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.
