The Upper Hudson Library System (UHLS) recently announced that as of March 14, the 29 public libraries which serve Albany and Rensselaer counties are boycotting all future electronic content purchases from HarperCollins (HC) Publishers. One of the largest publishing houses in the world, HarperCollins changed their policy in the sale of their e-book titles that sets a license limit of 26 checkouts per title on all e-books purchased for library use. 'The 29 member libraries of the UHLS jointly agreed to institute and announce the boycott of HC e-book titles in response to the 26 limit move,' said Timothy Burke, executive director of UHLS. '(HarperCollins) has, in the wake of the backlash after their 26 limit was announced, claimed that the limit number is not set in stone but it simply a starting point for further conversations about the use of e-books by libraries.' Richard Naylor, director of William K. Sanford Town Library said across the country, libraries have been trying to get HarperCollins to go back to the principle of purchasing copies for one use at a time. 'The American Library Association is also working on the issue,' he said. 'From my point of view the problem is not with new books but with older ones. With a collection of 200,000 books we would not know when a book would cease to be available and how this would affect costs over the years.' Advertisement This new policy requires libraries to re-purchase HarperCollins e-books after the book has been checked out 26 times. This is a radical change, according to the Sanford library's May newsletter, from the purchase agreements used by other e-content publishers that typically sell the library the use of the file for as long as the library wants to provide it to their users. Overdrive software, caught in the middle, has responded by taking HarperCollins out of its main catalog and creating a new separate catalog for those e- books. Other book publishers that Overdrive software has available in their catalog includes Penguin, Elsevier, Houghton-Mifflin, Wiley, McGraw-Hill, Random House and Simon & Schuster, Naylor said. 'There is a fairly good selection but it is limited both by the number of books that aren't available at all in eBook format and because Harper-Collins is one of the major publishers and has some major authors under contract such as Joyce Carol Oates,' Naylor said. Some of the more well-known authors HarperCollins publish that both Burke and Naylor listed include David Attenborough, Bill Branon, Michael Burleigh, Kathryn Casey, Paulo Coelho, Bernard Cornwell, Max Hastings, Elmore Leonard, C.S. HarperCollins, Hoopla to Offer Multi. Of library e-book lending. HarperCollins continues to offer its frontlist and most of its backlist e-books to libraries. Lewis, Peter Mandelson, Hilary Mantel, Eric Newby, Michael A. O'Donnell, Stuart Woods, Michael Crichton, Julia Quinn, Neil Gaiman, Oliver Rackham and J.R.R. 'e-Books typically circulate for three weeks so since there are 52 weeks in a year, there would typically be 17 circulations per year,' Burke said. 'However, some people choose a shorter lending period (one week). It is certainly feasible, and it has happened that a book reached its 26 circs within 11 months. We think that HarperCollins chose 26 circs because it is approximately one year's worth of circulation with a two week loan period. Publishing great authors since 1817. Discover thousands of books and authors, plus get exclusives on new releases, bestsellers, and more, at hc.com. By: Hadie Bartholomew, OverDrive Communications Manager. We're excited to announce that HarperCollins has joined the growing list of publishers working with OverDrive to add Cost-per-Circ (CPC) as an additional use model for their eBooks and audiobooks. The CPC model will be available for a. Jul 23, 2015 Ebook Vendors Anticipate Big Five Licensing Terms. Library ebook distributors. Or school library. Another example is HarperCollins’s. HarperCollins has 3972 entries in their OverDrive catalogue. Borrow eBooks, audiobooks, and videos from thousands of public libraries worldwide. But that is just our guess.' HarperCollins published the following statement in Albany Libraries Examiner written by Jennifer McIntosh: 'We have serious concerns that our previous e-book policy, selling e-books to libraries in perpetuity, if left unchanged, would undermine the emerging e-book eco-system, hurt the growing e-book channel, place additional pressure on physical bookstores, and in the end lead to a decrease in book sales and royalties paid to author.' Other publishers continue the age-old principle of buying a book that can be loaned to one reader at a time for as long as the library wants to retain it. Since 2006, Naylor said the William K. Sanford Town Library has offered e-books. In the last quarter of 2010 with the proliferation of affordable tablets and e-readers like the Kindle e-books have began to 'take off,' Burke said. 'With most e-book vendors it is typically the same price to buy the first copy as it is to buy the second copy,' he said. 'HarperCollins is offering a discount on the repurchase of a title from them after the 26 checkout limit has been reached.' Other publishers do not have a checkout limit tied to the purchase of a title, Burke said. There is no need for a library to re-purchase titles very often. For more information about UHLS boycotting HarperCollins, visit or contact Timothy Burke, executive director at or call 437-9880 Ext. Explanation What is this all about? HarperCollins intends to. What are you asking me to do? Until this policy is revoked, join us by not buying any new books or ebooks published by HarperCollins or any of its imprints: Amistad, Avon, Avon A, Avon Inspire, Avon Red, Balzer + Bray, Caedmon, Collins, Ecco, Eos, Greenwillow Books, Harper, Harper Business, Harper Design, Harper Paperbacks, Harper Perennial, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, HarperAudio, HarperBibles, HarperCollins Children's Audio, HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperCollins e-Books, HarperFestival, HarperLuxe, HarperOne, HarperTeen, ItBooks, Katherine Tegen Books, Rayo, Walden Pond Press, and William Morrow. In addition, support your local library if it chooses to participate in the boycott and explaining your actions. You can also sign the at Change.org. The boycott will end as soon as HarperCollins agrees not to limit the number of times a library can loan each ebook. Don't library materials wear out or get stolen? Are you trying to get a better deal for ebooks than for books printed on paper? It's true that library materials don't have an unlimited shelf-life, though many libraries still circulate books that are well over a hundred years old. Given the pace of digital innovation, there's a good chance that ebook files libraries purchase today will be obsolete within a few years. For now, libraries have arrangements with publishers and ebook vendors that include some restrictions on ebooks lending, such as two-week loan limits and one-borrower-at-a-time. These restrictions make borrowing or loaning an ebook much like borrowing or loaning a traditional book. Are you trying to make it more difficult to publish ebooks profitably? We hope not, and we don't believe that we are. Readers, publishers, and libraries have relied on each other for hundreds of years. Successful publishers are closely associated with happy readers and busy libraries. While circulation limits on ebooks might encourage libraries to buy additional digital copies of some ebooks, that's just speculation: libraries have limited budgets, especially in the current economy, so there is a good chance that libraries will spend the same amount on ebooks they are already spending but offer less variety because they would have to buy more copies of the most popular items. In the long term, ensuring libraries' ability to circulate ebooks might actually be more profitable. Libraries encourage literacy and reading, helping to sow the seeds for publishers’ continued growth. Many of the most active library users are also among the most frequent book purchasers. Do you hate HarperCollins? Are you angry at them? Why single them out? We aren't anti-anyone, but we are opposed to limiting the number of times a library can loan each ebook. For that reason, we support boycotting any publisher that chooses to impose these limits. For now, HarperCollins is the only publisher to have imposed such restrictive lending terms. Who is participating in the boycott? A lot of readers and libraries. Library Journal has been keeping track of. Where can I read more? We also recommend reading what at Loose Cannon Librarian. Who created this website? Librarians Brett Bonfield and Gabriel Farrell put this website together. They believe strongly in library users' rights, but don't speak for anyone except themselves. For answers to your questions about how the HarperCollins policy change will affect you and your use of ebooks, please see the page.
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