OverDrive limits choices for some libraries

[elf]

In addition to the restrictions from several of the "big 6" publishers--Macmillan and Simon & Schuster don't allow ebooks through Overdrive at all, Penguin's stopped allowing new content & shut off Kindle access, and Harper Collins only lets them be loaned out 26 times--a new twist in the OverDrive contract has turned up: different selection based on libraries' card policies. If the library allows non-residents access to their ebooks, they get a much smaller selection.

And they work to hide that detail, because dayamn I couldn't write a less-clear contract bit if I tried:

Access to the Application Services shall be limited to those patrons of the Library that have the required relation to the Library to receive a library card (“Authorized Patrons”). Library shall not provide access to the Application Services to any end users who are not Authorized Patrons. Authorized Patrons shall be defined as individuals who can provide proof of residency, employment, or enrollment in school or similar institution in the Library’s service area. Online library card applications and issuance, with or without any fees, that provide access to the Application Services without proof of the required library relation (as referenced in the foregoing sentence) shall not be permitted. OverDrive reserves the right to immediately terminate this Agreement if Library provides access to the Application Services to end users who are not Authorized Patrons.

"Service area" is not defined in the contract, but phone calls to OverDrive's legal rep defined it as "the area that provides the majority of funding to the library system." Which usually means a city. (I'm just familiar enough with contract law to know that there's a chance that wouldn't hold up in court--except I gather that elsewhere in the contract is the expected "we can change the terms & selection anytime we want" phrase.) (Which also might not hold up in court, but few libraries have the money for *any* court activity.)

I suppose this means that libraries that want to provide full access to people who don't live in the immediate area need to arrange the majority of their funding to come from the state, and the federal gov't would be even better. I have no idea how OverDrive knows this info; presumably it's part of the application process? Feh.

It's okay, folks; SOPA and PROTECT-IP will fix it by ending all piracy on the internet, and then publishers will be willing to allow library access to ebooks.

Comments

[jumpuphigh]

I really hate Overdrive. Yeah, the publishers are a problem but Overdrive is selling a service to libraries. They should be fighting for libraries, not against them.

[elf]

OverDrive is fighting for their own profits, which have pretty much nothing to do with how much access libraries get--unless libraries become aware of their terms and don't bother to contract with them for a small fraction of what's available to other libraries.

So OverDrive did what they could to avoid that, by not mentioning that a library's customer policies drastically changed what ebooks they'd have access to, and then claiming it's all the publishers' faults that the libraries don't have as large a selection as they'd like.

I'd love to see some other ebook loaning programs come out of this, even if they only deal with the smaller, no-DRM publishers.

[stormcloude]

Too bad libraries can't file an antitrust lawsuit against the publishers and overdrive.

[moizissimo]

We have what's called a "One Card". One card that can be activated at any library in BC. A few months ago I stopped being able to login as a VPL member, and had to login under my home library. This would be why. :/

I wonder what they're doing about the regional libraries we have here. City libraries are pretty easy to define, but in the suburbs and the boonies, things start getting a little fuzzier.