[Monica Berger]

http://kambitsch.blogspot.com/2011/01/opening-ebook-market.html
A good piece on why ebook vendors for libraries need to rethink their business model.

[Shea A. Taylor]

http://www.idealog.com/blog/from-where-i-sit-you-cant-actually-sell-an-ebook

A companion piece to the article above. Provides insight into DRM and pricing issues and why librarians are confused about what they are actually purchasing when they purchase an ebook.

[Shea A. Taylor]

ACRL has a webinar on DRM. $50 for ACRL members:
Digital Rights Management (DRM): Information Roadblock for Library Users
Live Webcast
March 1, 2011
2:00 p.m. Eastern
90 minutes
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/events/elearning/courses/drm.cfm

[Shea A. Taylor]

Have you ever looked at an e-reader and been confused by what the company means when they say the reader supports certain files? Are you trying to determine which whether your library should go with Sony or Kindle, Amazon, or Overdrive? The following link is to a nice explanation on filetypes & DRM which can help you understand the complexity in determining which type of e-reader devices or vendors to purchase from.

http://jasongriffey.net/wp/2010/08/25/ebooks-filetype-and-drm/

[Alycia Sellie (she/her/they)]

Interesting new proposal by Harper Collins via Overdrive, to have their ebooks “expire” after 26 checkouts: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889452-264/harpercollins_puts_26_loan_cap.html.csp
Response from Cory Doctorow http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/25/harpercollins-to-lib.html
and Jessamyn West http://www.librarian.net/stax/3519/harper-collins-vs-libraries-battling-for-the-future-of-lending-digital-content/

The decision not to acquire DRM-restricted ebooks in libraries has been something that we’ve been advocating as part of the Readers’ Bill of Rights for Digital Books: http://readersbillofrights.info/

[Stefanie Havelka]

Just saw this:

http://boycottharpercollins.com/

[Stephen Francoeur (he/him)]

I think that any boycott should be of all DRMed materials. A blanket boycott of all of HarperCollins’ publications (print and ebook) doesn’t make sense to me. I was convinced by this argument from Emily Ailing, a library director at Marlboro College:

http://ricearoniana.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/boycott-bad-idea/

This post by Sarah Glassmeyer, a law librarian at Valparaiso Universityi, offers more thoughts on the boycott’s likely ineffectiveness:

http://sarahglassmeyer.com/?p=690

[Stefanie Havelka]

not a response to Stephen – here is a comic about DRM:
http://tametheweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/the_brads_drm.png

[Monica Berger]

The always awesome Barbara Fister just blogged about the situation: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library_babel_fish/a_library_written_in_disappearing_ink

[Stefanie Havelka]

http://harperlibrary.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/03/open-letter-to-librarians.html

[Shea A. Taylor]

“UPDATE 3-EU antitrust watchdog raids e-book publishers”

Just came across this Reuters article. Apparently in Europe they are raiding publishers on suspicion of violating anti-trust laws, but somehow Harper Collins was skipped. Dare investigations jump the pond to our side of the house?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/02/eu-media-antitrust-idUSLDE7210OT20110302

[Alycia Sellie (she/her/they)]

Librarians Against DRM images, created by Nina Paley for the Readers’ Bill of Rights for Digital Books, now available at: https://readersbillofrights.info/librariansagainstDRM

Please use and share in support of our work!

[Ann Matsuuchi (she/they)]

Yay, Alycia’s posting got BB’d: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/10/readers-against-drm.html

[Maura A. Smale (she/her)]

I know I said this on the Twitterz but want to repeat it here: congrats Alycia, this is so very awesome!

[Alevtina Verbovetskaya (she/her)]

Congrats, @alycia! This is fantastic.

[Author]

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