KCLS boycotts Macmillan Publishers' eBook embargo
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Effective November 1, 2019, the King County Library System (KCLS) will no longer purchase newly-released eBooks from Macmillan Publishers, one of five major publishers in the U.S.
This decision comes after months of discussion and advocacy to urge Macmillan to reconsider instituting a new library eBook embargo, set to go into effect on November 1. Under Macmillan’s new lending model, public libraries of any size will only be allowed to purchase one copy of a newly-released eBook for the first eight weeks after publication.
As a large library system, KCLS maintains a “Holds to Copy” ratio of 5-to-1 to minimize wait times for popular titles. This means that for every five holds on a title, KCLS purchases one copy to ensure a maximum wait time of only three months.
If KCLS is limited to one digital copy of each new title, and then had to wait eight weeks before being able to purchase more, patrons could conceivably wait years rather than months for their eBook.
For KCLS, a library system with 50 libraries, serving more than one million residents, the new embargo hits King County patrons particularly hard. KCLS has been the top digital-circulating library in the U.S. for the last five years and third worldwide. According to Rakuten OverDrive, KCLS patrons downloaded nearly five million eBooks and audiobooks last year.
To continue to ensure reasonable wait times for newly-released electronic titles, KCLS will divert its eBook funds to publishers who are willing to sell to libraries without a purchasing embargo. They will, however, continue to purchase Macmillan titles that are not embargoed, including print materials and older copies of best-selling eBooks.
The American Library Association (ALA) has also denounced Macmillan’s decision and asks that the public express their concerns to press.inquiries@macmillan.com, or ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office at alawash@alawash.org.
About King County Library System
Founded in 1942, the King County Library System (KCLS) is one of the busiest public library systems in the country. Serving the communities of King County (outside the City of Seattle), KCLS currently has 50 libraries and more than 700,000 cardholders. In 2011, KCLS was named Library of the Year by Gale/Library Journal. In 2018, residents checked out more than 4.8 million digital eBooks and audiobooks through Rakuten OverDrive, making KCLS the #1 digital circulating library in the U.S. and #3 in the world.
As a large library system, KCLS maintains a “Holds to Copy” ratio of 5-to-1 to minimize wait times for popular titles. This means that for every five holds on a title, KCLS purchases one copy to ensure a maximum wait time of only three months.
If KCLS is limited to one digital copy of each new title, and then had to wait eight weeks before being able to purchase more, patrons could conceivably wait years rather than months for their eBook.
“Digital equity and access to information is at stake,” states KCLS Executive Director Lisa Rosenblum. “KCLS’ central mission is to provide free and equal access to information, and libraries must be able to perform this essential role in the digital realm as well. We do not want other publishers to follow the example of Macmillan and embargo books. To do so profoundly changes the public library.”
For KCLS, a library system with 50 libraries, serving more than one million residents, the new embargo hits King County patrons particularly hard. KCLS has been the top digital-circulating library in the U.S. for the last five years and third worldwide. According to Rakuten OverDrive, KCLS patrons downloaded nearly five million eBooks and audiobooks last year.
To continue to ensure reasonable wait times for newly-released electronic titles, KCLS will divert its eBook funds to publishers who are willing to sell to libraries without a purchasing embargo. They will, however, continue to purchase Macmillan titles that are not embargoed, including print materials and older copies of best-selling eBooks.
The American Library Association (ALA) has also denounced Macmillan’s decision and asks that the public express their concerns to press.inquiries@macmillan.com, or ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office at alawash@alawash.org.
About King County Library System
Founded in 1942, the King County Library System (KCLS) is one of the busiest public library systems in the country. Serving the communities of King County (outside the City of Seattle), KCLS currently has 50 libraries and more than 700,000 cardholders. In 2011, KCLS was named Library of the Year by Gale/Library Journal. In 2018, residents checked out more than 4.8 million digital eBooks and audiobooks through Rakuten OverDrive, making KCLS the #1 digital circulating library in the U.S. and #3 in the world.
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2 comments:
Are they just bad at math? 8wks doesn't equate to years, and at which point they could return their hold ratio to 5:1--meaning wait time would be max 5mos (2 embargo + 3 hold).
Math seems ok, goes something like this: book is released and imagine there’s 200 people who have placed it on hold. No embargo means they immediately buy 40 copies and the holds list goes down every 3 weeks because the checkout period is 21 days. Queue drains all original members in 12 weeks and everyone who joins after them has the same steady wait length. If there’s a limit to buying one new copy every eight weeks, then the embargoed book’s queue drains like this: week 1-3: 199. Week 4-6: 198. Week 7: 197. Week 8-9: 196, now have 2 copies to lend. Week 10-11: 195 (c1 is back). Week 12: 194 (c2 is back). Etc.
To get all the way to 50 copies would take 49*8 weeks. What a crummy move by the publisher.
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