“You’re crazy”: libraries and publishers are arguing over e-books

There is a dense atmosphere between publishers and libraries: they suspect some of them are trying to spark riots from behind. For Petra Bonning of the Federal Council of the German Library Association, things are very simple. The trend is clearly toward “e-reading more”, about 30 percent of users are e-book enthusiasts. Therefore libraries must also be in a position to fulfill their desires: “Above all, libraries have the social mandate to give everyone unimpeded access to knowledge, and this has not yet been regulated. This means that we have the situation that publishers do not allow libraries to purchase books. Electronic data at all or very late after they appeared. That is why we wanted to draw attention to this situation again. “

Libraries: “We do not aim at” cannibalism “

It is a legal regulation, under which publishers are forced to make new ebooks available to libraries. “We are not worried at all about getting e-books for free, but of course we want to pay an adequate amount. We also have a great interest in ensuring that the authors and publishers are rewarded,” Petra Bonning said to the BR. There can be no question of “cannibalism” required.

For the print sector, there are “library royalties,” according to which a fixed amount is paid to authors across federal states for each loan: “We have no interest whatsoever in canceling this procedure. We would like there to be a similar system for e-book lending.” On the publishers’ accusation that the policy funding libraries is ultimately just about cutting costs, Bonning told the Radiocommunication Bureau, “This thought is” unprecedented. “