Penguin pulls out of OverDrive, stops ebook sales to libraries

Penguin Group has announced it will no longer provide ebooks to OverDrive, effective immediately. With the termination of the relationship between the publisher and the U.S. digital content distributor, public libraries are effectively cut off from acquiring and lending out Penguin ebooks and e-audiobooks.

The Digital Shift reports:

Penguin is negotiating a “continuance agreement” with OverDrive, which will allow libraries that have Penguin ebooks in their catalog to continue to have access to those titles.

But since the company does not have a contract with 3M, the still fledgling but growing competitor to OverDrive, the practical effect of the decision will be to shut down public library access to additional Penguin ebook titles (not physical titles) for the immediate future.

The news is not entirely unexpected. In November of last year, Penguin Group stopped selling frontlist ebook titles to OverDrive and other digital distribution platforms, and stopped offering new e-audiobooks to library distributors last month.

Penguin is not the only major publisher to demonstrate an unwillingness to provide digital content to libraries. Even as circulation numbers for ebooks grow at libraries, multinational publishers have tightened the reins on providing ebooks and e-audiobooks to these institutions. In March, HarperCollins capped library lending of its e-titles at 26 loans. Random House held off providing digital content to libraries until spring of last year (the availability of Canadian backlisted titles has been notoriously limited). Simon & Schuster and MacMillan have so far refused to provide e-titles to libraries. Now, HarperCollins remains the only large multinational publisher to provide digital titles to OverDrive.

In each of these cases, publishers have cited concerns over piracy and the potential for a loss of consumer sales. Canadian publishers such as House of Anansi Press, Douglas & McIntyre, and Orca Books do presently deal with the distributor.

This latest development with Penguin strengthens the argument for a Canadian-made solution to e-content distribution, championed by groups such as the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, the Association of Canadian Publishers, and the Canadian Publishers Council (of which Penguin Canada, Simon & Schuster Canada, HarperCollins Canada, and Random House of Canada are members).

[This post was updated Feb. 10.]

Windsor Public Library eliminates fines

Just as the Toronto Public Library increases its late fees, the Windsor Public Library in Ontario has eliminated fines for overdue books altogether. This makes WPL Canada’s first large city library to eliminate late fees, although several American libraries have tried the approach.

Photo courtesy of Windsor Public Library

Windsor Public Library board chair Al Maghnieh told the Toronto Star the change is intended to remove barriers and encourage people to use the library. The library also has also a financial incentive, the Star reports:

Maghnieh said the Windsor system brings in about $50,000 annually in fines, but spends more to administer them and track down delinquent borrowers. He added that time spent trying to find overdue items could be better used developing new library programs and services.

Windsor’s new system isn’t entirely consequence-free for borrowers who keep items past their due dates. Accounts with overdue items will be frozen until materials are returned, and users will have to pay the full cost of items still unreturned a month past their due dates.

Academic librarians experience small salary bump in 2010-2011

Academic librarians in Canada enjoyed a small salary increase from 2010–2011, according to a recent industry study. The Association of Research Libraries released its annual salary review on Tuesday. The report finds the median salary for Canadian academic librarians increased by 2 per cent since 2009–2010, from $80,654 to $82,251. It also shows that Canadians made more than their American counterparts, who experienced a median salary raise of 1.5 per cent, from $64,069 to $65,000 (U.S.). Salary raises were greatest at non-university research libraries, with the highest salary, $103,872 (U.S.), reported at the Library of Congress.

It’s not all good news though. The Library Journal reports 2010′s raise as the smallest salary jump in Canada since 2005, when earnings dipped by 0.3 per cent.

The association also found persistent concerns regarding wage parity and ethnic diversity. At ARL university libraries in the U.S., women make up 62 per cent of professional staff and earn about 5 per cent less than their male co-workers. Racial and ethnic minorities make up only 14.2 per cent of library workers in this sector.

More than 13,700 professional staffers from ARL’s 125 member libraries in Canada and the U.S. reported earnings for the survey.

Toronto Public Library Board balks at 10 per cent budget cut

Last night, in its final meeting of the year, the Toronto Public Library Board approved a cut of 5.9 per cent to its 2012 operating budget. The 2012 budget now stands at just over $164 million, though more cuts may be on the way.

Going into budget negotiations, Mayor Rob Ford required all city services to slash their operating costs by 10 per cent. The TPL board has struggled to find savings. Recently, it shot down a recommendation by chief librarian Jane Pyper to reduce hours and collections at certain branches, and last night they passed on her last-ditch proposal to end bookmobile services, as well as literacy and student outreach programming. To increase revenues, the board voted for higher auditorium and room rental fees, a new fee for materials on hold that go unclaimed, and the phasing in of four new automated sorters.

The decision comes as a surprise, reports The Globe and Mail, in part because the mayor virtually appointed the library board to implement his financial vision:

“I simply can’t support a reduction in hours,” said [board member and City Councillor Jaye] Robinson. “I think in January you will find most of council backing this up and supporting keeping libraries open and accessible.”

While a board-room packed with library staff celebrated, [board chair Councillor Paul] Ainslie didn’t hold back his disappointment. “As far as I’m concerned, a majority of the board just abrogated their duties, shirked their responsibilities,” he said.

“I’m fully expecting the city manager to be furious, I think the mayor’s going to be furious, I think the budget committee will be furious, I’m furious.”

The budget now goes before the City of Toronto budget and executive committees before approval by City Council in January. The next TPL board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 30, 2012.

Show Rob Ford and TPL some love this holiday season

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has not been terribly successful on the literary front. From his under-the-breath insult to author Vikki VanSickle during this summer’s marathon executive committee hearing to his brother Doug’s very public spat with Margaret Atwood over cuts to library funding, Ford’s not been viewed as the most book-friendly mayor Toronto has ever known.

People feeling that the embattled mayor might need a bit of holiday cheer can now send him seasons greetings while also helping the Toronto Public Library retain its service levels in the face of calls for cutbacks from the city. A cheeky website called the Rob Ford Book Club has appeared, suggesting that users make a minimum $10 donation to TPL in the mayor’s name; they can then take advantage of an option to have a card sent to the person in whose name the donation has been made. “The effect is two-fold,” says the rubric on the Rob Ford Book Club. “[G]ive the library a hand, and have your voice heard.”

The site offers detailed instructions for making a donation to TPL on behalf of a third party, then instructs users on how to have a card or e-card forwarded to Mayor Ford. Users are also encouraged to include a personal message for the mayor, but are cautioned against any inappropriate commentary:

Use your real name or an alias such as “Toronto citizen,” but please keep the message respectful and do not make any slurs, attacks, or threats toward the Mayor. We want you to express your desire to see libraries remain an important part of the city in a constructive and peaceful way.

Quillblog applauds this clever approach to civic activism, and wonders whether one of the cards the mayor receives will be from Atwood.

Reading meets romance at Vancouver Public Library

CLA kicks off Canadian Library Month

The Canadian Library Association kicked off Canadian Library Month on Tuesday. Throughout the month of October, libraries across the country will host events to raise awareness about the importance of libraries in the nation’s communities.

According to a press release from the CLA, the theme for 2011, Your Library: A Place Unbound, strengthens this message by pointing to libraries as hubs of information and personal connection in the midst of a quickly evolving world. “From coast to coast to coast, libraries are without boundaries, places of endless opportunity where Canadians have an equal right to access resources,” says CLA president Karen Adams in the media release.

Within the span of a few months, Canadian libraries have faced threats from municipal funding cuts, union strikes, devastating fires, and natural disasters — to name but a few challenges. It’s nice, then, to have some positive library-related news to report.

And in case a month of library celebrations isn’t uplifting enough, here’s a quick round up of other library-friendly news:

• The Nova Scotia Library Association names Tracey Jones-Grant winner of the 2011 Norman Horrocks Award for Library Leadership, and Rachel Crosby winner of the 2011 Emile Theriault Library and Information Technology Award for support staff
• Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries celebrates 75 years on Oct. 28
• Toronto Public Library’s Arthur Conan Doyle Room is getting a face lift
• Vancouver Public Library may have closed its Riley Park Branch last month, but Vancouver City Council has approved an increase in VPL funding for the brand new Terry Salman Branch

Happy Canadian Libraries Month!

Book links round-up: digital imprint to revive old titles, the world’s coolest libraries, and more

• Bloomsbury launches new digital imprint to revive of out-of-print classics
• The Calgary Herald looks at 12 of the world’s coolest libraries to mark Raise-a-Reader Day, an initiative supporting literacy programs in Canada
• Movie rights acquired for forthcoming book about Russell Williams, former Canadian military commander convicted of murder
• DreamWorks to adapt Roald Dahl’s The BFG
• TechCrunch predicts bookstores will disappear by 2018

Ottawa bibliophile helps tourists book their travel

Nigel Beale is an Ottawa resident, broadcaster, and inveterate book lover. He is also the owner and publisher of a new website, Literary Tourist, intended to assist bibliophilic travellers wishing to locate and explore interesting literary sites around the world. Literary Tourist’s searchable database lists used and new bookstores, independent bookstores, as well as literary landmarks, writers’ festivals, and rare libraries.

According to the site, the database “represents one of the world’s most comprehensive continuously updated directories of used bookstores and literary destinations” and “contains valuable, detailed information and reviews designed to help traveling bibliophiles determine how best to spend their time.”

From the Ottawa Citizen:

The idea, says Beale, was to create a travel resource for people who love books.

He says he’s concerned about used bookstores closing down, and hopes that by stimulating tourism, he can keep some stores in business.

Beale started his venture by buying Book Hunter Press, a small publishing firm that put out a guide to used bookstores in North America.

According to the Citizen, the website Biblio.com has signed on as a partner “to help promote independent bookstores.”

Donate books to the Slave Lake Library

The new Slave Lake public library, which opened in 2010, was one of hundreds of buildings destroyed in the terrible northern Alberta forest fire.

If you’re interested in helping out but aren’t sure how, the Peace Library System is taking donations of new or nearly new books (no more than two years old). Books can be shipped prepaid to:

Peace Library System
8301 — 110 Street
Grande Prairie, AB T8W 6T2
ATTN: Books for Slave Lake Library

The books will be catalogued and stored until a temporary library opens. Cash donations can also be made through the library’s website.