Cali the Librarian

Ebook Business Models for Public Libraries

Prepared by the ALA’s Digital Content & Libraries Working Group (DCWG)

In the “Ebook” report, the DCWG recommends three basic attributes that should be found in any library business model for ebooks:

Inclusion of all titles
All ebook titles available for sale to the public should also be available to libraries.

Enduring rights
Libraries should have the option to effectively own the ebooks they purchase, including the right to transfer them to another delivery platform and to continue to lend them indefinitely.

Integration
Libraries need access to metadata and management tools provided by publishers to enhance the discovery of ebooks.

Baldur Bjarnason: Today is not tomorrow (or, how to beat Amazon)

Amazon is well on its way towards dominating the ebook market, but its platform has several weaknesses that not only threaten Amazon but also threaten the ebook industry should Amazon dominate.

The line of argument is as follows:

Amazon’s Kindle platform has inherent flaws that lead to serious imbalances.

Those imbalances threaten Amazon first and foremost and grow with the platform.

If Amazon grows to dominate a mature ebook market, those imbalances will be big enough to both damage Amazon and threaten the ebook market.

Amazon could end up dominating an ebook market that more resembles the modern day comic book direct market than a mass medium: a shrinking niche industry that caters to a limited number of expert readers.

(Source: twitter.com)

"Because libraries are, at most 5% of a general trade publisher’s business and far less of the ebook business, and because the market is changing so rapidly and because every retailer except Amazon can be said to be struggling to carve out a sustainable position in the global ebook marketplace, there are many legitimate reasons for the biggest publishers to take a wait-and-see attitude about libraries and ebooks. The fear is of a “shopping and consuming” experience at the libraries which is comparable to what the retailers can offer. That potential is largely mitigated now because most of the big books don’t go to them. But, if they did, publishers fear the market could shift away from retail.

That fear is not just about a “lost sale”. It is also about a “lost channel” of sales, or a pipe to the consumer that runs entirely through Amazon.

Of course, libraries view this differently because the big books from the big publishers are a lot more than 5% of their patrons’ interest. This is an imbalance that would explain the difference in attitude of the parties, for anybody who cares to accept the reality of it. That is, the atavistic “instinct of self-preservation” leads libraries and publishers to somewhat different conclusions about what the best outcome would be and how quickly the industry should move to it."

— Libraries and publishers don’t have symmetrical interest in a conversation (via thelifeguardlibrarian)

Guardian Apps blog: Angry Birds boss: 'Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business'

“We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy.”

Hed explained that Rovio sees it as “futile” to pursue pirates through the courts, except in cases where it feels the products they are selling are harmful to the Angry Birds brand, or ripping off its fans.

When that’s not the case, Rovio sees it as a way to attract more fans, even if it is not making money from the products. “Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day.”

(Source: twitter.com)