Are libraries under attack in the UK?

[Barcey]

Librarians have warned that publishers have "declared war on libraries" with the new position on library lending, announced by Faber c.e.o. Stephen Page this morning at the CILIP Public Library Authorities conference in Leeds. Page said that all the major trade houses had agreed a baseline position through the Publishers Association placing restrictions on library e-lending, including a ban on remote downloading.

Complete story.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/13...trictions.html

[DDHarriman]

Hello

If it will go ahead yes, libraries (are) under attack in the UK.

That “brilliant” decision puts the word stupidity into a new level!

[GeoffC]

Oh joy of joys ....

[kiwipippa]

I simply cannot believe this. The publishers really are setting out to continue to try doing business in a paper based world world, when technology has long since overtaken them. This will kill ebooks in libraries. There is no way I would take my laptop into the library, setup the wifi and download what I want - and my ereader doesn't allow wireless downloads.

[Fbone]

This is why in the US many if not most public libraries stopped issuing cards to out-of-state residents. Their contract with Overdrive prohibits them from doing so.

One librarian is quoted as turning out of towners away but perhaps others were more lax in their policies.

[Logseman]

So much for sharing knowledge with the rest of the world.

[bill_mchale]

Ultimately, I think the publishers are going to find this counter productive. As publishers try harder and harder to restrict reasonable access to books to protect their "rights" they are simply going to push more and more people into finding alternate sources of books. Of course by alternate, I mean pirate sites.

--
Bill

[tubemonkey]

If other authorities aren't playing by the rules, then deal with them, not us.

Exactly! This is a lame attempt by publishers to roll back the clock to pre-internet days.

[Barcey]

The full speech is here.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/13...k-lending.html

They're obviously not trying to win the hearts and minds of the ebook buying public.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Barcey

The full speech is here.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/13...k-lending.html

They're obviously not trying to win the hearts and minds of the ebook buying public.

Retaliate and stop buying ebooks altogether. Consumers have it in their power to bring the publishers to their knees.

Boycott!!!

[Logseman]

"Some services were lending for remote downloads, without geographical restrictions. This was in breach of contracts between the library and aggregator, and between the aggregator and publisher, and was advertised to the general public as 'free e-books, wherever you are, whenever you want'. Under this model, who would ever buy an e-book ever again?"

Well... the first thing in order to buy an ebook is that you actually own the thing. So far, if you "buy" (aka give money in exchange for) an ebook, a real transfer of ownership doesn't happen (sauf Bewrite, Smashwords, Baen and the whole lot of people who actually care about their customers).

You just get it lent indefinitely, indefinitely meaning a) until the DRM wanes, making your book irretrievable again; b) until the real owner decides to take away your books, à la 1984; or c) until you break the DRM and acquire full ownership of the file.

Therefore, the matter is that I can choose between a so-called permanent lease which costs lots of money, and a temporary lease which doesn't cost a penny. Of course, under those conditions, "who would buy a book ever again?"

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Ultimately, I think the publishers are going to find this counter productive. As publishers try harder and harder to restrict reasonable access to books to protect their "rights" they are simply going to push more and more people into finding alternate sources of books. Of course by alternate, I mean pirate sites.

--
Bill

Absolutely. Short term protectionism will be a long term detriment.

[eGeezer]

Does it also mention how they are going to force the U.S. to go metric?


Can you say "Never gonna happen"?

[James_Wilde]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Ultimately, I think the publishers are going to find this counter productive.

I wish. But taking the example of the music and film industries, what we are going to see is more and more of the big companies telling governments to crack down on a) piracy, b) cheap sites (which will be called unfair competition or price dumping) and c) international sales (aka grey imports). It's all in ACTA and the publishing world is going to jump on the band wagon. There's only one incentive stronger than an attack on your purse, and that's the sex drive.

[Bikeridr]

I guess we will have the music/film business all over again. After a massive (and still massive, but slightly reduced) piracy "business", at least in Norway the DRM of CD's and MP3 files are removed. I can now legally buy Non-Restricted MP3 files which I can play on as many players and devices as I like. Also the terms and conditions (www.platekompaniet.no) states that I can even share the music with my closest friends and family. But of course not share "with my 199.000 closest friends over internet".

Hopefully, after the publisher vultures experience "a massive economic loss" (as they will put it), they'll come to senses and actually start to sell unrestricted ebooks to a price and convenience the consumer will accept and adhere to.

The music business in Norway is now on its right way to again earn money and most customers are satisfied.

I'm not stupid, of course there will *ALWAYS* exist nincompoops which (deliberately not "who") will not follow the law.