this action as a result of your decision to arbitrarily limit the number of times (26) that HarperCollins’ eBook titles can be used by our library customers.  

We urge you to reconsider this policy. Libraries are very interested in providing our users with eBook titles. We understand that the publishing industry is working to develop pricing and distribution models for this new market; however, your decision increases the confusion and frustration users face when exciting new formats and devices are undermined by incompatibility and restrictive policies. Your policy makes it harder for people to use eBooks and alienates the library community, which is willing to discuss these and all other eBook issues in a frank and open manner.   

MLN’s decision is based on our professional code of ethics where advocacy for open access to all materials for users is central to our mission. As your customers, libraries are not willing accept policies that prohibit reasonable use of eBooks or any other material.  

Sincerely, Nancy Milnor President, Minuteman Library Network

Yep, it's official: statistics give me a headache. When I am compelled to think about numbers in this way, my brain enters a feedback loop that quickly spirals out of control and necessitates my laying down, or at least slowly backing away from the equations.

Be that as it may, I was pleased that Eric Hellman used statistics to begin to explain what HarperCollins is up to with its ebook licensing agreements for libraries.

I've read the post twice now, and I'm pretty sure it can be boiled down to these two points:

By focusing our attention on the books that are lent many times, supposedly shortchanging the publisher and the author, HarperCollins has gotten us to overlook the 80% of books that don't circulate much at all. Libraries pay full price for those, too, and it's pretty clear that publishers make infinitely more money on books that don't circulate in libraries than on books that don't sell in bookstores!

By focusing on popularity-driven revenue mechanisms, HarperCollins is pushing money towards the smash hits and away from the long tail. Libraries may be adversely affected, but they're collateral damage. It's the long tail publishers that HarperCollins is trying to destroy.