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By David Rothman

BookSwim explanationWatch out, public libraries. BookSwim is a NetFlix for p-books, letting user keep X number of book as long as they want if they pay Y dollars.

The home page of this startup, now set to launch in the first quarter of 2007, promises that the company won’t replace public libraries. In fact, BookSwim says it will even work with them to augment local collections. But I’m still thinking the inevitable. As usual with vendors, the company is expecting libraries to be customers while the private sector takes the initiative. Sad.

On OCLC’s radar

The good news is that these issues are on the radar of Lorcan Dempsey at OCLC, far more of a true library organization than BookSwim. It will be interesting to see how OCLC responds.

OCLC’s VP and research strategist is considering the threats in terms of networking issues and the possibility of libraries sharing the social tags their patrons originate. But he also alludes to a far, far more important matter—the fact that BookSwim won’t just connect readers via discussions but also help them catch up with actual books without time limits. Gasp, the readers will even be able to even buy p-books, and presumably e-books will follow in time, if not immediately. NetLibrary, beware.

Just one of a bunch of potential threats

Significantly, as shown by Shelfari and LibraryThing, BookSwim is just one of a bunch of potential threats to the Carnegie model. These startups may be fine companies, but they are in business to make money, not do bizarre things such as working to close the digital and educational divides. Library-private sector alliances are fine, and in fact, the LibraryCity project has explored and will explore various possibilities. But the ultimate solution is for public libraries to recognize the boundaries that are breaking down between the lending and retail models—and to take the initiative rather than serving as passive consumers for the offerings of vendors. Remember who has invested in Selfari, none other than Amazon (current market cap: 41.74B). I don’t know if BookSwim can succeed, but we can take it for granted that Amazon will be watching very carefully.

Without appropriate action by libraries, we’ll just see a repetition of the Google situation, where public and academic libraries have forfeited—to a for-profit company—the most leading role of scanning and OCRing books. Although libraries need the private sector, it would be most unfortunate if the balance were tipped too far in favor of the latter.

More details from BookSwim: “We’re going to have a 3-book plan starting at about $15/month that allows unlimited rentals that allows for 3 books in-hand, ranging all the way to an 11-book plan for the fanatical reading insomniacs (and families). We also offer a Free Trial Account that allows timid, indecisive people to try out the BookSwim interface.”

Related: MobileRead’s item on e-books and libraries.

 
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