TeleRead founder, David Rothman, on a national digital library system

Thanks, Paul. I was pleased to see smart Tweets about the essay from not just librarians but also a VP for tech at Amazon.

On another topic, I’m delighted that the new design back is on the TeleRead site. A definite improvement. Looking forward to the forums!

Cheers,
David

P.S. The improved contrast on the K3 really has helped. Now if only Amazon will embrace ePub!

Now, there’s a solution. Overdrive should strike a deal with Amazon to use their Kindle format for library books. Get rid of Adobe. End of problem. Why didn’t anyone think of that before. One format. The Kindle format. Junk the ePub. No need to embrace ePub at all. Whenever I buy an ebook from Amazon it always looks good. I can enlarge maps, images, etc.

I’m afraid that there is not even a scintilla of evidence that Amazon is interested in allowing library lending. Nor is this surprising since every Amazon competitor that sells ereaders actually suffers in ebookstore market share when some of their would be customers ‘defect’ to the library.

It all boils down to what’s been asked here before: Should authors be paid for their work? And I don’t mean public subsidy.

Having read this article in full (. . . )I cannot escape the feeling that the whole eLibrary model needs to be thoroughly re-thought out and re-examinded.
Please tell me if I am missing something … I often am as I am not part of the Publishing Industry:

What will the eBook market look like in ten years time ? As a reader I will buy an eReader for a very low price, probably sub 50 euros or even less subsidised. I will buy and download eBooks from a wide range of eRetailers all over the world. Most books will be in the 5 – 7 euro range. Best sellers may be up to 12 euros. Millions of average books will be 3 – 5 euros.
Now where does the eLibrary fit in ? Do I also have the option of borrowing eBooks from my regional, national or international eLibrary ? Can I borrow it free ? Do I need to pay a small fee for, say, a two week loan ? if I borrow it for two weeks and read it … what is my motivation to buy any eBook ?

… the question is how can this business model hold up for the author/ publisher/ eRetailer commercial model ?

Starbooks – I have no idea what relevance your comment has in this context.

Devini: ePub has its fans. At any rate I doubt that Adobe will gracefully ride into the sunset, or that other companies want to entrust their fates to Amazon. I totally agree with you about the frustrations of the Tower of eBabel, though! Part of the problem, of course, is proprietary DRM is gumming up ePub. But at least the format itself is nonproprietary. My Atlantic essay is strongly pro-standards—Amazon should adjust to the rest of the world, not vice versa.

Gous: Actually libraries and bookstores can be good for each other. Libraries often don’t have what people need, when they want it. A compatible format will help. I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon got serious about the library market at some point—as some kind of contractor, if nothing else. The proposed library idea would create interesting opportunities for a number of companies, although my intent isn’t to help or hurt various private interests.

Starbooks: Writers should be fairly paid, in my hardly disinterested opinion. A proposal related to the library plan would increase the amount of money going into the system—through cost-justification. The same tablets useful for reading books could be used for e-forms in a number of areas, including healthcare, where Americans are spending many billions of dollars just on paperwork. There are also tablet-related possibilities in terms of improved doctor-patient communications and many other apps which could directly or indirectly reduce healthcare costs and others. All too often patients aren’t following directions in how they take their medicine—so they’re sicker longer or don’t get cured, period. See A national information stimulus plan: How iPad-style tablets could help educate millions and trim bureaucracy–not just be techno toys for the D.C. elite.

Thanks,
David

As far as I can tell, Amazon has never demonstrated any interest in working cooperatively with public libraries, public library collections, or public library users. In fact libraries purchased Mobipocket format ebooks for quite awhile before Amazon purchased the Mobipocket format itself, and interestingly the Kindle doesn’t even work with those old Mobipocket ebooks from the library. If they were just sitting around waiting for libraries to work with them, I’d have thought they’d be open to their own format working on their own ereaders.

As a librarian, I get pretty frustrated with the repeated depiction of Amazon as this benevolent library-friendly entity and libraries as somehow the uncooperative parties who somehow won’t work with with Amazon and “don’t use” their format. I have been a long-time Amazon customer but my feelings for them have definitely soured. It is clearly an issue of Amazon refusing to work with the other formats on the market, not libraries somehow being unwilling to work with Amazon’s formats.

Also, while I’m certainly frustrated with the options libraries are faced with for serving our customers as we always have and providing them with robust ebook collections, with all due respect, I think the suggestion that somehow there could be a massive national ebook library seems outright naive and not even a very good thought experiment about a cloud based ebook system. I don’t know why libraries never thought about this sort of thing with print books! Surely the publishers would let some central entity buy one really expensive copy of James Patterson’s latest book, reproduce it on demand, and distribute it to millions of borrowers across the nation!

Thanks for your thoughts, Ned; but in the essay on the Atlantic Web site, I repeat my call for e-book standards and say that a national digital library system could advance this. If Amazon wants to participate in the system, whether as a contractor or otherwise, it’ll have to play by the rules. I totally agree with you about the downplaying of the Mobi format–whether in an iPad context (no offical Mobi app for the iPad) or library context (the Kindle can’t read Mobi-DRMed books). This is a great example of why we need the stability of the proposed digital library system, and if Amazon wants to supply books for it or work as a contractor, then it had better adjust. I, too, dislike the proprietary approach. But I suspect Amazon is more interested in making a buck than in forever sticking to its pet format(s).

> I think the suggestion that somehow there could be a massive national ebook library seems outright naive

I remember when people were saying that the very idea of e-book standards was a dream. And now we have ePub, which is not perfect but which is evolving. Let’s not just casually dismiss the idea as “naive.” Elsewhere on the Atlantic site I’ve described in detail how we could cost-justify the system through a multi-use, tablet-based approach that would drive down the cost of healthcare and make other efficiencies possible. Best to think of this holistically .

> Surely the publishers would let some central entity buy one really expensive [paper] copy of James Patterson’s latest book, reproduce it on demand, and distribute it to millions of borrowers across the nation!

But does paper really match the distribution-related economies of E, especially when the cost of the tech will be going down? Meanwhile I do agree with you on the “really expensive” angle–publishers and writers deserve fair compensation. The library proposal is a way for this to happen while INCREASING access and reinforcing the book culture (while also providing other content). As a librarian, you, of all people, should be pro-access. I hope you’ll reconsider your objections.

Thanks,
David

Thank you for your reply, and first off let me just say I am glad to hear a voice arguing in favor of expanding public access to ebooks rather than just leaving the market entirely to private industry. I really do worry about the future of public libraries providing access to ebooks. Our ability to continue providing the public with free access to books hinges increasingly on one vendor and, for all of the high minded discussion by library professionals, public libraries seem to be viewed as a vestigial market whose profit potential isn’t worth all that much corporate attention. More and more I find myself fawningly thankful to Barnes and Noble and Borders for being willing to use public library compatibility to create a marketability edge. Thank goodness for that.

And on that note I would express my sincere appreciation for the issue of the Kindle’s incompatibility with public library collections finally being discussed in a forum as prominent as The Atlantic. I am dismayed by the number of people who are unaware that they will not be able to read public library ebooks on their Kindle and how with few exceptions most discussions of ebooks fail to ever raise the issue. Only in the most recent ereader roundup did Consumer Reports of all magazines finally address it — in each previous installment it was as if it never occurred to them to mention public libraries when discussing the availability of books. And each time I sat stunned at the implication of the omission.

A not insignificant part of the blame falls on the shoulders of public libraries themselves for failing to get going on providing robust ebook collections to our customers. I think the phrase “well-stocked” in your proposal speaks volumes, in my opinion, about why such a proposal might even be made. If the traditional print collections in public libraries were as paltry as most of our ebook collections are, someone might be arguing for a new model for print books as well.

Ned – I applaud your motives .. however ..

In the last 100 years the Publishing industry has had no other choice but to sit back and ”endure’ the Library system. There was little they could do to stop it because once they sold a book it was beyond their control. They also soon realised that having to physically visit a Library repeatedly was a natural barrier to Library use that, combined with some other limitations, restricted Library reading to a bearable level for their commercial interests.
And that is not to deny the value of libraries in promoting reading and hence purchasing! But let’s face it, if weekly Library use had exploded to, say, 75% of the population at some time in the middle of last century … could the Publishing industry have survived ?

What about the future ? No physical restrictions. No social stigma. Universal access to borrowing ?

What can be done to create a usage model where the business model does not collapse ? What is a reader’s motivation to pay full price as opposed to borrow ?

If everyone starts borrowing how can publishers and editors and writers make money ?

I do not have the solution. The solution certainly is not in government subsidy because that just means subsidising everyone.

But I suggest it is relevant to ponder on the nuts and bolts of how it might fit in the grander scheme of things and how the fall out might influence the very foundation of Publishing.

The one person to have thought about the future of libraries is Tim Spalding at http://www.librarything.com/blogs/thingology/category/ebooks/

See especially the first essay http://www.librarything.com/blogs/thingology/2009/10/ebook-economics-are-libraries-screwed/ that sets up the rest. Teleread should perhaps invite him to write a piece, no?

Amazon gains ebook marketshare by not offering library access – if one reads a synopsis of a BISG study at http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/08/followreader-consumer-attitudes-toward-e-book-reading.html this fact leaps out: ‘Places where ebooks are downloaded: Amazon still holds the top spot @ 61% – B&N has 20%Library 7%Sony 5% ebooks.com 10% etc’.

Ned, Howard and gous:

Ned: Thanks. We’re on the same page. Here’s to standards and no more repeats of the Mobi debacle. And, yes, it would be dangerous, dangerous, dangerous to apply “free market” dogma to the public libraries, which play a very special role in education, culture and civic affairs here in the United States and many other countries.

Howard: Later today or tonight I may have further comments in the Atlantic comment area, but please do keep in mind that I want publishers and writers to receive fair payments and that I also see a place for bookstores and rental services. Isn’t that the bottom line? There IS a solution if we take care to balance the rights of the various players, perhaps through techniques such as time windows to distinguish between library-available books and others. What’s more, remember the special role that public libraries play in American life–see my reply to Ned, who I know would agree.

Gous: Let me zero in one particular argument made against E in libraries. I’d respectfully disagree with Tim S. about his E vs. P comparisons of costs. Eric Hellman, no stranger to the TeleRead blog, refuted Tim with the response below–worthy enough to be quoted in its entirety even if I don’t agree 100 percent with it.

“50 cents [circulation cost per book] is not the only number that we should be looking at. We should also look at the TOTAL cost of running a library, divided by the number of circs. If you do that calculation , you get $4.09, using the IMLS data. That number should be looked at as a ceiling on what people in the US are willing to pay for access to books in libraries. That’s right, the library overhead rate is 88%. Let’s suppose we create a system for making ebooks available to the public. Surely such a system could be made more efficient. Let’s suppose that we can cut that overhead in half. That means we can make more than $2 per circ available to authors and publishers. That doesn’t seem like quite as much of a stretch, does it?”

http://www.librarything.com/blogs/thingology/2010/07/the-magical-0-50-why-ebook-economics-dont-work-in-libraries/ (comments)

Remember, content is just a fraction of total library costs per citizen or per book. Granted, libraries provide content other than books, as well as reference desk assistance and other help in getting the most out of their holdings (both reflected in total costs), one reason why I might need to qualify the overhead side of Eric’s argument (unless he’s already plugged these factors into his comparison–which he might have). But in general he’s right! Just as we would intuitively think, E ought to be less expensive than P, especially with the leverage and efficiencies of a national digital library system. Also, the increased volume would be catnip for publishers and writers even if revenue per circ declined. Paper libraries are not going to vanish instantly, but if nothing else E will reduce the need for new construction and major new branches. The other factor is that via the information stimulus plan elsewhere on the Atlantic site, I’ve discussed how we could cost justify the digital library system (the new library article contains the link to the infostim one).

Thanks,
David

Thanks again for your reply David. I look forward to exploring people’s ideas on how this system can be implemented..
Just to say that of course I always accepted your wish that writers and Publishers earn their just earnings. I never intended to imply otherwise. I also do support the principle of Libraries for those unable to afford access to the free market of Book reading. I don’t have any issue with it being national or international – as long as it works.
My personal area of special interest, as it were, is in how to design such a system to satisfy, within reason, all parties.

Thank you for the links Nous. I read both. I am impressed with Mr Spalding’s sense of foresight and realisation that problems will occur. However having read his essays I feel that they have been largely overtaken by the market and the technology.
Going the hardware route, where eBooks are accessed by library members through borrowing eReaders is, in my humble opinion, the most convincing and pragmatic model. It can make the whole principle of Library lending and access by less well off people work, while limiting the wider damage to Publishers and eRetailers earnings.
It does involve significant hardware costs however and I suspect that it will not be viable until hardware costs drop in the 2012 or 2013 period. I wonder how many active borrowers an average library has on any one day/week. This would be a guide to the likely hardware cost.
I also wonder about how a future library might operate if this hardware route was to be made to work. Obviously a large room with thousands of books will not be necessary. Perhaps a high street kiosk-like setup, with a docking slot for the reader and a screen with selection procedures that will erase the previous book(s) and replace with a new selection.
By 2013 a custom eReader might be developed based on a mainstream reader like the Kindle, where the eReader would be equipped with a custom dock and altered OS. Just ideas off the top of my head.
The software route would involve a lot of very sophisticated software to prevent pirating and enable borrowing. With the history of this anti piracy task I don’t have much hope for that route to be honest.

i saw your chapter in Blogging Heroes, and hoped to get your expert advice. i’ve started a blog called http://www.emotionalsex.ca which is connected to my book Emotional Sex: Making Good Relationships Great where i try to have a funny opening with a tie in point at the end.

i was hoping you could either take a peak at my blog or i could send you a copy of my book

i’m sure you get a lot of requests for this, but i always prefer to talk to the best.

thanks for your time and consideration
Rev Chad