Hi John and everyone
It seems the PA's problem is especially with libraries allowing use outside their geographical boundaries. This is not the first time publishers have objected to this practice. Low those many years ago when a group of us were working with MLA on the negotiations for Reference Online, there were library authorities within my own region that fell afoul of this restriction of access. I could see both perspective's at the time, and do so in this instance. The difference, of course, is that I think MLA worked with the specific library authorities and publishers to reach a compromise, and things never came to this pass. It would seem that the same type of intervention from national bodies offically representing libraries is called for, as John Dolan points out.
I looked on the American Publishers Association website to see if there had been any involvement or even a mention, as the UK PA references other trade associations, and it would seem with the multinational nature of these publishers, there would have to be some type of unilateral representation. I didn't see anything, although my search was admittedly cursory. It's just not clear to me how this type of action can be implemented if there is not a multinational agreement among publishers.
I did find, however, this statement from Overdrive (if someone else has mentioned this, please excuse the repetition):
http://overdriveblogs.com/distribution/2010/10/22/a-statement-on-the-publishers-associations-position-on-ebook-lending/
I think this is significant, and it calls to mind previous negotiations with Overdrive and their support of public libraries. Once Co-East and Loughborough University completed it e-book pilot with Essex, Co-East looked to take the e-book offering regional with the Triple-e Commons (East of England e-Book Commons) where we were not simply looking to broker a deal for e-books for the region, but to build an interactive e-book service for the public and a cooperative collection and marketing development programme for libraries. The aim was to attract the public to the site with e-book downloads and then keep them on the site with reviews, recommends, book clubs etc. Overdrive was more than willing to help us to design a site with this level of interactivity. Unfortunately, the service didn't get off the ground due to lack of funding (it was bit before it's time).
However, I see from Jo John that an organisation will offer exactly this type of service, and it is the organisation upon which we modelled the interactivity in particular:
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/132239-amazon-to-introduce-kindle-e-book-lending.html.rss?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Amazon went libraries one better with the book catalogue. It appears that it will now do the job 'lending' e-books.
All best
Linda Berube
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