Books UnBanned: Brooklyn Public Library

[Catlady]

Brooklyn Public Library is offering FREE digital library cards nationwide to anyone aged 13-21 for a limited time, to combat book banning. BPL's usual fee for out-of-state residents is $50.

The card will be good for one year and is designed to complement access to resources for teens in their local communities. The Brooklyn Public Library eCard provides access to 350,00 e-books; 200,000 audiobooks and over 100 databases. Teens will also be connected to their peers in Brooklyn, including members of BPL’s Intellectual Freedom Teen Council, to help one another with information and resources to fight censorship, book recommendations and the defense of freedom to read.

[Paperbackstash]

Nice idea.

[bcbob]

they actually carry Abigail Shrier's book "irreversible damage", which is often banned. good library.

[Renate]

I just coughed up $50 for a regular out-of-state library card.
Besides some hiccups getting it started I've been pleased with it and the availability of books vs. the long wait times for my regular library.
I'm about a factor of three outside the age range for a free card anyway.

[joblack]

Originally Posted by bcbob

they actually carry Abigail Shrier's book "irreversible damage", which is often banned. good library.

Good to know.

[simmias]

Originally Posted by Renate

I just coughed up $50 for a regular out-of-state library card.
Besides some hiccups getting it started I've been pleased with it and the availability of books vs. the long wait times for my regular library.
I'm about a factor of three outside the age range for a free card anyway.

I've done the same for a few years now and have recommended them to friends and family. They also let you recommend ebooks and audiobooks for the library to buy, and they've bought quite a few that I've recommended.

[Clort]

I know only bad people banned books in the past.
But isn't the banning nowadays good?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Clort

I know only bad people banned books in the past.
But isn't the banning nowadays good?

Is this a clumsy attempt at satire? Or something else?

[Renate]

Originally Posted by simmias

They also let you recommend ebooks and audiobooks for the library to buy, and they've bought quite a few that I've recommended.

I've been quite disappointed myself. Whether recommending books through the OverDrive web interface or sending emails directly to the library I've never seen any result.
(Most grating, three copies of the first volume of a trilogy and zero additional volumes!)
As somebody who knows something about libraries, I realize they can't accept random physical donations (someone's hand-written 20 volume autobiography) and for different reasons (ownership and DRM) random digital donations.
Yet I don't know what the cost to a library it is to procure the rights to a digital asset. Is it the same cost as for you and me?
I sent an email to my library. "You have this book in the 3rd edition. I'll donate $50 if you'll buy the 5th edition." No reply.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Renate

Yet I don't know what the cost to a library it is to procure the rights to a digital asset. Is it the same cost as for you and me?
I sent an email to my library. "You have this book in the 3rd edition. I'll donate $50 if you'll buy the 5th edition." No reply.

The cost to the library is considerably higher than the cost to you as an individual and the library copy comes with restrictions on the maximum number of loans (50 -100 are common) and, for many publishers, a limit on the length of the license (1 or 2 years is common). One sample that I ran into was an ebook that is sold on Kobo or Amazon for $14.99 US but costs the library $84 US for a 52 loan/2 year license (whichever comes first). This means that many libraries can not afford to keep ebooks that are not popular after the loan count/time expires so no searching for backlist items at most libraries.

One chart I ran into for the Big 5 was:

• Hachette: Metered Access, 24 month licensing model
• HarperCollins: Metered Access, 26 checkout licensing model
• Macmillan: Perpetual license for one copy; Metered access, 24 month licensing model after 8 week embargo for any additional copies
• Penguin Random House: Metered Access, 24 month licensing model
• Simon & Schuster: Metered Access, 24 month licensing model

At my local library, one recent horrible example was an ebook that was priced at $104.29 Cdn with a 52 loan limit/2 year limit so the library would be paying ~$2 or more per loan. The same book from Kobo or Amazon Canada was on sale for $9.99 Cdn.

[Renate]

Thanks!

In my ignorance I thought that they bought and own "a copy" and can do anything they want as long as only one person is reading it at a time.

So you're saying that when I check out a book, besides denying other, I am actually eating into an asset? Yikes!

I try to be good, I only check out a book when I'm empty, not to put it on the stack. Most of my libraries have a minimum 7 day checkout and I use that. One library also has 2 and 4 day checkout.

OTOH, I've had the experience of getting a book for 7 days and realizing that it's actually 800 pages of densonium!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Renate

In my ignorance I thought that they bought and own "a copy" and can do anything they want as long as only one person is reading it at a time.

That was what I though until an IT person who works at a local library corrected my thoughts a few years back.

Originally Posted by Renate

So you're saying that when I check out a book, besides denying other, I am actually eating into an asset? Yikes!

I try to avoid doing that and only check out a book when I have time to read it. This has required putting a book back on hold a couple of times.

Originally Posted by Renate

I try to be good, I only check out a book when I'm empty, not to put it on the stack. Most of my libraries have a minimum 7 day checkout and I use that. One library also has 2 and 4 day checkout.

OTOH, I've had the experience of getting a book for 7 days and realizing that it's actually 800 pages of densonium!

I use 7 days as my default as well though I have changed it to a higher number when checking out longer books. One recent omnibus ran to ~5800 pages which even for me, takes a while to read not to mention stopping to read other books as palate refreshers when my brain started to fry. I was just happy that I got the ebook since the pbook came in two volumes suitable for door stoppers.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by meeera

Is this a clumsy attempt at satire? Or something else?

I rather doubt it, they've also made a post over in the NYPL version of this thread (NYC has both a library system for Brooklyn and NYC, previously I think Queens had one but it may have folded into the NYC system).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by meeera

Is this a clumsy attempt at satire? Or something else?

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I rather doubt it, they've also made a post over in the NYPL version of this thread (NYC has both a library system for Brooklyn and NYC, previously I think Queens had one but it may have folded into the NYC system).

Perhaps a touching and childlike belief that they, whomever they may be, would not ban a book without a very good reason such as the judicial system ruling the book is not acceptable.

Perhaps just an attempt to stir the pot?

For the most part IRL, I find it's often people's nasty prejudices that cause pressure to be applied to have books banned. To slightly misquote a song's lyrics, "But honey, they're not our kind".

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by DNSB

To slightly misquote a song's lyrics, "But honey, they're not our kind".

That's a great song