Action Alert! Email Harper Collins!

Take note. Rarely will you have such a chance to so DIRECTLY impact your public library's daily operations as you will with the information I am about to give you. And kudos to Children's Librarian Colleen Crowley for the heads-up.

Here's what going on: Harper Collins has just changed its policy regarding the EBooks that libraries have access to through download services like OverDrive. We in Wisconsin get access to OverDrive as part of the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium. Up to now, libraries bought de facto "eternal rights" to EBooks and patrons could download them an unlimited number of times. Harper Collins has now arranged things so that libraries & consortia will have to re-purchase the rights after the books are downloaded 26 times.

When the books are owned as part of a consortium, as ours are, even more difficulties arise from such tallying. If the books are held in common by the libraries of an entire state and the patrons of only one library download a book the aforementioned 26 times, do all the rest of them then miss out? Harper Collins says not to worry about it, because they'll figure out how to handle it. They'll just plant a cookie or tracker of some kind in individual libraries' circulation modules, maybe. After 26 checkouts, POOF! Shell out another $25.00 per library. Or per user. Or something. Nobody is quite sure yet.

This thinking shows that the publisher has no conception of how complicated a library consortium's circulation procedures are. Maybe I'm just not tech-savvy enough to see a cost-effective, customer-friendly solution, but this might just put libraries out of the EBook business altogether.

Joe Atzberger, library geek out of Columbus, Ohio explains it better than I do here:

New OverDrive DRM terms: "This message will self-destruct"

Now, I don't own an EBook reader or iPad or any of that stuff. I was actually thinking of buying a few for the library when this came down. Those who do own these things--and Christmas 2010 was the first really big year for these technologies--will find their local libraries less relevant than they were just two weeks ago because of these changes. As a consumer, the timing strikes me as cynical: squeeze libraries out of the equation after so many people have bought these devices to make sure they have to purchase content on top of the initial platform investment. Not to mention the fact that many libraries are already having serious budget issues.

As a librarian, it further frustrates me because libraries will end up taking the public relations fall. Downloading EBooks is already a complicated affair; now librarians will have to explain that a patron can't get Band of Brothers because 26 people have already read it. I can imagine the puzzled looks now.

If you own a device with which you might download and read Ebooks, Email Harper Collins and let them know that you, as a Wisconsin library user, disapprove of their tactics and timing. Tell a friend, too.

Budget Cuts, Networking & the Titanic

Check out this article from the Utne Reader from last summer:

A Library Renaissance: Despite Higher Demand and Less Money, Libraries are Stepping Up

It seems that budget cuts are happening everywhere. Places you might normally think of as being in pretty good shape:

>Seattle

>Southern California

>Boston

And many other places are taking drastic measures, as well: cutting hours, reducing operating budgets, furlough days, etc. Some are even cutting staff.

Libraries run on money, just like all other enterprises. In an economy such as ours continues to be, libraries are not immune to the difficulties that low tax revenue and budget cuts entail. Libraries, however, have an advantage over many other types of government and, indeed, most private enterprises. That advantage is networking.

When police or fire or sewerage and drainage departments suffer budget cuts--and I use the word "suffer" on purpose--they have a hard time simply calling a city 50 miles away and asking to borrow a salt truck or taser gun. It does happen, yes, but the limits of geography apply. The Chippewa Falls Fire Department contracts with the state to handle hazardous material accident cleanup in nearby communities, for instance.

But libraries everywhere, by the very nature of their operational structure, have ALWAYS shared resources and have done so eagerly and usually pretty quietly. The State of Wisconsin, unlike many states, even has a formal system whereby municipalities are reimbursed for the library service they offer to other counties and municipalities, including those municipalities within their own county (provided those towns/cities don't have libraries). The law says that only 70% of the actual cost of the service needs to be covered, but the rest has theoretically been absorbed by state revenue sharing. 2011-2012 is going to be a tough year though, so that theory is probably out the window. But I digress.

Budget cuts make life difficult for all government services, libraries included, but it is a point of pride among library professionals that, in this field, the big naturally reach out to help the small and the small don't hesitate to ask for help.

In an economy/budget cycle like this, I think of the natural networking tendency of libraries like shipwreck survivors sharing body heat in frigid water: they know they have to huddle together to survive and know that a few may not make it, but the closer they hug each other, the better the chance they have to survive.

Here's hoping the water warms up, though. Because even a cluster of fifty will all freeze to death unless help comes. And just now, the horizon is unbroken by any approaching ship.

Labor History Links

There's some interesting stuff going on in our state. If you're looking for some historical perspective, try these links:

University of Washington's Collection of Labor History Links

Wisconsin Labor History Society

Wisconsin Historical Society: The Birth of the Labor Movement

MORE Catalog Search: "Labor Unions--History--Wisconsin"

MORE Catalog Search: "Labor Movement--History--United States"

The US Department of Labor: Wirtz Labor Library

History @ The Department of Labor

National Right to Work Committee