Ebook business models in European public libraries NAPLEEblida

E-book business models in European public libraries NAPLE/Eblida Round Table Palazzo Reale, Milano 13 May 2013 report: Jan Braeckman (Bibnet Flanders, Brussels) & Frank Huysmans (University of Amsterdam) Javier Candeira – CC-BY-SA 3. 0 unported

E-book business models Reports on 5 cases • • • Flanders (Johan Delauré) Netherlands (Diederik van Leeuwen) Denmark (Erik Thorlund) Slovenia (Aleš Klemen & Marko Hercog) Germany/Switzerland (Miriam Schriefert & Peter Wille)

E-book business models The following themes were discussed in the presentations • • • Selection of e-books (all books available, embargo, window time…) Ownership, long term access and preservation Access on site versus remote access Friction strategies, constraints on access (on the user, the amount of loans…) Pricing “Buy it” links and other ‘conversion from loan to sell’ models DRM, download, streaming Distribution platform (who owns, manages, at what costs? ) Integration in library environment: metadata, discovery tools, management systems What issues should/could be part of an e-lending legal framework?

E-book business models Interesting similarities and dissimilarities came to light even from these few cases, you could infer that at the moment, anything is possible inventory of dimensions on which models differ now:

Dimensions dimension vs. content ownership unlimited: long term access and preservation limited: temporary access, no preservation by PLs content selection all titles published & for sale what publishers allow national PL cupola/institution local libraries offline use (download) online use (streaming) on site (in library branch) remote lending (from home) platform publicly owned platform privately owned high fee per title, low/no fee per lending no/low fee per title, high fee per lending by govt/PL organization (collective agreement) by end user (pay per use) after x% pages has been read after 1 st page has been turned content distribution payment/price no differentiation recent/older differentiation: head – titles shoulder – long tail

Dimensions dimension vs. ‘friction’ strategies none: titles immediately and available for lending windowing (embargo period); ‘one copy, one user’ or max # of lendings p. license; queuing co-operation PLs and publishers join forces, develop platform; lending & selling via platform animosity, concurrence (publishers market e-books for e-lending as well) competition none web retailers (Amazon, Apple); booksellers; consortia publishers/booksellers DRM none strong DRM; social DRM (‘watermarking’) government protection measures none low VAT; fixed book price; booksellers between publishers and PLs VAT low: e-book=‘product’ (content) high: e-book=‘service’ (license)

EBLIDA task force Position paper May 2012, ‘six principles’ Tried to reach Memorandum of Understanding with Federation of European Publishers (FEP) That did not work out Meanwhile, situation is (constantly) changing: o patents for secondhand digital market o ECJ: reselling software legal -> e-books o distinction physical/digital book under attack (both legally and in marketplace)

EBLIDA task force New strategic moves: • part company with publishers • alliances with other partners, e. g. consumer federations • fight for right to buy and lend out e-books at reasonable conditions o in Brussels: EP and EC o in countries: raise awareness through campaigning (‘legalize it!’)

NAPLE & EBLIDA Discussion: two-leg strategy • LONG TERM campaign for change of copyright regime to include right for libraries to acquire rights to buy and lend out e-books • SHORT TERM in meantime try to work out viable business models with publishers (esp. small publishers) Jan Braeckman – jan. braeckman@bibnet. be Frank Huysmans – huysmans@uva. nl