tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35428618.post8729067945406334570..comments2024-01-20T00:59:08.689+00:00Comments on Brave New World: Digital Library Madness: 26 and You Are OutMartyn Danielshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134633193540004531noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35428618.post-48079968061279926832011-02-28T15:39:38.420+00:002011-02-28T15:39:38.420+00:00Apple/Google/Amazon: "We're gonna wipe th...Apple/Google/Amazon: "We're gonna wipe the whole value chain off the earth. Publishers, agents, booksellers, libraries... all will be grist to the mill."<br /><br />@Anonymous -- it's a little parochial to focus on publishers vs libraries, booksellers vs publishers, booksellers vs libraries, and whatever permutation we care to focus on this week. The bigger picture has them (us) all doomed! Long live Apazoogle.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35428618.post-59502428381681938012011-02-28T15:38:40.148+00:002011-02-28T15:38:40.148+00:00Apple/Google/Amazon: "We're gonna wipe th...Apple/Google/Amazon: "We're gonna wipe the whole value chain off the earth. Publishers, agents, booksellers, libraries... all will be grist to the mill."<br /><br />@Anonymous -- it's a little parochial to focus on publishers vs libraries, booksellers vs publishers, booksellers vs libraries, and whatever permutation we care to focus on this week. The bigger picture has them (us) all doomed! Long live Apazoogle.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35428618.post-54233359899860756772011-02-28T10:58:27.832+00:002011-02-28T10:58:27.832+00:00Libraries:"Let's all hold hands and sing ...Libraries:"Let's all hold hands and sing Kumbaya".<br /><br />Publishers:"We come to bury libraries, not to praise them".<br /><br />What we've got here is a failure to communicate<br /><br />http://www.librarything.com/blogs/thingology/2010/02/why-are-you-for-killing-libraries/<br /><br />Most authors don't care much for libraries either, though they won't dare say so in public.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35428618.post-88589950309855825602011-02-28T07:53:01.152+00:002011-02-28T07:53:01.152+00:00Mike your thinking is very similar to mine but the...Mike your thinking is very similar to mine but the there doesn't have to be a central depository just a central clearing house where all content is indexed. The request then hits the clearing house and the content request is forwarded to the authoritative source to 'drop ship' to the appropriate member. The elibraries control the centre the aggregaters and publishers the source. On the question of commercials they could be pay as you go and the members can be charged. The central clearing could also help with royalties such as PLR. Interestingly libraries could be charged for what they use as opposed to what merely sits on a virtual shelf. <br /><br />The point is that there are many workable solutions which bring the supply chain together and can benefit all from author to reader. What is wrong with the 26 and out rule is that only apply to some, is confrontational and doesn't move the libraries into a partnership but further alienats them in a digital world.Martyn Danielshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02134633193540004531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35428618.post-27463466874581367682011-02-28T02:06:01.739+00:002011-02-28T02:06:01.739+00:00There is a solution that's simple and practica...There is a solution that's simple and practical. Publishers' digital titles go into a central depository. Any library, however small, can lend any title in that depository as many times as it wants and to as many people as it chooses by paying a reasonable per-checkout fee.<br /><br />* Patrons, even in small towns, would get access to a huge collection.<br /><br />* Libraries, even in rural areas, wouldn't have to decide whether to buy a title that might be used only once or figure out how track those 26 uses, stop distribution, and then decide whether to repurchase. (Which in most cases they won't do.) They'd pay for each use rather than try to guess at future uses.<br /><br />* Big city libraries would also save the cost of shelving physical books, of tracking holds, and of transferring copies between branches. That cost might be higher than the entire cost of a digital loan.<br /><br />* Both authors and publishers would earn what they want most: a stable and growing income spread over many decades. Even the end of copyright wouldn't end the income stream. There's would still be the definitive copy.<br /><br />* Marketing of backlists to libraries would also be easier and more effective. Libraries would not have to be persuaded to buy a digital copy of a 20-year-old title. All an author or publisher would need to do is draw the public's attention to a book. Sales could ramp up overnight, while the marketing impact is still fresh.<br /><br />Yes, this approach would take a bit more time, since the depository would have to be designed and agreements made between authors, publishers, libraries and the depository. But the result would be an effective system that takes full advantage of digital books rather than simply attempting to graft a printed book model on to a digital one.<br /><br />It's certainly something to think about and discuss.<br /><br />--Michael W. Perry, Inkling Books, SeattleMike Perryhttp://www.InklingBooks.com/noreply@blogger.com