<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: Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 11:51 AM<br>Subject: [alacoun] Meetings in NYC with Publishers<br>To: ALA Council <<a href="mailto:alacoun@ala.org">alacoun@ala.org</a>><br><br><br><div style="font-size:14px;word-wrap:break-word">
<div><div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dear Colleagues:</div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><br></div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We wanted to be sure you saw President Maureen Sullivan's report on our visits at the end of last week with the AAP and some publishers. Here's the link:</div>
<div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><a href="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/e-content/focus-future-two-days-publisher-meetings-new-york-city" target="_blank">http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/e-content/focus-future-two-days-publisher-meetings-new-york-city</a> </div>
<div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><br></div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The text is posted below as well.</div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><br></div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">
Molly</div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><br></div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><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><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><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><div>
<h1>Focus on the Future </h1>
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Submitted by <a title="View user profile." href="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/users/beverly-goldberg" target="_blank">Beverly Goldberg</a> on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 13:34 </div>
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<img title="Maureen Sullivan at the office of the Association of American Publishers." alt="Maureen Sullivan at the office of the Association of American Publishers. " src="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/inside_article/SullivanAtAAPSep27rev2.jpg" width="260" height="168"><p>
</p><p>ALA President Maureen Sullivan at the office of the Association of American Publishers on September 27.</p>
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<img title="The ALA delegation at Rosen Publishing" alt="The ALA delegation at Rosen Publishing" src="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/inside_article/sullivanRosencropped.jpg" width="260" height="171"><p>
</p><p>At
Rosen Publishing: Company President Roger Rosen (left), Maureen
Sullivan, Rosen Vice-President of Technology John Knittel, Barbara
Stripling, Molly Raphael, Bob Wolven, and Alan Inouye.</p>
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By Maureen Sullivan </div>
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<p>Last week, I led an <span>ALA</span> delegation to New
York City to meet with publishers to discuss the many concerns of the
library community about ebook publishing. Uppermost in our minds were
the ebook concerns that have come to us from <span>ALA</span>
members across the country—especially about pricing and availability
(or the lack thereof) and the slow pace of progress in finding
solutions. I <a href="http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/e-content/libraries-and-publishers-strengthening-e-reading-ecosystem" target="_blank">expressed these concerns</a> at a September 27 meeting hosted by the Association of American Publishers (<span>AAP</span>) and attended by about 100 staff from the publishing houses.</p>
<p>
In the wake of an <span>ALA</span> statement on <a href="http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/e-content/just-ala-decries-hachette-s-220-library-ebook-price-increase" target="_blank">price increases by Hachette</a> and the issuance of an <a href="http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/e-content/open-letter-america-s-publishers" target="_blank"><span>ALA</span> open letter to publishers</a>, the delegation (which included <span>ALA</span>
President-Elect Barbara Stripling, Immediate Past President Molly
Raphael, Digital Content and Libraries Working Group Cochair Robert
Wolven, and Office for Information Technology Policy Director Alan S.
Inouye) had felt a bit of ambivalence about these meetings before the
trip. I am pleased to report that we experienced a series of frank,
thought-provoking, cordial, and productive discussions that culminated
in a hopeful feeling as we left New York.</p>
<p>
There have been <a href="http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/librarian-patience-has-run-out-on-e-book-lending-issues-library-association-says/" target="_blank">press reports</a> on the <span>AAP</span>
session and so I won’t provide an overview here. We achieved consensus
on one important point, namely the necessity for an increased focus on
the future to find effective ways to resolve the issues surrounding
ebooks rather than to dwell on past policies and practices. For example,
one publishing representative asked, “What would libraries like to see
in three years?” This led to a discussion in which Bob Wolven shared some of the work being done by the Digital Content and Libraries Working
Group on <a href="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/e-content/ala-releases-ebook-business-models-public-libraries" target="_blank">possible business models for library ebook services</a>.</p>
<p>
Another key takeaway from the <span>AAP</span> session is
the need for further education and understanding by all parties. We are
in the midst of a digital publishing revolution in which everything is
changing and becoming ever more complex and interconnected. For <span>ALA</span>,
this means stepping up our efforts to provide educational resources for
our members, including library community leaders, about the publishing
ecosystem in a digital environment. Also, we need to determine how to
help publishers increase their understanding of library needs and
preferences.</p>
<p>
I would like to thank the <span>AAP</span> for organizing this session and for brokering communication opportunities between its member publishing houses and <span>ALA</span>
during the past year. Although libraries and publishers and their
respective associations disagree on some significant policies, we do
agree that continuing communication is immensely critical.</p>
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<strong><u><img style="width: 205px; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; float: right; min-height: 254px;" title="At Scholastic: Alan Inouye (left), Bob Wolven, Maureen Sullivan, and Barbara Stripling." alt="At Scholastic: Alan Inouye (left), Bob Wolven, Maureen Sullivan, and Barbara Stripling." src="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/sites/default/files/sullivanScholasticcropped.jpg">Meetings with individual publishing houses</u></strong></h5>
<p>
We were encouraged by what we learned in our meeting with Penguin
executives. They vigorously reaffirmed Penguin’s strong commitment to
the library market. In the coming months, the company plans to broaden
its current ebook pilot to sites beyond New York. We also gained a
better understanding of the process involved in bringing a service to
market within a diverse global organization.</p>
<p>
In support of <span>ALA</span>’s increasing ebook focus in
the school library and children and youth segments, we met separately
with executives of Rosen Publishing and Scholastic. These companies have
a long tradition of working successfully with the library community. At
the Rosen Publishing visit, which included <span>CEO</span>
Roger Rosen, the delegation discussed trends and major issues for the
school library ebook market. Additionally, we received a demonstration
of Rosen’s impressive interactive ebooks, which are available to school
libraries at reasonable prices.</p>
<p>
At Scholastic, we enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion of the important
role of school libraries in the educational process with a contingent
that included the publishing house’s <span>CEO</span> Dick
Robinson. We discussed digital content issues and ebooks in particular,
including the specific services already offered to the school library
and children and youth markets. We learned that Scholastic is exploring
ways to extend its new Storia product, released in July 2012, to the
library market.</p>
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<img style="width: 250px; margin-right: 1px; margin-left: 1px; float: right; min-height: 250px;" title="Virginia Stanley (second from left), director of library marketing at HarperCollins, greets ALA delegation members Bob Wolven, Maureen Sullivan, Molly Raphael, and Barbara Stripling." alt="Virginia Stanley (second from left), director of library marketing at HarperCollins, greets ALA delegation members Bob Wolven, Maureen Sullivan, Molly Raphael, and Barbara Stripling." src="http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/sites/default/files/sullivanHarperCollinscropped_0.jpg">Our
separate meetings with HarperCollins, Random House, and Hachette were
also productive. A common challenge (and opportunity) discussed at these
meetings is the complexity and continuing evolution of the marketplace.
In particular, the ebook path from author to library involves multiple
intermediate entities, such as agents, distributors, and retailers,
whose concerns must be included in order to effectively address
publisher-library issues.</p>
<p>
What innovations might promote our common goal of bringing authors and
readers together? The “buy-it-now” button is generally viewed by the
library community as an acceptable development. Are there other ways in
which libraries can help to promote the discoverability and sales of
books that also advance the library mission and are consistent with
library values? We had good discussions of possible ways to make
progress.</p>
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<strong><u>Looking ahead</u></strong></h5>
<p>
We concluded this latest round of visits on Friday evening, September
28, heartened by the goodwill and positive intentions that were
expressed. Of course, this alone will not fill our libraries’ virtual
shelves with ebooks. We look forward to positive developments from
publishers in the coming weeks and months leading up to the 2013 <span>ALA</span>
Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. We will continue to pursue our strategy
of heightened advocacy and publisher engagement. This is likely to
include several initiatives that emerged from last week’s meetings.</p>
<p>
Maureen Sullivan<br>
<span>ALA</span> President</p></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><br></div><div><div><font face="Times"><i><br></i></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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<h6>
<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>