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Paul whitney Unconference Firenze
1. eBooks: The Implications For
Academic Libraries
Paul Whitney
Chair IFLA eLending Working Group
Florence, September 2013
2. Uncertain Times
• Content creation business models in
flux
• Library user preferences in flux
• Legal uncertainty as national and
international laws adapt to address
technological change (or don’t when
they should)
• No international norms for technology
and content availability
3. The Ending is Still to be Written
Amara’s Law
We tend to overestimate the short
term implications of technology and
underestimate the long term
implications.
4. Publishing Sectors
• Scholarly
• Trade
• Education/Textbook/Professional
Differentiated by content, audience,
geographic market, business models...
5. Scholarly Publishers
• Libraries are their market
• They hold world rights, negotiate
sales/licence terms and conditions
and distribute to their customers
• Product lines are predominately
journals and aggregated databases of
various types
• Digital products have been part of
their product mix for decades
6. Trade Publishers
• Individual consumers are their
primary market for digital (ebooks)
• Typically they hold regional market
rights
• Sales are usually on a title by title
basis
• Digital sales assumed importance in
the last 5 years
7. What is an eBook?
• Downloaded to the reader’s device
(one time not streamed on an ongoing
basis).
• Acquired (by an individual or library)
as an individual title.
• Generally but not exclusively
produced by a trade publisher.
• Licence/purchase terms and
conditions are not negotiated.
8. The eLending Crisis
- the withholding of otherwise
commercially available eBooks from
library collections
- restrictions placed on functions such
number of simultaneous readers,
printing, inter-library loan and
consortia purchasing
9. The eLending Crisis cont’d
In other words, publishers are now,
for some content, determining what is
in library collections, how it can be
used and and who can have access to
it.
At the outset this was seen as a public
library issue, but increasingly the
problems are spreading to academic
libraries.
10. The eLending Crisis cont’d
In the digital licence not purchase world
there will be increasing attempts to restrict
through digital rights management (DRM):
- specific forms of reuse such as
copying and interlibrary loan
- consortia purchasing
- permanent ownership through time
or use limits
11. The eLending Crisis cont’d
“(DRM) causes more problems than it
solves and is the latest example of an
uncertain publishing industry trying to
hold off the effects of changing
technology through policy or
legislation rather than through
adapting to circumstances,
recognizing opportunities, and
pursuing solutions that grow the
market”. D Dillon (2011)
12. Digital Exhaustion
Will the legal principle of “first sale”
which permits the lending and re-sale
of physical objects be applied to digital
content: i.e. digital exhaustion?
The case law is emerging from senior
courts: e.g. The EU Court of Justice 2012
ruling on computer software in contrast
to the 2001 EU Copyright Directive.
13. Canadian Supreme Court
ESA vs. SOCAN (2012)
There is no practical difference between buying a
durable copy of the work in a store, receiving a
copy in the mail, or downloading an identical copy
using the Internet …
Absent evidence of Parliamentary intent to the
contrary, we interpret the Act in a way that avoids
imposing an additional layer of protections and
fees based solely on the method of delivery of the
work to the end user. To do otherwise would
effectively impose a gratuitous cost for the use of
more efficient, Internet-based technologies.
14. The IFLA eLending Principles
• Approved by the Governing Board in
February 2013 and subsequently revised in
April 2013 and August 2013
• Changes triggered by court rulings and
pending challenges (consideration of
digital exhaustion in the EU) and editorial
tightening of the text for clarity based on
feedback.
• With the rules of the game uncertain
moving forward, it appears certain the
Principles text will continue to evolve.
15. Background/Preamble
“…libraries and their users wish at a
minimum to be able to obtain and use an
eBook in the same way they can obtain and
use a print book.”
The evolving understanding of digital
exhaustion:
• court rulings
• patent applications for digital resale
software
16. Preamble (cont’d)
“…it is necessary for libraries and publishers/
authors to agree to reasonable terms and
conditions for the library acquisition of eBooks,
thus allowing libraries to fulfill their mission of
guaranteeing access to knowledge and
information for their communities.”
“While we need solutions that support the
publisher’s and author’s financial viability, it is
not acceptable for a publisher or author to
restrict a library’s ability to license and/or
purchase otherwise commercially available
eBooks for library collections.”
17. Principles
1. A library must have the right
to license and/or purchase any
commercially available eBook
without embargo.
2. A library must have access to
eBooks under reasonable terms and
conditions and at a fair price.
18. Principles cont’d
3. eBook licensing/purchase options
must respect copyright limitations
and exceptions available to libraries
and their users in national law such
as the right to:
19. Principles cont’d
• Copy a portion of the work
• Re-format the work for preservation purposes
if it is licensed and/or purchased for permanent
access
• Provide a temporary copy of the work to
another library in response to a user request
• Reformat a work to enable access for people
with print disabilities
• By- pass a technological protection measure for
the purpose of exercising any non-infringing
purpose
20. Principles cont’d
4. eBooks available to libraries should
be platform neutral and developed
with standards for accessibility.
5. Strategies must be in place to ensure
the long term preservation of eBook
titles by libraries.
6. eBook services must protect the
privacy of library users.
21. WIPO Treaty Proposal on
Limitations and Exceptions for
Libraries and Archives (TLIB)
Article 5 Right to Parallel Importation
Article 6 Right to Library Lending and
Temporary Access
Article 7 Right to Reproduction and
Supply of Copies by Libraries
and Archives
22. TLIB cont’d
Article 8 Right of Preservation of
Library and Archival Materials
Article 14 Obligation to Respect
Exceptions to Copyright and
Related Rights
Article 15 Obligations Concerning
Technological Protection
Measures
23. In Conclusion
To the extent that academic libraries
collect works also sold to the general
public, they will increasingly
encounter restrictions on how the
works are used and preserved.
24. In Conclusion cont’d
Different perspectives on access vs.
ownership:
- from within the library community
- from outside the library community
25. The Way Forward
• Do librarians accept and adapt to the
new reality imposed by rightsholders?
“The burden of ownership and the
blessings of licencing”
• Or advocate for change?
TLIB at WIPO
National and regional action on
digital exhaustion and exceptions
for libraries (e.g. EBLIDA)
26. Sources
The IFLA eLending Principles (Aug 2013):
http://www.ifla.org/node/7418
The Treaty Proposal on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries
and Archives
(Version 4.3/July 2012):
http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/topics/exceptions-
limitations/documents/TLIB_v4.3_050712.pdf
William Walters, “E-books in academic libraries”, Journal of
Librarianship and Information Studies, Sage, Jan 2013