S&S Opens E-Book Lending to All Libraries

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Edit:PS how does 3 weeks change 27 times to 17 times?

52 weeks in a year divided by 3 week loans = 17 loans per year.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

52 weeks in a year divided by 3 week loans = 17 loans per year.

Thanks. I was thinking stormcloude meant 17 loans per book as it seemed to follow the question about 27 times and I have never heard of a yearly license for ebooks. Is that what Simon and Shuster does?

Helen

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Thanks. I was thinking stormcloude meant 17 loans per book as it seemed to follow the question about 27 times and I have never heard of a yearly license for ebooks. Is that what Simon and Shuster does?

Helen

YW; and I don't know what the current limits are from the BPHs.

[AnemicOak]

To the best of my knowledge these are the current terms at which library ebooks are offered by the big publishers...

Random House, no expiration...
Titles available in print as new hardcovers: $65- $85
Titles available for several months, or generally timed to paperback release: $25-$50
New children’s titles available in print as hardcovers: $35-$85
Older children’s titles and children’s paperbacks: $25-$45

Penguin, titles expire after one year
Pricing is "similar" to what consumers pay.

HarperCollins, books expire after 26 loans...
Not sure on pricing, but IIRC it's whatever full retail list price is at the time.

Hachette, no expiration...
The initial price will be three times the highest-price edition then in print. One year after publication, the purchase price will drop to 1.5 times the highest-price print edition.

Macmillan, Two years or 52 lends, whichever comes first...
Unsure on pricing

Simon & Schuster, titles expire after one year.
Not sure on pricing

[stormcloude]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Thanks. I was thinking stormcloude meant 17 loans per book as it seemed to follow the question about 27 times and I have never heard of a yearly license for ebooks. Is that what Simon and Shuster does?

Helen

There was this quote in the first post of this thread: S&S e-books are currently available through the 3M, Baker & Taylor and Overdrive platforms. Each title licensed by a library is usable for one year from the date of purchase...

That's where I got the 17 loans before the book expires. Of course that's a rough estimate that doesn't take into account people returning it early, but most people I know rarely do that. They just wait for it to expire. I can see it being economical for best sellers that are extremely popular for a short window of time, but I really can't see libraries paying year after year after year for a book that's only checked out a handful of times each year. And what about out of "print" ebooks? I've seen a few indie publishers go under in my preferred genre and if the book licenses expire, then access to those ebooks are gone permanently too.

I'm probably just too much of a bleeding-heart liberal hippie, but the whole idea of licensing ebooks sits wrong with me. It just seems like bph greed to me.

[stormcloude]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

To the best of my knowledge these are the current terms at which library ebooks are offered by the big publishers...

HarperCollins, books expire after 26 loans...
Not sure on pricing, but IIRC it's whatever full retail list price is at the time.

Hachette, no expiration...
The initial price will be three times the highest-price edition then in print. One year after publication, the purchase price will drop to 1.5 times the highest-price print edition.

See, these terms are more reasonable to me and I think give libraries more flexibility. From rereading this thread, what I mostly object to is a time-based expiration "date" that doesn't allow for libraries to get the most use out of their older, slower-lending ebooks before they expire. It's almost like bph are orphaning their back catalogs and smaller releases to make a fast buck on the best sellers.

[rollei]

Will be nice if available in Canada

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by stormcloude

There was this quote in the first post of this thread: S&S e-books are currently available through the 3M, Baker & Taylor and Overdrive platforms. Each title licensed by a library is usable for one year from the date of purchase...

That's where I got the 17 loans before the book expires. Of course that's a rough estimate that doesn't take into account people returning it early, but most people I know rarely do that. They just wait for it to expire. I can see it being economical for best sellers that are extremely popular for a short window of time, but I really can't see libraries paying year after year after year for a book that's only checked out a handful of times each year. And what about out of "print" ebooks? I've seen a few indie publishers go under in my preferred genre and if the book licenses expire, then access to those ebooks are gone permanently too.

Thanks I missed that part about 1 year. It is not common I think.

I'm probably just too much of a bleeding-heart liberal hippie, but the whole idea of licensing ebooks sits wrong with me. It just seems like bph greed to me.

Not an uncommon opinion by any means, but for publishers and authors each library loan is a lost sale and as ebooks don't deteriorate and are much easier to copy for anyone who wants to than paper, the publishers and authors are trying to make about the same amount of money per copy as paper. maybe they make more and maybe less.

Some may be gouging but I think that will stop as soon as someone actually comes up with some concrete profit/loss, actual cost of lending for libraries of ebooks VS. paper etc. Not in this decade I think.

At this point libraries will be way ahead expense wise on ebook VS. paper book lending as the infrastructure requirements such as buildings, staffing, getting them ready for loans, loss etc. are practically non existent.

And I have read a few articles from large libraries stating that while ebook expenditure on the books themselves is 3% of the book buying budget, ebook lending is up to 50% of total lending. And this is very important to libraries as many get funded based on the number of book loans. And while we still have paper, and libraries are spending 97% of budget on paper, how does higher ebook pricing, if indeed it is affect anyone severely except in terms of convenience for those of us who are not to poor to buy ereaders.

I am a bit of a bleeding heart liberal myself, I would like to see everyone have enough to eat and decent housing and clothing. I don't expect the farmers, retailers, restaurants or property owners to provide it at their expense. It is up to us all as individuals and a society provide what we can for our less fortunate or less able members, and to vote for legislators who will both enact measures and enforce without prejudice against gouging and slumlords and fraud...

Helen

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by stormcloude

See, these terms are more reasonable to me and I think give libraries more flexibility. From rereading this thread, what I mostly object to is a time-based expiration "date" that doesn't allow for libraries to get the most use out of their older, slower-lending ebooks before they expire. It's almost like bph are orphaning their back catalogs and smaller releases to make a fast buck on the best sellers.

"Almost", huh?