FYI<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Molly Raphael</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mraphael@rapgroup.com">mraphael@rapgroup.com</a>></span><br>
Date: Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 8:09 AM<br>Subject: [alacoun] New Open Letter to publishers re ebook issue<br>To: ALA Council <<a href="mailto:alacoun@ala.org">alacoun@ala.org</a>><br><br><br><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:14px;word-wrap:break-word">
<div><div><div>Dear Colleagues,</div><div><br></div><div>We wanted to be sure that you saw President Maureen Sullivan's open letter to America's publishers just issued today on the ebooks and libraries. The link as well as the text are pasted below. </div>
<div><br></div><div>In addition, Maureen will be speaking to publishers at an AAP meeting in NYC on Thursday; and ALA leadership including Maureen, Barbara Stripling (President-elect), Robert Wolven (DC&LWG co-chair), Alan Inouye (OITP Director), and I will be meeting with several publishers in NYC at the end of this week.</div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.ala.org/news/pr?id=11508" target="_blank">http://www.ala.org/news/pr?id=11508</a> </div><div><br></div><div><h1>ALA Press Release</h1>
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<p>NEWS<br>
For Immediate Release<br>
September 24, 2012</p>
<p>Contact: <a href="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/user/460" target="_blank">Jazzy Wright</a></p>
<h1>An open letter to America’s publishers from ALA President Maureen Sullivan</h1>
<p>
<span>CHICAGO</span> — The following open letter was released by American Library Association (<span>ALA</span>) President Maureen Sullivan regarding Simon <span>&</span> Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin refusal to provide access to their e-books in <span>U.S.</span> libraries. </p>
<p>
The open letter states:</p>
<p>
It’s a rare thing in a free market when a customer is refused the
ability to buy a company’s product and is told its money is “no good
here.” Surprisingly, after centuries of enthusiastically supporting
publishers’ products, libraries find themselves in just that position
with purchasing e-books from three of the largest publishers in the
world. Simon <span>&</span> Schuster, Macmillan, and
Penguin have been denying access to their e-books for our nation’s
112,000 libraries and roughly 169 million public library users.</p>
<p>
Let’s be clear on what this means: If our libraries’ digital bookshelves mirrored the <em>New York Times</em> fiction best-seller list, we would be missing <strong><em>half</em></strong>
of our collection any given week due to these publishers’ policies. The
popular “Bared to You” and “The Glass Castle” are not available in
libraries because libraries cannot purchase them at any price. Today’s
teens also will not find the digital copy of Judy Blume’s seminal
“Forever<em>,</em>” nor today’s blockbuster “Hunger Games” series.</p>
<p>
Not all publishers are following the path of these three publishers. In
fact, hundreds of publishers of e-books have embraced the opportunity
to create new sales and reach readers through our nation’s libraries.
One recent innovation allows library patrons to immediately purchase an
e-book if the library doesn’t have a copy or if there is a wait list they would like to avoid. This offers a win-win relationship for both
publishers and library users since recent research from the Pew Internet
Project tells us that library users are more than twice as likely to
have bought their most recent book as to have borrowed it from a
library.</p>
<p>
Libraries around the country are developing mobile applications and
online discovery systems that make it easier to explore books and
authors on the go. Seventy-six percent of public libraries now offer
e-books — double the number from only five years ago — and 39 percent of
libraries have purchased and circulate e-readers. Public libraries
alone spend more than $1.3 billion annually on their collections of
print, audio, video, and electronic materials. They are investing not
only in access to content and devices, but also in teaching the skills
needed to navigate and utilize digital content successfully.</p>
<p>
Librarians understand that publishing is not just another industry. It
has special and important significance to society. Libraries complement
and, in fact, actively support this industry by supporting literacy and
seeking to spread an infectious and lifelong love of reading and
learning. Library lending encourages patrons to experiment by sampling
new authors, topics and genres. This experimentation stimulates the
market for books, with the library serving as a de facto discovery,
promotion and awareness service for authors and publishers.</p>
<p>
Publishers, libraries and other entities have worked together for
centuries to sustain a healthy reading ecosystem — celebrating our
society’s access to the complete marketplace of ideas. Given the obvious
value of libraries to publishers, it simply does not add up that any
publisher would continue to lock out libraries. It doesn’t add up for
me, it doesn’t add up for <span>ALA</span>’s 60,000 members, and it <em>definitely</em> doesn’t add up for the millions of people who use our libraries every month.</p>
<p>
America’s libraries have always served as the “people’s university” by
providing access to reading materials and educational opportunity for
the millions who want to read and learn but cannot afford to buy the
books they need. Librarians have a particular concern for vulnerable
populations that may not have any other access to books and electronic
content, including individuals and families who are homebound or
low-income. To deny these library users access to e-books that are
available to others — and which libraries are eager to purchase on their
behalf — is discriminatory.</p>
<p>
We have met and talked sincerely with many of these publishers. We have
sought common ground by exploring new business models and library
lending practices. But these conversations only matter if they are
followed by action: Simon <span>&</span> Schuster must
sell to libraries. Macmillan must implement its proposed pilot. Penguin
must accelerate and expand its pilots beyond two urban New York
libraries.</p>
<p>
We librarians cannot stand by and do nothing while some publishers
deepen the digital divide. We cannot wait passively while some
publishers deny access to our cultural record. We must speak out on
behalf of today’s — and tomorrow’s — readers.The library community
demands meaningful change and creative solutions that serve libraries
and our readers who rightfully expect the same access to e-books as they
have to printed books.</p>
<p>
So, which side will you be on? Will you join us in a future of
liberating literature for all? Libraries stand with readers, thinkers,
writers, dreamers and inventors. Books and knowledge — in all their
forms — are essential. Access to them must not be denied.</p>
<p align="center">
-30-</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div>Best,</div><div>Molly</div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">
<font color="rgb(0,0,0)"><font face="Calibri"><span style="font-family:Times"><i>Molly Raphael</i></span></font></font></div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><font color="rgb(0,0,0)"><font face="Calibri"><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14px"><i>Immediate Past President</i></span></font></font></div>
<div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><font color="rgb(0,0,0)"><font face="Calibri"><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14px"><i>American Library Association</i></span></font></font></div><div><span style="font-family:Times"><i><a href="http://www.ala.org" target="_blank">http://www.ala.org</a></i></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:Times"><i><a href="mailto:mraphael@rapgroup.com" target="_blank">mraphael@rapgroup.com</a></i></span></div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><font color="rgb(0,0,0)"><font face="Calibri"><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14px"><i><a href="tel:503-548-7747" target="_blank" value="+15035487747">503-548-7747</a></i></span></font></font></div>
<div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><font color="rgb(0,0,0)"><font face="Calibri"><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14px"><i><br></i></span></font></font></div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><font color="rgb(0,0,0)"><font face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:14px"><br>
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</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt">Diedre Conkling</span></em><i><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt"><br><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Lincoln County Library District</span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">P.O. Box 2027</span></em><br><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Newport, OR 97365</span></em><br><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Phone & Fax: 541-265-3066</span></em><br>
<em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Work email</span></em></span></i><em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt;font-style:normal">: </span></em><a href="mailto:diedre@lincolncolibrarydist.org" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt"><font color="#0000ff">diedre@lincolncolibrarydist.org</font></span></i></a><i><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt"><br>
<em><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Home email: </span></em></span></i><a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank"><em><span style="color:blue;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt">diedre08@gmail.com</span></em></a></div>
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<span>“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.”―Maya Angelou</span><span></span></h6><span style="font-family:"Comic Sans MS";font-size:10pt"></span></div><br>