Lodge on Echo Lake
175 Hudson St., Warrensburg, NY
Warrensburg, NY
Keynote presented by Libby Post, “Library Sustainability.”
Libby will speak about strategies to build your base to create effective community partnerships for your library.
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MacKenzie Ledley and Patricia Ringen of Pulaski County Public Library (Indiana) presented at the PLA Conference on LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered & Questioning) Services for Rural Libraries. This was an extremely eye opening program that I knew I had to share with the SALS member libraries.
After a group of local teens asked Ledley if they could have their Gay Straight Alliance meetings at the library because the school would not allow them to meet on school grounds, she began to wonder if there was a need for LGBTQ materials in the library’s collection. Ledley shared stories of how well received the new LGBTQ materials were received by patrons who were afraid to come out in their rural community, as well as the resistance she received from a few members of her board and community. Fortunately, the library’s meeting room and collection policies backed both her decision to allow the teens to meet and for the somewhat controversial items to remain in the collection. Continue reading
Ever wonder why there are so few titles available as eBooks in our catalog? The answer is simple, but the solution is not. Many publishers (Macmillan Publishing, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, Brilliance Audio, and Hachette Book Group) will not sell or license eBooks to libraries.
Your library can purchase a title from one of the above publishers in various formats – large or regular print, hard copy or paperback or even on a CD. However, the publishers will not sell the eBook to the library. The publishers are treating eBooks differently due to something call digital rights management (DRM) or digital rights content.
What can we do as consumers? Let the publishers know we are disappointed with their decision not to sell their eBooks to libraries. Write to the publishers, spread the word throughout our communities, put up signs in our libraries, post messages on our websites, be proactive. Make a call, send an email (contact information below) to the publishers not selling eBooks to libraries.
As a profession, we should begin looking at the Digital Rights Management, the copyright law, among other avenues that will allow libraries to lend digital items in the same manner as the physical item. I contend, that eContent is simply another format.
Macmillan Publishing – customerservice@mpsvirginia.com (212) 226-7521
Simon & Schuster- simonandschuster.com/about/contact_us (212) 698-7000
Hachette Book Group- customer.service@hbgusa.com (212) 364-1100
Penguin Group – ecommerce@us.penguingroup.com (212) 366-2000
Brilliance Audio – libsales@brillianceaudio.com (616) 846-5256