Ms. 20 Copies, DRM and the ALA code of ethics: Rules just for biz hours?
No one from the Sterling Municipal Library in Baytown, Texas, is fessing up to a disappointing comment on e-books and piracy. Novelist Cornelia Amiri says she heard the following from a Baytown librarian speaking as a panelist at a science fiction convention: "We all love e-books because you can take that one download and send it to all your friends—so you have twenty of them instead of just one, and the publisher can’t track you down or do anything about it."
But you know what? I’m not eager to play RIAA and pin down the librarian and the library for sure. So I’ll simply reproduce a statement from Katherine Brown, the library director. "If any staff person attended yesterday’s Sci-Fi Fantasy Convention in Houston," she emailed me last night, "they did so on their own time, not as a representative of the library, and any comments they may have made would be their on thoughts and opinions and would not represent library policy or procedure."
Of course not. But I will at least quote from the ALA ethics code: "We respect intellectual property rights and advocate balance between the interests of information users and rights holders." Exactly. I myself don’t have a problem with anyone sharing an e-book with family or few friends, just like a P book. Fair use! But 20 copies, especially if the text might be available only in E, with no paper books to promote? Problematic. And now a question for librarians: Does the code apply only during business hours? If libraries are to back off from DRM, which I dearly hope they can do in time, then it is all the more important not to encourage abuse of fair use.
July 1st, 2008 at 7:10 pm
As a college librarian I am a defender, against my will, of the tower of e-Babel. I encourage faculty to do legal things with course reserves, even if it’s annoying. I give students reasonable and legal suggestions for images to use in presentations. And I follow and enforce the contracts we sign with publishers and vendors. Lots of librarians are anti-DRM, but you’re making a pretty big deal out of one irresponsible statement that doesn’t reflect the reality of any librarian I work with or have worked with.
July 1st, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Thanks for your comments, Chris. Please note the original item: Piracy-lovin’ librarians: How typical? Not very, as I see it—but read e-novelist Cornelia Amiri’s complaint. I’d hope that would put things in context.
The news here is that a librarian seemed be stepping rather publicly outside the ALA ethics code as it applies to intellectual property matters. Your statement just confirms what I said—that this is not typical.
But I still think that it would be helpful for it to be made clear that the code covers conduct outside business hours.
This issue is important to me since we can’t fight DRM without at the same time encouraging people to avoid abuse of fair use.
Once again, thanks for your thoughts, and I hope you’ll hang around here.
David
(Nonlibrarian)