A particularly vexing problem for libraries and consortia is the migration
from print to digital monographs and how it is changing the ways
libraries are doing business. Libraries have a great interest in supporting
the new format and with the burgeoning popularity of e-book readers,
tablets, and smartphones the reader finally has many different options
for convenient e-book consumption. For scholarly works, of course, users
still want convenient laptop access for articles, monographs, reports, and
papers. However, many concerns are still nagging librarians. One major
danger for libraries is that commercial direct-to-consumer sales (e.g., Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, Google Editions, Apple) leaves libraries and consortia
out of the purchasing loop, something which publishers of popular
materials particularly like. In an excellent editorial called “Ebooks on
Fire” (http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/dec11/Hamaker.shtml), Chuck
Hamaker posits many concerns, some of which include:
• The loss of historic privileges such as borrowing and lending rights as well
as the ability to put items on reserve in academic libraries
• Contractual concerns with restrictive rules by publishers and aggregators
• Revocable rights
• Protecting the text (i.e., authors, publishers, or the government changing
the written record)
• Paying a premium for library use of books or selling content by the use
• Concern about preservation and archiving.