Kansas State Librarian Argues Consortium Owns Content from OverDrive

[John F]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

...

The Kansas libraries got a sweetheart deal in 2006, and their fees have remained a flat $10,000 per year despite a 10x increase in usage (or any expected future increases). The increase, by the way, apparently ends up as an average of $200 in admin fees per library, per year.

...

There isn't some sort of fee/cost per book purchased/leased by the library?

[MrsJoseph]

I think it is insane that OD wants $75,000 to "administrate" for the library system. It shows that they had no real growth program in place and now they want others to take care of their growth problems. What company goes after libraries - some of the most budget conscience programs around - and expect that their budgets can handle that kind of admin fee??? I'm fiercely glad that they will have competition asap.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I think it is insane that OD wants $75,000 to "administrate" for the library system. It shows that they had no real growth program in place and now they want others to take care of their growth problems. What company goes after libraries - some of the most budget conscience programs around - and expect that their budgets can handle that kind of admin fee??? I'm fiercely glad that they will have competition asap.

It depends on what the admin fees cover. Does it cover Adobe's DRM fee on each and every book downloaded with their DRM? (I know expiring liceneses are less per transaction than non-expiring ones, but they're also issued more than once per book) Without knowing what it covers it's hard to say if the fee is insane or not.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I think it is insane that OD wants $75,000 to "administrate" for the library system.

If you think about the total, it looks insane, but it comes down to $227 for each library for one year. The huge increase that they are complaining about is from the fact that they are paying $32 for each library for this year.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by John F

There isn't some sort of fee/cost per book purchased/leased by the library?

Content purchases / licenses are a separate cost.

From what I can tell, the "administrative fees" cover everything except the content, e.g. bandwidth, data management, web front end etc. These costs have increased in tandem with the increase in popularity.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It depends on what the admin fees cover. Does it cover Adobe's DRM fee on each and every book downloaded with their DRM? (I know expiring liceneses are less per transaction than non-expiring ones, but they're also issued more than once per book) Without knowing what it covers it's hard to say if the fee is insane or not.

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

If you think about the total, it looks insane, but it comes down to $227 for each library for one year. The huge increase that they are complaining about is from the fact that they are paying $32 for each library for this year.

Maybe, but considering that this does not include content...how would OD know what the fees for DRM would be? They would not - this is purely an Admin fee - which is what companies charge when the manage the account...usually this would not include additional fees. If OD was charging this for DRM fees I'm quite sure the line item would say "DRM."

[Sil_liS]

OverDrive spokesperson Dan Stasiewski told LJ that the increase in fees under the first proposal was necessitated by the ten-fold increase in circulation that Kansas's digital collection has had since 2006, even as fees have remained flat.

"This utilizes additional hosting, bandwidth, network and support services," he said, which OverDrive has been absorbing the cost of. "In the end that seven times increase [detailed below] is coming down to around $200 a library in 2014," he said.

From 2006 to 2011 there has been a ten-fold increase in circulation. Is it wrong for them to assume that there will be a similar increase in the coming years? And again, right now it costs $32 for an entire year for each library. That comes to less than $3 each month.

[MrsJoseph]

Ok, fine. I guess you'd also be in favor of the library just passing the cost to the library patron then. Because no matter how you break it down or how "cheap" you think it is - it is a LIBRARY borrowing program. I don't know any library systems that can afford those kind of fees to administrate collections. Especially since those fees do not include any content.

OD is full of it.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

Ok, fine. I guess you'd also be in favor of the library just passing the cost to the library patron then. Because no matter how you break it down or how "cheap" you think it is - it is a LIBRARY borrowing program. I don't know any library systems that can afford those kind of fees to administrate collections. Especially since those fees do not include any content.

OD is full of it.

The general consensus on this forum is against individual user fees for borrowing content. With tax support dwindling, where will full funding come from?

[Sil_liS]

South Central Kansas Library System Proposed Annual Plan and Tentative Budget 2012

Title: Automation and Technology Coordinator
Salary: $42,000 – $48,000
Benefits: Paid single coverage Blue Cross/Blue Shield Health and Dental; Kansas Public Employee Retirement System; Optional Health Reimbursement Plan and Wellness Program. SCKLS provided work vehicle.
Hire Date: July 1, 2011 or until filled.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
Coordinates automation and technology services and provides technology training to SCKLS member libraries.

Compare that to the current administration fee to OD of $10,800 for 2011, and the one that was considered unacceptable for 2012 of $25,000.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

South Central Kansas Library System Proposed Annual Plan and Tentative Budget 2012



Compare that to the current administration fee to OD of $10,800 for 2011, and the one that was considered unacceptable for 2012 of $25,000.

I'm confused. Are you saying that instead of hiring someone they should pay Overdrive a lot more money instead? Who needs jobs?!

[tubemonkey]

Maybe libraries should be staffed by volunteers; just like voluntary fire departments.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I'm confused. Are you saying that instead of hiring someone they should pay Overdrive a lot more money instead? Who needs jobs?!

Actually I saying that if they consider that a person applying for this position should be payed this kind of money, they shouldn't be surprised that OD asks for more than 10k.

And the part about the jobs? I'm sure that OD employs people as well, and needs to employ more as the number of users increases, but you don't seem concerned about them.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The general consensus on this forum is against individual user fees for borrowing content. With tax support dwindling, where will full funding come from?

Well it has been suggested, I think in another thread, that libraries consider selling naming rights. The Random House Branch Library? The Kindle e-book collection. The possibilities are endless.

(clicky)


Seriously in the end communities deserve what they are willing to pay for, be it libraries, schools, roads, etc.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I think it is insane that OD wants $75,000 to "administrate" for the library system. It shows that they had no real growth program in place and now they want others to take care of their growth problems. What company goes after libraries - some of the most budget conscience programs around - and expect that their budgets can handle that kind of admin fee??? I'm fiercely glad that they will have competition asap.

The libraries' annual budget is around $90 million. I really don't think that $75,000 is going to break the budget. And by "administrate," it appears that OD is dealing with the actual checking out of the books.

Of course the library shouldn't pay more than it has to...and maybe it can get away with paying less. But $75,000 doesn't strike me as outrageously high as part of a $90 million dollar budget.