[Libs-Or] ALA decries Hachette’s 220 percent library e-book price increase

[Diedre Conkling]

I am sure that most of you already saw this or the announcement from
OverDrive yesterday but I am passing it along anyway.

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http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/ala-decries-hachette-s-220-percent-library-ebook-price-increase?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=american+libraries+magazine

ALA decries Hachette's 220 percent library e-book price increase


For Immediate Release
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 11:09

Contact: Jazzy Wright
Washington Office (wo)

Washington, D.C.-- The American Library Association (ALA) denounces Hachette
Book Group's reported
decision<http://paidcontent.org/2012/09/14/hachette-to-raise-ebook-prices-for-libraries-by-220/>to
raise the price of e-books to the library market starting Oct. 1.
ALA President Maureen Sullivan issued the following statement:

"When Hachette announced it was stepping back into the library e-book
market this past May with pilots that would bring a selection of its recent
best-sellers to millions of library patrons, the ALA welcomed this
news. Leaving
our meeting with
them<http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/e-content/ebooks-promising-new-conversations>,
we were pleased that they recognized libraries as strong partners--as direct
customers and marketers of their titles, as well as integral community
institutions that must be supported as a fundamental cornerstone of
literacy.

"After these tentative steps forward, we were stunned to learn that
Hachette plans to more than triple its prices for e-book sales to libraries
starting October 1. Now we must ask, 'With friends like these...?'

"We are weary of faltering half steps and even more so of publishers that
refuse to sell e-book titles to libraries at all. Today I have asked the ALA's
Digital Content & Libraries Working Group to develop more aggressive
strategies and approaches for the nation's library community to meet these
challenges.

"Libraries must have the ability to purchase a wide range of digital
content at a fair price so that all readers have full access to our world's
creative and cultural resources, especially the many millions who depend on
libraries as their only source of reading material."

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-- 
*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>
*
Home email: **diedre08 at gmail.com* <diedre08 at gmail.com>

 "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change
your attitude."--Maya Angelou
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