Macmillan Changes Take Effect November 1
Submitted by sadie.bruce on Tue, 10/29/2019 - 11:09
On July 25, the publisher Macmillan announced they would be making changes to their ebook lending terms. Beginning November 1, they will only allow MLS to purchase one copy of a new ebook with additional copies allowed 8 weeks after the title’s release. The anticipated outcomes of this change are longer wait times, frustrated customers, and a decrease in access – all things we strive to avoid.
Here are some important facts to communicate to customers:
- Audiobooks will not be affected – only ebooks.
- Wait times will be longer on Macmillan ebooks for their first 8 weeks of publication until we are permitted to purchase more copies.
- We have a robust collection of always available (i.e. no holds list) ebooks and audiobooks from hoopla.
- Let Macmillan know you disagree with these restrictions by signing the online petition at ebooksforall.org and posting to social media with the hashtag #ebooksforall.
- Overdrive will be notifying customers when they put a hold on a new Macmillan title, “Due to publisher restrictions, your library is unable to purchase any more copies of the book until {date}. “
Marketing sent an email to OverDrive users full of good information.
Currently, Collection Development has no plans to change our purchasing or holds process. However, we will be monitoring Macmillan titles closely and will adapt as needed.
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Comments
cnn.com/2019/08/02/opinions/libraries-fight-publishers-over-e-books-west/index.html
Great article, Tim - a lot of information that goes well beyond what the title says. Thanks for sharing.
How difficult would it be to boycott all Macmillan products?
That's a fair question. There's a couple reasons we decided against boycotting.
First, with authors like Nora Roberts and David Baldacci, we would have a hard time explaining to the hundreds of customers who place holds why they couldn't have access to these authors. I think we would see a lot of customer dissatisfaction and enough complaints would end the boycott.
Second, from a negotiation standpoint, boycotts aren't very effective. They are win/lose and we would need a plan. Plus, we aren't in it alone - these new terms stand for all libraries. Meaning, for a boycott to work (and even then I have my doubts it would) all libraries would have to boycott, preferably with a clear set of expectations. We can't negotiate directly with Macmillan; Overdrive and, to an extent, ALA can. Negotiations are happening. There's a petition that I encourage you to share with customers who have questions or are aware of the problem.
Both CIS and CD collect tons of data so we'll know how this change affects our customers, our collection, and our budget. Once we have this information, we can adjust and make decisions that are right for our system while supporting the efforts of Overdrive and ALA.