It's a Good Start

August 13, 2024 4:45 PM

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and Independent Publishers Group (IPG) have announced a groundbreaking agreement that will allow libraries to purchase ebooks under the aegis of the IPG instead of renting them at eye-watering prices.

While this agreement will only cover publishers in the IPG, it sets a precedent that will hopefully inspire similar agreements.

posted by ursus_comiter (13 comments total)

Wow Wow Wow.

This sounds like a GREAT step forward, and I really hope it does spread.

It's really encouraging to hear someone talking about First Sale doctrine here:

“Copyright’s ‘first sale doctrine’ is important to readers and libraries for a number of reasons, not least of which is the way that it facilitates long-term preservation and access,” noted Lyrasis CEO John Wilkin. “Licensing models have threatened this critical underpinning, which is needed for preservation of the cultural record. Lyrasis is excited to collaborate with DPLA and IPG in the creation of a model that will make preservation and access of digital content possible.”

I am looking forward to the thoughts of our thoughtful and tuned-in library contingent, but at first glance, this seems very hope-inspiring and encouraging.

Thank you so much for sharing this, ursus_comiter - hooray for libraries, and for those who create books, and for all those who help get more goods in front of more readers!
posted by kristi at 5:49 PM on August 13 [7 favorites]

Very glad to hear it. Subscriptions are sapping away bad enough at individuals, sucks to see it happen to one of the last great institutions.
posted by GoblinHoney at 5:56 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]

This is great!
posted by Wretch729 at 6:25 PM on August 13

Fantastic. When I learned that library ebooks "wear out" after they're read 10-20 times I got very, very angry. What a stupid fucking thing.

Now give me the right of resale if I personally buy an ebook. (Or a videogame online).

I don't know the book market at all. How big a deal is IPG? Any chance this will affect major mainstream publishers, maybe by setting a precedent?
posted by Nelson at 6:27 PM on August 13 [4 favorites]

> library ebooks "wear out" after they're read 10-20 times

That's horrifying, I'd never heard of that aspect of digital lending. Is that a recent development?
posted by duende at 7:02 PM on August 13 [2 favorites]

Good news for readers, the public, and the 100 or so nerds globally whose job it is to typeset ebooks for different file formats in perpetuity
posted by klangklangston at 7:45 PM on August 13 [3 favorites]

duende, that's been around since at least 2011 and Harper-Collins's infamous "26 checkout" rule.
posted by humbug at 8:13 PM on August 13 [7 favorites]

Awesome. While I wouldn't want to sully my dystopian outlook on the publishing industry with a naive feeling like hope; I suppose It would be fair to say that we've gone from pitch black to merely very dark.
posted by evilDoug at 8:27 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]

I don't know the book market at all. How big a deal is IPG?

Years ago I worked for a small book publisher and IPG was our distributor. It is not a monolith like Ingram or Baker & Taylor were (still are?), but it had some presence. I don’t if it has enough to move the rest of the industry.
posted by notyou at 7:02 AM on August 14

Bravo DPLA! Let's see if this agreement blazes a path for more such.
posted by doctornemo at 8:41 AM on August 14

NPR / Planet Money had a 25 minute podcast about the ebook / library bullshit of ebooks "wearing out". It was an economic compromise that's part of a complicated set of agreements that enable libraries to license ebooks at all and was meant to mimic how books in physical circulation wear out. It is awful.

You know what doesn't wear out? .epub files downloaded from Z-Library. Shame it's unlicensed but that's the publisher's problem, not the reader's.
posted by Nelson at 8:54 AM on August 14 [2 favorites]

Hooray!
posted by solotoro at 9:11 AM on August 14

This is great. COVID led me to my library's digital collection, and I am constantly stunned by how I can't check out normal classic literature because of limits on how many books the library can have at any given time.
posted by acrasis at 3:12 PM on August 14