Comments on: All Carrot, No Stick, Ctd.

By: Jean Costello

Jean Costello — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:40:55 +0000

Today, publishing veteran Joe Esposito wrote about how publishers are also feeling very squeezed in the eBook space. He advocates dropping DRM to create competition to Amazon, which currently has 50% market share ... so we might get to something like Amazon 50%, B&N 20% and everyone else 30%. Another View of DRM for Publishers

By: slaying the black hearted greed beasts of doom - BIBLIOTHEKSPOLIZEI | BIBLIOTHEKSPOLIZEI

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:46:03 +0000

[...] We need to stop playing with the bad kids that keep taking our lunch money. [...]

By: julanna

julanna — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:44:12 +0000

I would like to see one library take a risk – buy generic e-readers and work with independent publishers. Push it for all it’s worth and see how it goes with the readers. Report back to everyone. Make the whole thing really public so the mainstream publishers know they are on notice.

By: bringyournoise

bringyournoise — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

You are correct–I do not do purchasing! And judging by how packed the exhibit halls usually are, I’d say more people would agree with you than me!

By: Jenica

Jenica — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:57:33 +0000

I suspect your job does not involve much purchasing — the exhibit hall, and the chance to speak face-to-face with vendor reps, get demos of new products, and have questions answered one-on-one is the most important part of the conference for some of us. To each their own, I guess.

By: bringyournoise

bringyournoise — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:07:53 +0000

During 2011, I attended the ACRL national conference, ALA in New Orleans, and PaLA. I complained to many people that the exhibits are my least favorite part of the conference, and I usually avoid the exhibit hall except for a quick pass-through. In fact, since I’m relatively new at this, I asked a more seasoned conference goer why we even bother with the exhibits. Of course I was told that the vendors help to pay for the conference and keep attendance fees, etc., down. I wouldn’t miss them, that’s for sure. I’m just not certain how feasible it would be to keep them out. But I admire your attempt to come up with something concrete. It’s better than just making noise.

By: anankaf

anankaf — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:55:44 +0000

These are some concrete ideas. I think we also need to think about the other side–what could the consequences of enforcing these consequences. There is also the fact that we would need to band together as a profession and a unified library front across the nation, if not internationally for this to work.

As to the first, what if those we boycotted on the conference and review front decided not to sell to us at all? I admit that I have no numbers in front of me, so I don’t know if they could afford to do that.

For the second, ALA could be a good tool to help with a unified front, but I haven’t seen them come together to do this in the past. They seem passive to me, much as my own system does about things like this. They wait for things to change on their own and don’t make any concrete inroads themselves.