[bksvol-discuss] Public Libraries as a source of Electronic Text
- From: "Kelly Ford" <kelly@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:06:40 -0700
Hello,
I'll admit up front that I'm not an expert on the various laws dealing with
current access to printed books in electronic format. I have a basic
understanding of the different laws and such but would like to toss an idea
out for consideration.
I read here once in a while about the high speed scanning of books done by
the folks at Bookshare and think how many books that process scans with the
same amount of effort it takes me to scan a single book. So then I think
that maybe I should go invest in a high speed scanner. Then my ideas are
tempered by the fact that I doubt my public library would appreciate me
cutting the bindings off books.
I eventually come to ask myself why my tax dollars are not doing more to
make printed books accessible? My basic thinking goes like this:
Libraries around the country spend hundreds of millions, if not billions of
public dollars purchasing books from the publishing industry. For example
according to the current King County library budget, approximately 7.5
million dollars will be spent this year buying printed books by that library
system.
So, what if all the libraries spending this public money said the public
purchasing of books would stop until publishers agreed to provide electronic
versions of books to an organization like Bookshare for distribution in
accessible alternative formats?
I'm no expert here so don't know if the public money spent would be missed
by the publishing industry.
I recognize this is a very simplistic example just now but wonder what folks
with more knowledge in the area think?
Kelly
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