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August 09, 2005
Offering Downloadable Audio Books? Offer Players Too...
Shifted Librarian Jenny Levine is recommending that any library offering downloadable audio books also offer players for checkout. Why? We are unwittingly broadening the digital divide by providing materials that only some of our patrons can access. I agree in principle. She writes:
If you are an OverDrive or Recorded Books subscriber, then you need to understand that you are not providing access to those titles to a segment of your population, even though it’s not your fault.
Any libraries that join the ListenIllinois contract for audio eBooks from Audible, Overdrive, or Recorded Books have to purchase at least one MP3 player to circulate to patrons. Jenny acknowledges that this will result in a long wait list for that one player and hassle for staff, but posits that it's worth it.
Jenny also says that the circulating MP3 player addresses two things: 1) patrons who can't afford a computer or MP3 player of their own and 2) patrons with Macs/iPods that are incompatible with the library's downloadable audio books. While I applaud Jenny's efforts, I have a few questions of my own.
1) Can patrons, then, download the books onto your public computers and then transfer them to the "checked out" device? If not, then how can the player help them? If they fall into group 1 above, they don't have home computers. If they fall into group 2 above, you can't even download the audio files onto a Mac to begin with, in order to transfer the book to the compatible player.
2) Do you likewise check out CD players for your CD materials...or DVD and VHS players for your movies? If so, great! If not, there's a bit of a double standard at work.
While I admit that more people will own a CD player or DVD player than will own a home computer or portable device, I still think that it's a big step to start lending out hardware so that anyone can access every single type of your materials. With enough money in your budget, and enough staff support to support the devices, why not? It's a great idea. For many of us, however, we have limited materials budgets as it is. Can we rationalize to our patrons the purchase of expensive devices over the purchase of books, movies, or music? Maybe we can. I don't know.
As a technology librarian myself, I often have to remind myself of the digital divide--and try very hard to narrow it, not widen it. In this case, though, I'm honestly not sure where I stand.
August 9, 2005 | Permalink
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» Why Audio Ebooks Are Different from The Shifted Librarian
I’ve gotten some interesting comments to my post about The Digital Audiobook Divide, most of them positive but also some questions about why audio ebooks are different. In particular, Sarah Houghton posted a couple of questions, to which I left... [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 10, 2005 7:07:49 PM
Comments
Thank you Jenny for answering some of my questions. Sadly, with Overdrive (I'm not sure about Recorded Books), the library does not have a generic account. One could be created, however, by setting up a fake patron record in the library's general patron database, and going from there. Whether or not that complies with the eBook vendor's contract is another issue...
As to Audible, in the last couple of years I have repeatedly tried to get information from them on how our library could subscribe, but have been told (so many times it makes me dizzy now) that they're no longer accepting libraries as customers. I've been told this by various people within Audible, so I don't think I just got a bad representative or anything.
I think that for libraries now, our choices are Overdrive or Recorded Books. And many of us cannot afford Recorded Books (the price they wanted to charge my library was 85% of our entire e-resources budget). So we fall to Overdrive.
It's a hard proposition, and I think that we're aware that we're not serving everyone (Mac-users, people without home PCs, people without portable players). As others have pointed out, however, there are other formats we offer that not everyone can access (DVDs, VHS, CDs, CD-ROMs). Again, I just feel like the logistics of this are what would stop an administration from approving it. But it is a good fight, and I'm happy you're getting the word out to libraries and librarians about it.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (Librarian in Black) | August14, 2005
"CDs will not play in an 8-track or cassette player, and DVDs will not play in a VHS -- yet libraries have proactively purchased DVDs at the expense of VHS lovers."
I guess we disagree on the level at which these comparisons become apples and oranges. For me, if I buy a music or audiobook CD or check one out from my library, it will work on any CD player in my house or car. Same thing with a DVD player. This is why libraries have avoided audiobooks on MP3 CDs. Otherwise, you could take that to the conclusion that print books are not a universal format because they don't work in CD players.
"Purchasing players is not a great option for low-budget areas from my view."
Do you mean low-income areas? If so, then I think it becomes even more essential if you're buying this format.
"Whose account do you use to download the books in the first place? The patron's or the staff member's?"
The way ListenIllinois works is that we have one group purchase account for the project. Other libraries doing this with Audible have their own library account. You just use one of your computers to download the title to the player and then hand it to the patron.
In terms of OverDrive or Recorded Books, presumably the library also has an account in order to troubleshoot and see what patrons go through. For the new contract, we'll have to decide if the title gets checked out on the library account but the player gets checked out on the patron's account or if we just let users create accounts. For me, logistics can be resolved because access is so important. It's already working for ListenIllinois and several other libraries.
Libraries make local decisions about who does the loading. Currently, ListenIllinois participants have chosen all types of staff and locations - reference, circ, at a public desk, in the back room, etc. Tech support also can be resolved, as proven by current ListenIllinois participants. At some point, you have to experience what your patrons are going through.
Finally, I'll retract my description of these purchases as "the first time" libraries have proactively bought a digital format that not every device can play. It was a poor choice of words on my part. Instead, I'll fall back on my position that if you're going spend this much money for these formats, then you'd better damn well be aware of how many people you *aren't* serving with them and why. For me, the tradeoff of purchasing one or a few players helps bridge a position into which we've been unwittingly forced.
Great conversation, Sarah (and everyone else) - thanks for keeping it going!
Posted by: Jenny Levine | August13, 2005
This is the first time libraries have proactively purchased a format that not every device can play.
Erm... I don't believe this is true. Many libraries purchase computer software and console games. If a patron does not own the correct type of operating system or console, it will not play in it.
And not all DVDs work in all DVD players. It's true that most do, but the library I used to work at had to put up signs saying "If this is what you see when you put the DVD in, it's incompatible with your player." We won't get into region-encoding, as presumably patrons will own a DVD player for the region they live in. ;)
I'm not arguing that a player is a bad idea. I think it's fantastic. I just also tend to think about tangential things like, "Why ebooks? Why not worry about software or getting more items in large print or in multiple formats rather than worrying about purchasing something to play one format?"
Posted by: Meg'n | August12, 2005
Thanks for commenting Jenny. I do think that this is a good idea, but I also think it's a good idea to loan out DVD & CD players. For me, in my head at least, it's not an issue of cost, but of logistics, as Ryan noted in his comment.
I also have more questions, given your response that staff load the books onto the players for the patrons.
Whose account do you use to download the books in the first place? The patron's or the staff member's? Technically speaking, it should be done with the patron's account, but for our downloadable books collection, we require a library card number and PIN log-in, just as we do for all of our other online resources. How to get around that? I don't want to know the patron's PIN. Having the patron sit there to type it in, go away while I download the book for him/her, and then come back to pick it up seems a bit silly. Removing the PIN requirement is simply not an option given our privacy policies.
How does the patron make the request?
What if the patron requests a title, and by the time the player is available, the book isn't? I know that wouldn't be an issue for Recorded Books, but it is for Overdrive.
Who does the loading? Circ? Reference? Tech Support?
What kind of support is provided for the devices? Any? None?
I'm truly not trying to be a naysayer, but these are questions that a library administration would ask...so, how do we answer them?
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (Librarian in Black) | August11, 2005
Jenny,
I think you are being a little misleading with the statement:
"This is the first time libraries have proactively purchased a format that not every device can play."
CDs will not play in an 8-track or cassette player, and DVDs will not play in a VHS -- yet libraries have proactively purchased DVDs at the expense of VHS lovers. And libraries have long made difficult choices about what sorts of collections they should buy. Essentially, utilitarianism takes over and people have to make the decision that offers the best service to the most people.
Purchasing players is not a great option for low-budget areas from my view. The cost of the unit is only a small part of the issue. Maintenance is a big issue and then you have sign-out issues, security problems, high-demand at peak times, placing holds, incidental damage, storage, batteries/power and so on.
I think the better option is to find a way to expand the collection to support the MP3 player.
Posted by: Ryan | August11, 2005
A couple of answers:
1. The Mac/Linux issue: it's not that they can bring in their devices to download from your computers; it's that they can check out the player with the title on it. Again, not ideal, but at least it's access. The patron puts a hold on the player, requests the title, staff load it on the device, and the patron checks it out. No interaction with a Mac or Linux (or any other) computer, so you bridge the divide.
2. Audio ebooks vs. other media: This is the first time libraries have proactively purchased a format that not every device can play. You can put a DVD in any DVD player and it will work. Same thing with a CD. Heck, you can put them in any computer (with a DVD or CD drive) and they'll work. There's a reason you weren't buying Betamax *AND* VHS 20 years ago, right?
For the first time, we're buying digital content that doesn't work across every device, and we need to understand we're doing it consciously. We're deliberately cutting out patrons (taxpayers) who didn't buy what someone else deemed the "right" hardware, not just hardware. That's a very new philosophy for libraries and a dangerous precedent for us to set as we accelerate into the era of "the heavenly jukebox" and digital information.
Therefore, if you can help address that divide by buying a $50 player (and if you can afford the outrageous prices for these audio ebook subscriptions, you can afford at least $50), then I think you have an ethical obligation to do so. I don't think you can use the justification of "expensive" hardware anymore, because you could buy two players for the cost of one unabridged audiocassette title these days.
HTH explain my position.
Posted by: Jenny Levine | August10, 2005
I have read that in the long run using the mp3 players is cheaper. Itunes sells audiobooks cheaper than the retail value of the complimentary CD version so when enough books and MP3 players are purchased, the library could be "saving" money when looked at from this perspective. Just a thought.
Posted by: Mike Beccaria | August10, 2005
I stand somewhere in the "confused" camp, myself. Like you, LiB, I think having mp3 players for checkout for audiobooks is a great idea, but I don't understand why it's important for that media and not any other. Can you not offer software or console games without offering PCs or consoles for checkout? Can I not order a title on CD only (not cassette) for my patrons?
Posted by: Meg'n | August10, 2005
