The sixth law of library science
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 08:43AM Warning: I've been struggling with this post for a couple days and can't quite figure out where it wants to go. Work through some of these issues with me, OK?
Bud Hunt commented on Choices, choices in reading formats: I love my Nook [e-reader] - and much of its reading ecosystem, but the "Lend Me" feature is worse that no lending option at all. In theory, it's a good idea - loaning out mirrors the physical loaning experience - I can't read a book while others are reading it. But it's a bust because I can only lend a book that way once. Ever. Then I can't loan that title ever again. Ever.
One reason readers are reluctant to move to e-books and libraries are slow in adopting them is that there seems to be no "first sale doctrine" that applies to books in electronic format. Traditionally print books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, video tapes, music albums, etc. have been considered the property of anyone who purchased the material although the intellectual property contained in them is still owned by the creator/publisher. This has meant that individuals and libraries can loan, give or re-sell the object to whomever they choose - thus transferring access to the content.
Computer software acquisition has traditionally been the purchase of "the right to use the software" under varying conditions. Loaning or circulating software has not been common and of dubious legality/practicality. License transfers can be done, but tend to be a bit more involved. Generally, one pays for the use of commercial software's intellectual property rather than the material on which the intellectual property is stored (the disk). In an increasing number of cases, no physical media is involved at all. iPhone/iPad apps, for example, aren't available on any physical medium.
As Bud says in the opening quote, e-book loaning is primitive at this stage. Only one library in my region uses Adobe Digital Editions that can be borrowed by downloading e-books to a personal e-book reader (but not the iPad or Kindle thanks to DRM). I just don't see e-book loaning expanding any more than loaning out other kinds of software.
So what is an e-book? A book or computer code? For those of us in the habit of - or in the case of librarians, business of - loaning books, we'd like an e-book to be book with all the first sale doctrine rights accorded to a physical book. For publishers, it increasingly seems as an e-book is computer code and one only purchases the right to use (read) the code under limited circumstances that do not include selling, loaning or giving the e-book away.
For me there are a number of implications about this seeming transition from object to code factoring into whether I should be happy or concerned about the change. Most of us juggle issues like cost, convenience, extra functionality, readability, access, and, indeed, loan-ability when thinking about reading. We read for different purposes - recreation, information in large and small amounts, spiritual/ethical guidance, curiosity - with different formats suiting different reasons for reading. As educators we also know that readers have a wide range of abilities, tastes, strengths and weaknesses in reading and that no one format best suits all students. The famous librarian Ranganathan said "Every book its reader; every reader his/her book." Do we need to add a six law of library science "Every reader his/her reading format"?
For anyone on whom books have had a major influence, this issue deserves some serious thought. My life has been shaped by books: my imagination spurred as a child; my professional life enhanced as an adult; and my outlook and views on life always. As a librarian (at heart if not in practice), my working life has had books at its core.
If I resist the change from book to e-book it is because it's frightening to think that the new formats may not offer to today's children, including my grandchildren, the same profound learning and creative opportunities that were available to me through books, easily accessible through libraries.
Perhaps this is the heart of most fear about change - not that it means that we adults move into areas of discomfort, but that change could make things less enriching and less meaningful for future generations. And this, I believe, is why many educators are reluctant to change as well, recognizing themselves as genuine beneficiaries of "traditional" education. And wishing those same benefits for the children in their charge today.
Reader Comments (10)
The last time my parents came down to visit, I sent my dad home with a box of 14 books he had loaned to me over the past two years.
It saddens me deeply to think about how that may not be possible when my son is in my place and I am in my dad's.
I am reading a book right now (Hollowing Out the Middle) that my dad would love. Unfortunately, I bought it as a Kindle book...
At this point I don't know where it's going. Personally I have a Kindle, an iPhone with Kindle app and an iPad just moved in.
I find I buy books in both paper and e-format. Cookbooks, biographies, anything that's picture dominant is in paper, fiction goes on the Kindle.
My partner, who is so not a reader is enamored by the iPad and is actually reading a books and newspapers!
I think it's going to be a mix of all the formats.
I think the technology can and will advance to allow "borrowing". Libraries offer downloadable audio books that expire after a prescribed amount of time. Why wouldn't ebooks follow that model?
Maybe the 6th law should be "every reader what he/she can afford?" No matter how tempting a Kindle may be (and now that the price has dropped dramatically, it IS tempting) the problem remains that there's nothing I want to read on it (much) that I wouldn't have to pay for on a Kindle, but be able to get for free from the public library.
We've already run into this hugely in our school library, with audiobooks. My collection policy is to try to have, in audio versions, all the literature books for our junior high and high school students. It fits with our philosophy of trying to meet students' learning styles with teaching approaches. But more and more, even recent best-sellers skip the audio CD or even Playaway edition and go straight to downloadable through Audible.com. Yes, I could buy those for the library, but they don't loan out well (and heaven forbid a kid without an iPod wants it), and they don't burn to CD easily (the chapter breaks aren't there without lots of effort). It's elitist, perhaps not by design, but in effect. I don't like it at all.
Jennifer, creating e-books that "expire" requires users to run proprietary software on their reading devices. Advocating for such technology is to advocate (implicitly) for Free software users to stand on the sidelines.
I own a Kindle. I use it mainly for professional development by stocking it with articles I find electronically. It is so much more convenient than carrying paper copies of articles. I stock it with some novels as well for reading enjoyment. I've omitted carrying 3 or 4 books and countless articles. It's all here. Recently, I read Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" on the Kindle and was terrifically moved by his words, not the form of the book.
I like the convenience of being able to read waiting for my wife at the mall, or waiting for the doc, or riding on the train to downtown. I have a library in this nice little gem. I'm not limited to what I physically carry with me.
Originally, I thought I would be able to use the Kindle with all books, but was dismayed to learn (in the middle of reading Peter Block's "Community" that there is, in the DRM, a limit to what you can send to your clippings file i.e. what you would normally underline in a book. So I will not buy non-fiction books, not being able to "underline" after a certain point in the book. In the research I did following this unexpected and dismaying feature (undocumented as well), some suggest that the limit is about 10% of the book--not very much when I find a really good book.
Finally, for me, there are books that are simply works of art that need to remain as they were created. And books don't break when a little one drops it. But that's just me.
Hi Russ,
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to transmit the book electronically just as soon as one is done with family?
You summed up my concerns as well.
Thanks,
Doug
Hi Guusje,
I like to read and the iPad seems to be gaining ground on what I pick up first! It's just so danged convenient to have books, newspapers, RSS feeds, e-mail, webpages, movies etc all in one fairly small device.
But I feel like a traitor to my profession!
Doug
Hi Jennifer,
I hope you are right. And audio books is probably a better parallel than computer programs or even songs. Books are meant to be read (used) once and then put away; songs and computer programs are used and re-used on an ongoing basis.
Something to think about. Thanks!
Doug
Anna,
Great points all. Libraries circulating books had been a great equalizer for those needing information and recreation. How do keep this equality of service for all we serve?
It does seem nearly every person on the planet can somehow afford a cell phone (even those in Mumbai's Dhavari slums). Will such devices be our book readers one day, thus ending the equity problem?
Doug
Hi Peter,
I guess I don't follow your argument. There is nothing that says a multiplicity of devices can't run free software that allows accessing DRM materials. In fact, Adobe's Digital Edition reader runs on several different platforms and is free to the user.
Doug
Thanks, Skip, for sharing this reflection. I too like carrying a lot of books on a single device. I was not aware of the limitations on what could be saved as clippings!
And yes, some books will be as valued for their physical medium as content. The illustrated manuscripts of the Middle Ages come to mind - as does a old copy of Slovenly Peter, well-colored, that I had a child.
Doug
Free as in liberty. As the saying goes, think free speech, not free beer.
And here's why.
Doug, A bit spooky to find your post this morning because I have just been lamenting this same thing. Living overseas, the digital format greatly appeals to me. With airplane luggage allowances constantly declining, the cost of hand carrying a bunch of books from the US to Singapore is becoming unmanageable. Having them all on my phone (or maybe an ipad some day) would solve so many problems.
However, not being able to share them has kept me from purchasing many titles. Many more of the professional books I would prefer to own digitally are not available in that format. The myriad of formats and the challenges that come with trying to get them into a device occasionally intimidate me, a tech coordinator. I suspect that they are truly insurmountable for many people.
At times I am optimistic that as the platform matures it will improve. Remember how public radio tried to have people pay to download their podcasts, but now gives them away for free, understanding the wikinomic benefits that could come to them by giving it away? Likewise, Amazon.com allows me to purchase music and doesn't limit my ability to move it around. Hopefully the ebook platform will go the same way. However, I am not ready to hold my breath waiting.
Hi Susan,
Nice hearing from you! Hope life in the city-state is treating you well. I still remember the nice time I spent in Singapore at the conference which opened the new National Library. Quite a place.
Well, my new Kindle should be arriving today. I bought the "expensive" one at $189. There is a model without the cell connectivity (only WiFi) for $139. I am at the point if I can't find a "big" book (500+ pages) on Kindle, I just don't read it! How bad is that.
My only other conscience easing fact comes from that my relatives are all great public library users!
Good luck with your new school year - and go ahead and get that e-book reader!
Doug