[Libs-Or] Fwd: [alacoun] HarperCollins/OverDrive

[Diedre Conkling]

I thought this might be of interest.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Trevor A. Dawes <tdawes at princeton.edu>
Date: Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 2:55 PM
Subject: [alacoun] HarperCollins/OverDrive
To: "alacoun at ala.org" <alacoun at ala.org>
Cc: Brett Bonfield <pacella at gmail.com>


 Dear Colleagues,



Although I am aware that ALA cannot officially endorse a boycott, I was
asked to share the information below with fellow Council members should
individuals feel the need to participate in the boycott of HarperCollins in
response to their recent decision about e-book circulation via OverDrive.



I am passing this along, FYI.

* *

* *

*--*

*Trevor A. Dawes*

Circulation Services Director

*Princeton University Library*



609.258.3231 - voice

609.616.2095 - mobile

tadawes - AIM

tdawes at Princeton.edu



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: *Brett Bonfield* <pacella at gmail.com>

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Contact
info at boycottharpercollins.com

Library Users, Librarians, and Libraries Boycott HarperCollins Over Change
in Ebook Terms

New York, NY -- Library users, librarians, and libraries have begun to
boycott publisher HarperCollins over changes to the terms of service that
would limit the ability of library users to borrow ebooks from libraries. A
new website, BoycottHarperCollins.com, is helping to organize their efforts
to get HarperCollins to return to the previous terms of service.

On February 24, Steve Potash, the Chief Executive Officer of OverDrive, sent
an email to the company's customers -- primarily US libraries -- announcing
that some of the ebooks they get from OverDrive would be disabled after they
had circulated 26 times. Soon after, librarians learned that it was
HarperCollins, a subsidiary of News Corporation (NWSA), that intended to
impose these limits. Immediately, library users, librarians, and libraries
began voicing their opposition to the plan by HarperCollins, with several
library users and librarians urging a boycott.

As Joe Atzberger, of Columbus, Ohio, one of the first librarians to address
the issue, wrote on his Atzblog <
http://atzberger.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-overdrive-drm-terms-this-message.html>:




"The previous model already forced libraries to pretend a digital 'copy' was
a single physical thing. Only one library's user can have it 'checked out'
at a time. And only on one device. The clearly misapplied language around
this tells you what a terrible idea it is. To be clear, this model
eliminates almost all the major advantages of the item's being digital,
without restoring the permanence, durability, vendor-independence,
technology-neutrality, portability, transferability, and ownership
associated with the physical version."

Information on this grassroots campaign can be reached via a website that
went online on February 27, 2011, BoycottHarperCollins.com.  The boycott
will end as soon as HarperCollins agrees not to limit the number of times a
library can loan each ebook.

# # #



-- 

*Diedre Conkling
Lincoln County Library District
P.O. Box 2027
Newport, OR  97365
Phone & Fax:  541-265-3066
**Work email:  **diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org*<diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org>
*  NEW**
Home email:  **diedre08 at gmail.com* <diedre08 at gmail.com>
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