From the Harford County Public Library:
Letter from Mary Hastler, Director, Harford County Public Library:
Recently Penguin Group publishing stopped offering new eBooks and digital audiobooks to public libraries and ended its relationship with the digital library distributor, Overdrive. From the website paidcontent.org, “With this move, Random House becomes the only big-six publisher to allow unrestricted access to its eBooks in libraries—though it will raise prices beginning in March.”
Harford County Public Library customers are savvy readers and demand for books in eBook format has increased dramatically over the past year. It is discouraging that publishers are refusing to sell eBooks to public libraries, but we remain hopeful that they are committed to finding a workable solution so that eBooks are available to our customers.
In spite of the restrictions placed by the big six publishers, Harford County Public Library continues to provide access to an array of eBooks and eAudiobooks through Maryland’s Digital eLibrary Consortium and Recorded Books OneClickdigital through its website at HCPLonline.org.
In the meantime, please feel free to contact the following publishers and share with them your disappointment and frustration with not being able to borrow eBooks through your tax funded public library.
Macmillan Publishing
75 Varick Street
New York, NY 10013
1-646-307-5151
customerservice@mpsvirginia.com
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
(212) 698-7000
http://simonandschuster.com/about/contact_us
Hachette Book Group
466 Lexington Avenue #131
New York, NY 10017
(212)364-1100
Customer.service@hbgusa.com
Penguin Group
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 366-2000
ecommerce@us.penguingroup.com
Brilliance Audio
1704 Eaton Drive
Grand Haven, MI 49417
(616) 846-5256
libsales@brillianceaudio.com
It really is a shame that these publishers are not making ebooks available to libraries. I understand the publishing industry is in flux but making sure our public libraries are well-stocked is of utmost importance. I use a website called Freebooksy to find free ebooks for my Kindle. It is not as comprehensive as a library but I have found some great books there. Perhaps fellow frustrated Kindle owners can find what they are looking for there.
Intellectual property is not free.
The library pays for it–what’s your point?
Dickhead, if someone owns property they can choose to whom they sell sell it.
Stay classy Captain Obvious.
Obviously a discriminating reader, huh?
BTW, I meant Paul, not you.
How nice of them in this economy…..bit by bit society suffers and greed replaces American values. I will not buy from them.
Commerce and deriving a profit from one’s work product are fundamentally American values.
Clutching onto old distribution models is like hugging an anchor in a tsunami. Yes, it’s you’re intellectual property and you may sell it as you wish but you may find it better to seek higher ground. I don’t think that many will actively boycot these publishers. Instead they’ll just go to distributers and authors that give the consumer what the consumer wants! The publishers are becoming an obsolete promotions machine and that model has changed. It’s somewhat impractical to go to a book signing with your Kindle. For any intellectual property owner, “the cloud” democratizes success. I look forward to reading the authors of the above noted publishers when their contracts expire.
You’re should be your. (obviously)
Related info that may be of interest, if it pleases the Dagger…
Justice Department Threatens Lawsuits, Alleging Collusion Over E-Book Pricing.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203961204577267831767489216.html