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ALA members Alan Inouye, Barb Macikas, and Sari Feldman marched to the Manhattan offices of Macmillan, a major publisher, carrying boxes of petitions addressed to then-Macmillan CEO John Sargent protesting a controversial library e-book policy.
American Library Association
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American Library Association
In 2019, a group of librarians (quietly) broke into the offices of Macmillan, a major book publisher. They carried boxes full of petitions. They had collected thousands of signatures, and now, they wanted to deliver them in person. Their goal: to end a controversial policy known as the “window policy.” It prohibited libraries from borrowing more than one copy of a new e-book within the first eight weeks after its release, resulting in long wait times for bestsellers. The librarians saw it as a threat to their mission of freely sharing knowledge with the public.
But Macmillan said: “We are the ones who are threatened. More and more people are borrowing e-books from libraries. Of course, when you borrow a book, you don’t buy it. Publishers are beginning to feel that libraries are threatening their business model and making it harder for authors to make a living.”
In some ways, it’s a familiar story. An industry goes digital, and that changes the calculus of who makes money. Think of the advent of music streaming — Spotify — and musicians and labels having to adapt. Only, in this case, the organization Macmillan is talking about disrupting the system is… your friendly local library.
On today’s show, we delve into the ongoing battle between libraries and publishers over e-books. The stakes in this battle are extremely high: Everyone feels like they’re fighting for their right to exist.
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