Responses to
Letter to the Boston Public Library
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/09/08/1739235.shtml
Overdrive. Our libraries come up short.
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/09/08/1739235.shtml
Overdrive. Our libraries come up short.
(Score:2, Informative)
by dsaklad (162420) on Sunday September 09,
@05:43AM (#20527231)
(http://zork.net/~dsaklad)
Send a letter to the Boston Public Library
* Send this page to somebody
"I therefore urge the Boston Public Library to
terminate its association with OverDrive Audio
Books, and adopt a policy of refusing to be
agents for the propagation of Digital
Restrictions Management."
http://www.fsf.org/news/letter-to-the-bpl
[fsf.org]
Richard Stallman sent a letter to the Boston
Public Library (BPL) asking them to abandon the
system they currently use to distribute audio
books, since this format requires the use of
proprietary software. It is illegal in the US to
release free software capable of reading these
audio books because of the Digital Restrictions
Management (DRM) measures that are being imposed.
You can help by sending your own letter to the
BPL (gref at bpl dot org) and by examining the
policies of your own local library. We would be
glad to see CCs of any letters you send at
[log in to unmask] [mailto] and to hear about any
similar policies in place at libraries other than
the BPL.
Please keep an eye on our DRM campaign area for
future updates about this and other related
issues
http://www.fsf.org/news/letter-to-the-bpl
[fsf.org]
[ Reply to This ]
+
Re:Overdrive. Our libraries come up short.
(Score:0)
by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 09,
@06:16AM (#20527357)
I would but my word processor only outputs
ODF [slashdot.org].
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
+
Re:Overdrive. Our libraries come up short.
(Score:2)
by shalla (642644) on Sunday September 09,
@12:55PM (#20529329)
Richard Stallman sent a letter to the Boston
Public Library (BPL) asking them to abandon
the system they currently use to distribute
audio books, since this format requires the
use of proprietary software. It is illegal
in the US to release free software capable
of reading these audio books because of the
Digital Restrictions Management (DRM)
measures that are being imposed.
Did he, you know, bother to ask what the
alternatives were?
There are no eAudiobook vendors for
libraries that do not use DRM. Libraries are
in the position of either not offering a
service that is highly requested by patrons,
or offering one that is useable only by
those with the dominant operating system. As
a librarian for a public library, I would
gladly offer a DRM-free, non-proprietary
format if one were available. However, since
my options are DRM or nothing, then I must
reluctantly opt for DRM.
So, rather than spamming libraries with form
letters when they are not in a position to
change the system, try writing to publishers
and to the vendors (OverDrive, NetLibrary,
Audible.com, etc.) with your comments.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
o
Re:Overdrive. Our libraries come up short.
(Score:1)
by dsaklad (162420) on Sunday September
09, @03:27PM (#20530587)
(http://zork.net/~dsaklad)
Around the web what are examples of
some links?... for free audio books
available that are compatible with more
types of computer setups?
It would be a good idea to list these
examples on libraries' websites where
library clientele are also pointed to
overdrive. Then overdrive becomes one
of the listed alternatives among other
free audio books that are available.
Boston Public Library and Cambridge
Public Library
http://www.cambridgema.gov/CPL/audioboo
ks.html [cambridgema.gov] across the
river should list many of the
alternatives including the overdrive
method rather than limiting the pointer
to only one!
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
#
Re:Overdrive. Our libraries come up short.
(Score:2)
by shalla (642644) on Sunday
September 09, @08:47PM (#20533113)
Sadly, there aren't that many good
sites with more than, say, 10 free
audio books on them. However,
that's better than a couple years
ago. I don't have my list with me
atm, but off the top of my head:
Librivox [librivox.org]
Audio Books For Free
[audiobooksforfree.com] (which has
both free and pay options)
Free Classic Audio Books
[freeclassi...obooks.com]
And this great post Audiobook
Podcast Collection [oculture.com]
at Open Culture, which lists some
sites at the bottom.
If you go through through the
list, you'll note that the vast
majority are classics in the
public domain rather than anything
new. I can't say they've been a
big hit with patrons.
There's also Audible.com
[audible.com],which is a pay site
with DRMed files for both Mac and
Windows.
For us, people often find the
eAudiobooks in our catalog when
they search and simply click on a
link to it, so if they're looking
for a specific book, that's often
how they get to the OverDrive or
NetLibrary version. I do agree
that libraries should list the
DRM-free audiobook sites on their
Web pages, and you could always
send them a polite e-mail
suggesting that they do that as a
service for patrons with
incompatible systems, iPods, etc.
After all, it will certainly make
the library look much better too.
:) (Sort of "We can't do anything
about this right now, but we're
out there looking for you guys
too!")
I'm not sure what different
libraries' policies would be about
putting up links to commercial
sites like Audible.com or Audio
Books for Free that the library
hasn't contracted with.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
o
Can't libraries negotiate?
(Score:1)
by tepples (727027)
<[log in to unmask]> on Sunday
September 09, @04:10PM (#20530951)
(http://atomichgstore.com/ | Last
Journal: Sunday November 19, @01:31AM)
Libraries are in the position of either
not offering a service that is highly
requested by patrons, or offering one
that is useable only by those with the
dominant operating system.
The library could ask patrons who feel
serious about audio books to sign a
petition against DRM in order to boost
its negotiating power, right?
However, since my options are DRM or
nothing, then I must reluctantly opt
for DRM.
If your options for paper books were to
keep them inside the physical presence
of the library (and not lend them) or
not to carry them at all, what would
you do?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
#
Re:Can't libraries negotiate?
(Score:2)
by shalla (642644) on Sunday
September 09, @08:22PM (#20532907)
The library could ask patrons who
feel serious about audio books to
sign a petition against DRM in
order to boost its negotiating
power, right?
Any one library doing this would
be ineffective. It has to be a
big, organized movement, and
frankly, we've got a few other
things going on right now. I'm not
saying it's a bad idea, just don't
expect your local library (which
may consist of one overworked
person) to necessarily put this at
the top of their To Do list.
That said, I do recommend you stop
in and have a friendly chat with
your local librarian to find out
what your library offers in this
vein, what he/she knows about it,
and if there's anything they think
you can do to help. Offer to sign
such a petition. If they don't
really understand DRM, try and
find a non-painful way to start
educating them on the issues. I
can't pretend that every library
has only people who understand
technology really well, but most
libraries have people who want to
serve their patrons well.
In another post, I gave the
contact information for OverDrive,
NetLibrary, and OCLC (NetLibrary's
parent organization). I'd suggest
writing to them about your
concerns, too. I imagine they have
to agree to DRM to get publishers
to agree to distribute eAudiobooks
through them. It might be easier
to organize through a single
organization or company to put
pressure on publishers than
through the widely scattered and
varied libraries of America.
If your options for paper books
were to keep them inside the
physical presence of the library
(and not lend them) or not to
carry them at all, what would you
do?
There are certainly cases where
you cannot take books out of the
library. In fact, there are whole
libraries and collections like
that where the items are too rare
or valuable to circulate and the
patrons have to come to the books.
Also, I note that circulating
books have to be returned to the
library in a certain amount of
time or you are billed to replace
them, and if you were to take the
book to the library's photocopier
and attempt to photocopy the whole
book, someone should stop you and
tell you that you can't because
that's a violation of copyright.
DRM on eAudiobooks is supposed to
replicate the checkout function by
causing eAudiobooks to expire when
the checkout period is done so you
can't keep them forever, and it's
supposed to stop you from breaking
copyright. So on digital items
checked out from a library, DRM
does have a legitimate function.
Library patrons don't have the
right to make back-up copies of
the borrowed work or keep it
forever. The trick is that 1) it
needs to work, and 2) it needs to
work with the systems and formats
of our patrons and not exclude
those who have something other
than the dominant system.
Now if it were an eAudiobook or
downloadable music I were
purchasing for myself, I would
expect it to be DRM-free so that I
could make back-up copies and I
wouldn't have to worry about
licenses or time outs. If they
can't offer multi-platform DRM for
libraries, then I think the
offerings need to be DRM-free. But
I do still see the point of DRM
when you're talking about borrowed
electronic materials. (Other
borrowed electronic materials such
as databases handle compensation
and access a different way, such
as limiting the number of
simultaneous users or whether the
database can be accessed remotely
and charging fees based on usage.
It's all very... icky. That's the
technical term.)
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
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Overdrive. Our libraries come up short.
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#News for nerds, stuff that matters Search Slashdot
Libraries Defend Open Access
Posted by kdawson on Sunday September 09, @05:03AM
from the we-already-paid-for-it-once dept.
Censorship Science
aisaac writes "Earlier this year an article in Nature
(PDF, subscription required) exposed publishers'
plans to equate public access to federally funded
research with government censorship and the
destruction of peer review. In an open letter last
month, Rockefeller University Press castigated the
publishers' sock-puppet outfit, PRISM, for using
distorting rhetoric in a coordinated PR attack on
open access. Now the Association of Research
Libraries has released an Issue Brief addressing this
PR campaign in more detail. The Issue Brief exposes
some of the distortions used to persuade key policy
makers that recent gains made by open access
scientific publishing pose a danger to peer reviewed
scientific research, free markets, and possibly the
future of western civilization. As an example of what
the publishers backing PRISM hate, consider the
wonderfully successful grants policy of the National
Institutes of Health, which requires papers based on
grant-funded research to be published in PubMed
Central."
[+] censorship, science, copyrighttheft, draconian,
journals (tagging beta)
Related Stories
[+] Scientist Must Pay to Read His Own Paper 289
comments
Glyn Moody writes "Peter Murray Rust, a chemist at
Cambridge University, was lost for words when he
found Oxford University Press's website demanded $48
from him to access his own scientific paper, in which
he holds copyright and which he released under a
Creative Commons license. As he writes, the journal
in question was "selling my intellectual property,
without my permission, against the terms of the
license (no commercial use)." In the light of this
kind of copyright abuse and of the PRISM Coalition, a
new FUD group set up by scientific publishers to
discredit open access, isn't it time to say enough is
enough, and demand free access to the research we pay
for through our taxes?"
Firehose:Libraries Defend Open Access by aisaac
(247911)
Libraries Defend Open Access | Log In/Create an
Account | Top | 116 comments | Search Discussion
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