LIS 5250 : E-books in libraries

In my readings for Week 4 in LIS 5250, I focused on electronic books, or e-books, in libraries.

E-books are increasingly popular, with “searchable text, cross-referencing with hyperlinks, compact size, adjustable fonts and text size, and e-readers with sufficient memory to store hundreds of books” (Rubin & Rubin, 2020, p. 226).

And one of our readings this week specifically addressed the benefits of audiobooks: for literacy skills and social emotional learning, for readers with print disabilities, as well as listening for enjoyment (Kletter, 2021). I would consider audiobooks an important part of a library’s offerings.

There are many reasons for e-books’ popularity in libraries, “most notably that e-books can provide around-the-clock remote access to a title as well as multiple, simultaneous access to a single resource” (Rubin & Rubin, 2020, p. 228).

However, instead of owning e-books outright, the way they would with physical books, libraries usually pay “some kind of subscription or annual fee for access; moreover, per-use fees are often involved” (ibid, p. 229).

For example, OverDrive (n.d.-b) offers several lending models for digital content to public libraries: “Titles available under the Simultaneous Use model can be borrowed simultaneously by an unlimited number of users. Many OverDrive titles are available under the One Copy/One User lending model. This means that if your digital library only has one copy of a title, then only one user can borrow that specific title at a time, just as if it were a physical book.”

Ramifications of vendors or publishers owning books in my library
One potentially positive ramification of vendors retaining ownership of e-books is that a library could purchase licenses for multiple “copies” of a book when peak demand was high: say, a book that had recently been published and had generated lots of demand. The library could then allow some of those licenses to lapse when reader interest waned.

Unfortunately, in a June 2022 policy paper, Library Futures noted that “Often, eBook licenses offered to libraries come with many restrictions on use and/or are prohibitively expensive, or worse, sometimes are not available to libraries at any price. And when they are available, eBooks can cost a library three to 10 times the consumer prices for the same eBook.”

The American Library Association (n.d.-a) noted that “After several years of relative stability, the publisher eBook licensing terms for library lending are again shifting in disconcerting directions.” One negative ramification is the difficulty this poses to libraries’ central mission, which the ALA defines as “ensuring access to information for all” (ibid).

“ALA is exploring all possible avenues to ensure that libraries can continue to purchase and lend at pricing models that are reasonable and flexible. Access to and use all published works—regardless of format—must equitably balance the rights and privileges of readers, authors, and publishers” (ibid).

Concerning whether the bias of a vendor may affect the library’s collection: OverDrive (or another vendor) may select the titles that it carries in its catalog, but the decision to lease a title rests with individual libraries. In its K-12 education FAQs, OverDrive (n.d.-a) touts school districts’ ability to “build a custom collection of digital titles” to meet “curriculum and content needs.” The OverDrive Resource Center (n.d.-a and n.d.-b) highlights its trained librarians who develop OverDrive collections.

As a patron of OverDrive, I’ve followed prompts to “suggest a title” to my public library when a book I wanted to read was in OverDrive’s catalog but had not been licensed by my library.

For an e-book to “disappear” from the collection is certainly possible, particularly when a library doesn’t own but only leases the book. But I feel that a vendor who pulled such antics too often would quickly lose library customers. Through professional associations, listservs, and other avenues, word would get around that a particular vendor could not be trusted to honor its lease agreements.

How would I circulate e-books to readers?
As a reader of e-books checked out through the public library, I am partial to Hoopla and OverDrive. Depending on the platform, I can read an e-book online, or I can send it to my Kindle. I use OverDrive’s “Libby” app to pivot between the collections of the Sacramento, San Francisco, and Sonoma County, CA libraries.

And “OverDrive’s Sora app, introduced in 2018, allows students to check out e-books and audiobooks from their school collection and also connects students in schools with resources at public libraries. At schools using Sora, audiobook checkouts grew 61 percent in 2020 over 2019, according to OverDrive” (Kletter, 2021, p. 21).

The school district where I work distributes a Chromebook to each student at each of its sites: students as young as pre-Kindergarten, all the way to 12th grade. Given that investment, it makes sense for students to access e-books through their Chromebooks, rather than the district purchasing additional devices — say a Nook or Kindle — solely for reading e-books.

In our Week 3 discussion for LIS 5250, one of my classmates mentioned Playaway, “the pre-loaded audiobook that gives library patrons the portability and freedom to take audiobooks everywhere,” with “No connectivity or downloads needed — ever” (Playaway, n.d.) I feel that Playaways could be an important investment because not every library patron will have access to the Internet, anywhere but at the school or library.

How would I deal with attempts to ban an e-book?
I live in a community that is relatively tolerant in its social attitudes. Even so, during Pride Month this past June, someone emptied the shelf of LGBTQIA+-themed books at a branch of my public library as part of an orchestrated “Hide the Pride” effort by a conservative organization (Chavez, 2022). It therefore isn’t unfeasible that we could see formal challenges brought against books in our public and school libraries.

In the midst of coordinated efforts to sabotage Pride displays in libraries, one solution was proffered where the display would feature links to a library’s digital offerings while physical books remained in their regular places in the library.

But as Corsillo noted in June 2022, “popular apps such as Overdrive and Epic have become the newest target of book banning efforts.” Corsillo added that, “Whereas challenges against print books typically focus on the removal of specific titles,” challenges to e-books have resulted in the platforms and their collections “being removed entirely” (ibid).

So, again, it isn’t unfeasible that I might work in a library that someday faces a challenge, whether to print or to digital books.

Before any challenge, I’d consider a recommendation to update the library’s official reconsideration policy (Jensen, 2022).

Jensen argues that “because so many of [the current] challenges are coming from social media pushes or through book lists distributed to right-wing groups and organizations, all that’s needed to do to file a form is print the images that have been shared, point to ‘obscenity’ laws (or something similar), and demand the book be removed” (ibid).

Jensen further argues that all challenges should require a formal complaint and that the complainant must demonstrate understanding of the material they are challenging. She believes that this would help weed out complaints against titles that were simply copied from a list, and she suggests that incomplete or unanswered questions should be grounds to throw out the complaint.

School librarian Martha Hickson similarly recommends that to prevent “nuisance” or repeated challenges against the same book, “the policy should include a provision similar to that stipulated by the Lexington (MA) Public Schools (LPS): ‘... the District will not convene a Review Committee relative to the same complaint for a period of [three] years’” (Hickson, 2022).

If and when someone challenged a book, whether physical or digital, I would take Corsillo’s recommendation (2022), that “Librarians or patrons impacted by book challenges, whether they are print or digital, may contact the [ALA’s] Office for Intellectual Freedom for guidance.” The OIF offers confidential support and a free consulting service to help deal with challenges (American Library Association, n.d.-b).

Healthy mix of physical and digital
A couple of articles that I read back-to-back fell outside my responses to this week’s writing prompts, but I thought they were worth mentioning. Last week, we learned about Moore Library at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, a college preparatory school in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, where, in 2011, its school principal removed nearly all of the physical books (Barack, 2013).

This week, we read what could almost be seen as a cautionary tale for libraries that might consider a similar move: as a former director of the Cushing Academy library in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, talked about his efforts to restore physical books to a library that had previously been all digital.

“The print purge was a traumatic event for [the] Cushing faculty. Many faculty told me that they felt their library had been taken away from them. Restoring their trust and renewing their interest in collaborative instruction and programming was a top priority for me, and one of the most difficult (and most rewarding) parts of the work I did” (Melchior, 2016).

My ideal library collection would include a healthy mix of physical and digital formats: print, e-books, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs, as well as streamable videos and music — and always subject to evolving demands and preferences of the population that it serves.

References
American Library Association. (n.d.-a) eBooks. Advocacy, legislation and issues. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/e-books

American Library Association. (n.d.-b). Office for Intellectual Freedom. ALA offices. https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/oif

Barack, L. (2013, Jan. 8). School library thrives after ditching print collection. The Digital Shift. http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2013/01/k-12/school-library-thrives-after-ditching-print-collection/

Chavez, N. (2022, June 24). Campaign to remove LGBTQ+ books from public libraries reaches Sonoma County. Press Democrat. https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/campaign-to-remove-lgbtq-books-from-public-libraries-reaches-sonoma-county/

Corsillo, G. (2022, June 22). Digital collections are not immune to book challenges. Intellectual freedom blog. The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. https://www.oif.ala.org/oif/digital-collections-are-not-immune-to-book-challenges/

Hickson, M. (2022, Feb. 3). What’s it like to be the target of a book banning effort? School librarian Martha Hickson tells her story. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/from-the-breaking-point-to-fighting-anew-school-librarian-martha-hickson-shares-her-story-of-battling-book-banning-censorship

Jensen, K. (2022, May 6). How to update your book challenge forms (with template). Book censorship news, May 6, 2022. Book Riot. https://bookriot.com/book-censorship-news-may-6-2022/

Kletter, M. (2021). An ear for reading. School Library Journal 67(5), 20-23.

Library Futures (2022). Mitigating the library eBook conundrum through legislative action in the States [policy paper]. https://www.libraryfutures.net/library-futures-ebooks-policy-paper

Melchior, M. (2016, Oct. 15). Reintroducing printed books to the Cushing Academy Library. Forum newsletter. Massachusetts School Library Association. https://www.maschoolibraries.org/newsletter/reintroducing-printed-books-to-the-cushing-academy-library

OverDrive. (n.d.-a) K-12 education FAQs. https://company.overdrive.com/k-12-schools/faqs/

OverDrive. (n.d.-b) Public Libraries FAQs. https://company.overdrive.com/public-libraries/faqs/

OverDrive Resource Center. (n.d.-a). Our librarians. Collection development: K-12 schools. https://resources.overdrive.com/k-12-schools/collection-development-librarians/

OverDrive Resource Center. (n.d.-b). Our librarians. Collection development: Library. https://resources.overdrive.com/library/collection-development-librarians/

Playaway (n.d.) Pre-loaded products. https://playaway.com/audiobooks/

Rubin, R.E. & Rubin, R.G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.