NPR Planet Money - The E-Book Wars

[j.p.s]

This week's broadcast was a rereun from Nov 11 focusing on libraries versus publishers.

In 2019, a group of librarians (quietly) stormed the offices of a major book publisher, Macmillan. They carried boxes stuffed with petitions. They'd collected thousands of signatures, and now, they wanted to deliver them in person. Their goal: to put an end to a controversial policy known as "windowing."

Intro and audio at:
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/09/11356...t-amazon-bezos

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

This week's broadcast was a rereun from Nov 11 focusing on libraries versus publishers.

Intro and audio at:
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/09/11356...t-amazon-bezos

Thanks! I downloaded it and will give it a listen tomorrow.

[ZodWallop]

Thanks man. It was an interesting listen. No new news, really. But it was nice to hear firsthand from a librarian and the head of Macmillan.

[issybird]

I was never able to get exercised about windowing. You read the book eight weeks later; so what? Paper or digital, only a small percent of borrowers were going to get the book on release; it was the waitlist for everyone else anyway. And the swap, of a license for each book in perpetuity, is huge. It’s disheartening when you look for a book and see that the library used to own it and obviously has no plans to rebuy it.

My reaction to all this is along the lines of, “A plague on all your houses!” The author thinks ebooks cost her money. I can’t even bother with that one. I don’t even know what the librarian’s position is other than ebook are too expensive, but I’ll note that he uses a library card for which he pays no taxes or fees, so obviously the moral choice is beyond him. As for the publisher, I don’t understand why they can’t just price at a level that will ensure sufficient profitability to endure instead of playing games to force readers to buy a book instead of borrow it. The ableist rant about how it was better when people were forced to make trips to the library to borrow physical books is unattractive.

[cfrizz]

This is why unless it's on sale for $2.99 I don't bother with it. But I am constantly adding books to my TBR pile from self publishers. They can all go fly a kite.

[ZodWallop]

My main take away was: ebook licenses limiting the number of borrows seems fair. But why additionally add the time limit?

If the book takes ten years to reach the 15 loan limit, then so be it. Pulling the license after two years even if the borrow limit hasn't been reached just shrinks the library's pool of ebooks and ensures less popular books will remain undiscovered.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Thanks man. It was an interesting listen. No new news, really. But it was nice to hear firsthand from a librarian and the head of Macmillan.

NPR will probably alway scoop mobileread on the deaths of major authors, but news and in depth discussions related to ebooks will always best be sought on mobileread.

I'm just glad to see attempts at a bit of depth in the somewhat mainstream.

Originally Posted by issybird

The ableist rant about how it was better when people were forced to make trips to the library to borrow physical books is unattractive.

I was disappointed that it started out by expressing surprise that any sort of public library is legal. They also seem to buy into the notion adding (physical!) friction to the process makes it more "fair" even though its severity varies a lot from person to person.

Cass R. Sunstein has a 41 page "essay" Sludge and Ordeals which, while very good, is a bit of sluge itself.
https://dlj.law.duke.edu/article/slu...in-vol68-iss8/

[rkomar]

I think a lot of this fight is over books that become social hits. Most people don't read much, but they want to get in on the water cooler talk around a hot book. Waiting for the window to open at the library and then waiting to get your turn in the queue is not going to work for such books. Hence, the librarians' gripes that they can't provide adequate numbers during the time the book is a fad. I don't know what leverage they have to get things changed. Maybe just hold back your money and not order many copies when the fad is over and the window opens.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I think a lot of this fight is over books that become social hits. Most people don't read much, but they want to get in on the water cooler talk around a hot book. Waiting for the window to open at the library and then waiting to get your turn in the queue is not going to work for such books. Hence, the librarians' gripes that they can't provide adequate numbers during the time the book is a fad. I don't know what leverage they have to get things changed. Maybe just hold back your money and not order many copies when the fad is over and the window opens.

The eight-week window is only important at the margin, which is why I don’t understand why either publisher or librarian is willing to die on that hill. With or without the window, most borrowers won’t be able to read a book in the first week or two after it comes out, while it’s “hot”. Library patrons understand this.

Here’s a real-life example: Right now, Stark Library in Ohio has a waiting list of just shy of 1400 for two ebook copies of Prince Harry’s memoir, coming out tomorrow. I’m quite sure they’ll be buying more. However, it’s still going to be a wait of months for almost all of the 1400. A “window” might cause a few of them to buy the book, but most people, if they’re willing to wait, they’re willing to wait a little longer. Free is a very powerful argument.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by issybird

I was never able to get exercised about windowing.

My objection is just that windowing only applies to the book type that for many people is only one they can readily access, for accessibility/disability reasons.

"Who cares if people have to wait?" is one thing. "Who cares if only disabled people have to wait while anyone else can grab a paper copy?" is kinda another.

Not every book is Harry's memoir. For most there is nothing like that sort of queue.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by meeera

My objection is just that windowing only applies to the book type that for many people is only one they can readily access, for accessibility/disability reasons.

"Who cares if people have to wait?" is one thing. "Who cares if only disabled people have to wait while anyone else can grab a paper copy?" is kinda another.

I don’t think this is a disability issue as much as it’s an accessibility issue, granted that accessibility can bear more heavily on the disabled. However, I think it’s mostly transportation and time that are factors in “can’t” borrow a paper copy.

That said, I think in terms of medium there’s a bifurcation in terms of strong preference. People mostly want to read paper or they mostly want to read digital. The papercrats might travel with digital books or read on their phone in the doctor’s office, the digitalists might read paper when there’s no alternative, but the two media aren’t really fungible for the vast majority. There’s a let them eat cake aspect to saying “let them grab a paper copy” that I can’t support. I recall you thought that so long as a library served its romance patrons it was doing its job; so much for the outliers. This is similar. People who like history “could” read romance instead; they just don’t wanna.

In any case, the big picture is that there will be waits for most popular books whether people are duking it out for paper or digital; library patrons accept that they won’t be able to participate in the water cooler discussions. I still don’t think eight weeks is all that much in the grand scheme; there are other books to read in the meantime. I’ll repeat that the giveback on this is huge, IMO; a license in perpetuity serves a library’s brief as repository in a way that paper can’t.

Not every book is Harry's memoir. For most there is nothing like that sort of queue.

Actually, I think the queues for Harry’s memoir will be shorter than for medium to low appeal books where the library buys one or two copies. There’s still no denying that some people will wait months.

Full disclosure: My own borrow (not at Stark) of Spare hit my account today; I was 22nd on the wait list. And I was going to read less trash this year….

[Quoth]

My issue with libraries (and publishers) is not the delay, but total removal of tha title.
You notice an interesting series, but the first few titles are out of print on paper and gone from the ebook catalogue on the Library. My Local Irish Library say it's Publisher policy.

Publishers seem determined to give their Market to Amazon Publishing & lending.

[ZodWallop]

This response wasn't aimed at me and for the record, I don't think windowing is such a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But...

Originally Posted by issybird

I recall you thought that so long as a library served its romance patrons it was doing its job; so much for the outliers. This is similar. People who like history “could” read romance instead; they just don’t wanna.

This seems like a disingenuous misrepresentation of that earlier argument. I don't believe anyone said that 'so long as a library served its romance patrons it was doing its job'.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

This seems like a disingenuous misrepresentation of that earlier argument. I don't believe anyone said that 'so long as a library served its romance patrons it was doing its job'.

That’s essentially what this post said:

Originally Posted by meeera

I'm still not seeing the unfairness. Those category romances are probably about $4-7 also (that's retail; not sure of library package deals), while your academic history is going to cost a fair bit more, for many fewer checkouts. As you say, they're catering for their readers.

I.e., catering for only a subset of readers. Which had been my point.

[John F]

Originally Posted by issybird

The eight-week window is only important at the margin, which is why I don’t understand why either publisher or librarian is willing to die on that hill. With or without the window, most borrowers won’t be able to read a book in the first week or two after it comes out, while it’s “hot”. Library patrons understand this.

Here’s a real-life example: Right now, Stark Library in Ohio has a waiting list of just shy of 1400 for two ebook copies of Prince Harry’s memoir, coming out tomorrow. I’m quite sure they’ll be buying more. However, it’s still going to be a wait of months for almost all of the 1400. A “window” might cause a few of them to buy the book, but most people, if they’re willing to wait, they’re willing to wait a little longer. Free is a very powerful argument.

How about at the BPL:

https://brooklyn.overdrive.com/media/9219213

The wait time is 12 weeks, with 179 copies and 1070 people waiting. So many of those people would get the title within the 8 week window.

The bigger libraries, from what I've seen, try to keep wait times down.