The HarperCollins Issue

"You know, the general public still doesn't know about this," The Philosopher Musician said to me last night after I brought up my continual annoyance at the HarperCollins Issue.


"Yeah. Yet another quiet battle the quiet librarians are fighting for their readers." I said quietly and in disgust.

Despite the NYTimes article, despite BoingBoing, despite the major news circuits and Twitter, I wonder how much the general population realizes is at stake. As I look for more information on this I can't help but find that these are the facts:

• HarperCollins wants to limit circs to 26 times per title (meaning if 50 people want it, 24 are shit out of luck, go buy it, or ask the library to buy more copies but suffer when it comes to other best sellers you want now). 
• Librarians are currently trying to boycott HarperCollins from not touching the books to not purchasing (no offense, but not a smart move considering they are quite the mover and shaker in publishing...or rather the publisher a lot of books. Boycotting their eBooks makes more sense).
• A lot more is at stake than I think people realize (Librarian by Day).

When I was in grad school last year, I took a fantastic course on copyright. What I remember most is how the music industry handled the whole digital issue and the possibility that the book industry is going to go in that direction as well. If you have even read a few works on copyright, you'll realize that by trying to control digital media only forces people into other, questionable routes.

What I'm asking for at the moment, is that librarians don't give into this decision. In fact, I say we take it to the public and post a huge notice on the OverDrive page. Those who use the service will see it. We also need to make it clear that something like this is only in the interest of the publisher, not the reader. This is not in the interest of the libraries. Boycotting the books will not help as the works that are popular include HarperCollins works. As it stands, HarperCollins is winning the publicity side of things, too. Of all the (top 5) book publishers, HarperCollins has the social media side down pat. I see tweets daily from HaperTeen and HarperChildren.

Since the digital age began, publishers have seen libraries as "the bad guys." What publishers often see is "$." What librarians see are people and readers. What has happened and what will continue to happen is that readers will get their books the way they've always gotten them: through the library or purchase them, and at that, either used or new. You cannot control the buyer. Please stop trying to control the buyer. This nonsense has to stop. We need the right to purchase a book and to purchase it where we want to purchase it; or, we need the right to borrow it where we want to borrow it.


PS: We can actually make a difference as OverDrive is trying to determine what to do next (I don't expect an answer overnight, but it'd be good if it were before the month is out).