I swear I was thinking of this same thing just a few days ago! I wanted to make a post about how in a world of subscriptions, ads, control, politics and definitely enshitification due to corporate...
I swear I was thinking of this same thing just a few days ago! I wanted to make a post about how in a world of subscriptions, ads, control, politics and definitely enshitification due to corporate interests and profit margins, how public libraries are still "allowed".
Think about it. Public libraries have an inherent liberal bias (l say this with tongue in cheek on purpose). They seek to provide education to the masses for free. This concept of education for all, of withholding education being amoral and cruel, of education being what you decide you need, not mandated or controlled or censored, absolutely does not fit in the world I've described.
It provides no immediate profit, instead it provides unmeasured and theoretical profit as the adult learns and gets higher paying jobs where his or her output is multiplied back into the economy. That's not good for excel sheet bean counters. If it can't be tracked and that profit isn't controlled, it's unwanted.
Worst still, educating an adult has the unfortunate side effect of them gaining the ability to think critically. A thorn in the side of fascists everywhere. No body wants someone that knows actual facts and can see through ploys. No body wants a self sufficient human subsisting off the land, you can't make a wage slave out of that.
Public libraries are inherently liberal and inherently anti capitalistic. They produce secular and intelligent people. And they do it for free.
They are also under funded, constantly under attack, and in my opinion only around because of ancient philosophies and legislation that will inevitably be eroded until they are no more.
They couldn't have more of a massive target on their back, just like public schools and really, public_ in general.
And now here someone wrote an essay about it.
Universities already underwent enshitification. They champion education as a core value talking point and happily demand your money as well. Some universities are self aware and are fighting the tide which is good. But they have millions to do it.
If libraries fall and their resources become harder to reach, we will slide further and further into what we all fear, feudalism with no middle class. Purely the haves and the have nots.
I guess to be more on point: the enshitification of public libraries is happening because they're trying to keep up with a world that has no room for them. The shitty services that are trying to accommodate their models in a digital age are something no one wants to develop because there's little money in it.
They've gotten creative with how they've stayed alive but for how long?
I see why you are saying what you are, but I have to disagree on one point in particular. Public libraries do not inherently produce secular and intelligent people. I have worked for over five...
Exemplary
I see why you are saying what you are, but I have to disagree on one point in particular. Public libraries do not inherently produce secular and intelligent people. I have worked for over five years in a public library shelving materials, and I have heard and seen things that have lead me to the conclusion that the public library is a tool that is only as good as the person who wields it.
I can walk into a library and find books that do not reflect facts or reality. "Then why are they in the library?" you might ask. Because there is a public demand for it. Librarians are not and should not be the arbiters of what is factually correct; they are there to help people find the answers they are looking for, and those answers aren't always right. I've heard it said, and I agree, if you don't find something offensive at your local library then it isn't a good library. Discourse only happens when opposing ideas are introduced.
Speaking only of my own library, I have seen books promoting unproven health fads, "medical" treatments that are more snake oil than anything else. various political pundits' pet theories on why the world is terrible, self-help books like The Secret which promote some truly out there claims about how reality works, and books about extra terrestrials from the 80's that still circulate for some reason. I find all of these to be incorrect and inaccurate, but I know why we have them. In the same way that there are books in the collection that I love, I acknowledge that there's likely at least one person out there would probably find fault with them. They have as much right to read what they want to as I have to read what I want. People are people, and people make mistakes.
I get what you're going for, and I feel you, but public libraries aren't going to fix society by simply existing. Public libraries are simply the starting point for societal change. Get the tools that you need from your local library and use them to teach the people around you. So yes, get out there and lobby for your libraries. Get them all the funding they can. And most importantly, USE your library. Funding is based on things like circulation numbers, program attendance statistics, and daily visitors counts. The more you use your library, the more it will grow.
Umm, hard disagree, especially with regard to reference librarians. Libraries should catalog every point of view perhaps, but they should definitely make judgments about the factual value of their...
Librarians are not and should not be the arbiters of what is factually correct
Umm, hard disagree, especially with regard to reference librarians. Libraries should catalog every point of view perhaps, but they should definitely make judgments about the factual value of their volumes, and where possible, help educate their patrons about why they made their decisions.
And it’s the whole reason for having a classification system, separating fiction from non fiction at the top.
Totally agree with you. I’m an academic librarian and our primary focus is teaching information literacy skills. Which, at its core, is teaching students to make judgements about the factual value...
Totally agree with you. I’m an academic librarian and our primary focus is teaching information literacy skills. Which, at its core, is teaching students to make judgements about the factual value of information.
Very good addition! Thanks for correcting me and chiming in with your experience. Public libraries won't always produce secular and intelligent people, just like public schools won't produce...
Very good addition! Thanks for correcting me and chiming in with your experience. Public libraries won't always produce secular and intelligent people, just like public schools won't produce intelligent critical thinking members of society. It's a numbers game. A percentage. Maybe there was a time when libraries and universities produced highly productive and thoughtful members of society. Let's say 50% of the people walking in walked out better for it. That imaginary metric is certainly tanked if I'd do an imaginary survey today.
The quality of the books going down is also a symptom of the library system failing. It's not up to the library to have an agenda or bias in terms of what should be available to the reader, but if having anime and Die Hard 2 for rent gets people in the door, then so be it. It's a percentage game. As long as they produce at least 1 secular and intelligent person, they're still a public service. But if the library is full of terrible books then now it's harming the public because if they can't discern why these books are trash before they walk in the door, the public library will just further them along.
Being reactionary (money is running out what do we do: anime) is not ideal. It's a sign the system started to fail long before modern times. If the library won't weigh in on what's on their shelves then they're to blame for their own downfall as well. If they aren't an active agent but a reactionary one it's difficult to sympathize if they claim victimhood.
The people refilling the stacks should absolutely not be making judgement calls on individual books; at the same time, each book is being reviewed (or at least given a cursory glance) by someone...
The people refilling the stacks should absolutely not be making judgement calls on individual books; at the same time, each book is being reviewed (or at least given a cursory glance) by someone qualified to do it. The fiction books are in the fiction section.
I sometimes think about the miracle of public libraries. Can you imagine trying to propose something like this now? The arguments about how they're socialist, how they would hurt mom and pop...
I sometimes think about the miracle of public libraries. Can you imagine trying to propose something like this now? The arguments about how they're socialist, how they would hurt mom and pop bookstore shops (but more importantly, Barnes and Nobles), how why should my taxes pay for free books for poor people bad with money, etc etc etc? I'm frankly stunned that its a concept that still exists.
Exactly my point! It's a almost an anachronism. It shouldn't exist here and yet they still do. Pitching this idea now would be impossible. Pitching public schools is also an exercise in futility....
Exactly my point! It's a almost an anachronism. It shouldn't exist here and yet they still do. Pitching this idea now would be impossible. Pitching public schools is also an exercise in futility.
I'm trying to forecast what else will be under attack and I almost have a formula.
To find your target first pick something that is free or very cheap and benefits people.
To be honest, I've kind of always thought Overdrive/Libby was kind of shitty. When The Martian (movie) came out, I wanted to read the book it was based off of. So I went to the library, and...
To be honest, I've kind of always thought Overdrive/Libby was kind of shitty.
When The Martian (movie) came out, I wanted to read the book it was based off of. So I went to the library, and naturally they didn't have it. So I went into Overdrive to try and read the ebook version. It was already checked out, so I put myself on the waitlist. It took months before I got it, by which time I had lost interest. So I thought I'd do what any responsible library patron would do - return the book. And it turned out that the only way to do so is to simply wait for your lending period to expire.
That honestly made me feel like dirt. Here I was, preventing people who actually wanted to read it from accessing it for a week for literally no reason. And to make things worse, the library probably had to pay for my ability to not read it.
I don't think libraries are wrong for partnering with Overdrive for ebooks, but as far as I'm concerned, Overdrive was always something of a racket. It's the same with just about every middleman. Readers would do much better to read the physical books if they can, and if they can't it's probably better for your local library if you pirate the book (not using their internet!). Though sadly, it's not better for the author of the book.
If you like e-books and audio books you may want to give Libby another chance. It's honestly the only reason I've started reading for fun again. I got a Kindle and all of a sudden a ton of books I...
If you like e-books and audio books you may want to give Libby another chance. It's honestly the only reason I've started reading for fun again. I got a Kindle and all of a sudden a ton of books I was curious to read were available. Plus I can put holds on lots of books I'm interested in and because of it always have something new to read once I've finished the current book.
If I don't respond to a book I've been on the wait-list for when it's my turn, Libby, puts me back on the list and gives the opportunity to the next person. I can return a book instantly when I've finished it or am no longer interested. I never really did much besides audiobooks with overdrive, but Libby is doing a very good job as it's successor in my experience. Additionally it makes it easy to add multiple library cards and search for books in different catalogs. This has been great since I have access to a few library cards and some books aren't available in every library. I can usually find books I'm interested in, don't need to pirate them, and I suspect the engagement helps support library use statistics which pirating wouldn't help.
Additionally, the accessibility of e-books is much higher for me than paper. I love the feeling of paper books, don't get me wrong. But long books are daunting for me to start. E-readers take size and length issue out of my mind and allow me to just enjoy the experience of reading. Being able to adjust the find, spacing, and brightness are huge experience bonuses. Also being able to take several books with me on trips has been an unexpected enjoyment as I find I like reading a few books at a time so I can read something to fits my mood and interest at the time.
I certainly understand e-books and the Libby format for interacting with a Library aren't for everyone, but it does make library resources much more accessible to a lot of people. So I'm not sure your criticism is necessarily fair based on the current state of Libby.
A great read of an Essay that deep dives into the enshittification of Overdrive, an App that partners with Libraries, and also gives a pretty grim outlook of politicians banning thousands of books...
A great read of an Essay that deep dives into the enshittification of Overdrive, an App that partners with Libraries, and also gives a pretty grim outlook of politicians banning thousands of books in the US and making it illegal for minors to access certain library materials. Some great investigative writing.
My biggest frustration with the move to Libby was the loss of MP3 files being downloadable from within the app. Now it delivers some encrypted files that are absolutely useless in MP3 players....
My biggest frustration with the move to Libby was the loss of MP3 files being downloadable from within the app. Now it delivers some encrypted files that are absolutely useless in MP3 players. Thankfully I found a workaround from a Firefox Extension, but it's still more work than I had to put in before.
But to actually discuss the article...
I never used the library recommend feature, mostly because I was self-conscious about asking my library to spend money on my requests. I realize that it's important for them to serve their patrons though, and that is, after all, the goal of the library.
The "Notify Me" feature definitely seems like a poorly thought out replacement. Or at least, a poorly-implemented one. Libby is still relatively new, so maybe it's under development. I can't imagine why it's so well-hidden, but I do understand them tying the functionality to a notification of when book becomes available, because that expresses similar intent to the previous button.
On the whole, I don't really see the author's argument that the removal of this feature is indicative of a larger, evil plan to drain the company of all of its value. Buyouts absolutely can signal changes in companies, but the scenarios depicted here rely a lot on imagination, and not very much on actual changes to Overdrive.
I also find it a little unfair to accuse them of pushing the Libby app for "surveillance data collection". First, there was no actual evidence for that claim. Second, as much as I hate it, apps are just the way of the world. It's likely how the vast majority of their users are interacting with their platform, so it makes sense for them to concentrate their efforts there.
I also find the privacy argument to be weird because they go on to criticize Overdrive for anonymizing library requests. Previously libraries could see the users making requests and reach out, but now it's anonymous and aggregated. This reduces a library's effectiveness, but it does introduce more user privacy. It's a tradeoff; not simple good or evil. Because the mechanism to request books is now a notification toggle, I think people are more likely to assume it's an anonymous action, so the move actually makes sense to me.
I guess I agree with the main thrust of the article, but find it poorly argued and a bit long-winded and ranty. Plus I'm getting really sick of the word "enshittification" already. I don't need to look at photos of birds pooping when reading about reading.
Whenever I see stuff like this, it makes me wish there were open source alternatives for these kinds of things. Same with Google's growing stranglehold over schools with Chromebooks and Google...
Whenever I see stuff like this, it makes me wish there were open source alternatives for these kinds of things. Same with Google's growing stranglehold over schools with Chromebooks and Google Classroom.
It sucks because I'm honestly not sure it would be doable. Many of these types of services wouldn't be cheap to build or run, and I can't imagine funding would be easy — after all, most successful open source projects either serve to make big companies money or are basically someone's hobby. I suppose it wouldn't be all that hard to build something the library/school would have to host themselves, but there are good reasons for these institutions to want a turnkey service.
It would be amazing if there could be some kind of "public works" type government funding for software projects like this. Definitely a pipe dream, but hey, it'd be cool.
Looks like there kind of is already Library Simplified by the New York Public Library Although they work with and heavily integrate Ebook and Audiobook DRM with Overdrive/Adobe :(...
I don't think there's generally much of a way around this with the corrupted intellectual property and copyright laws. The rightsholders which have become more and more concentrated into fewer and...
Although they work with and heavily integrate Ebook and Audiobook DRM with Overdrive/Adobe :(
I don't think there's generally much of a way around this with the corrupted intellectual property and copyright laws. The rightsholders which have become more and more concentrated into fewer and fewer hands generally only want to work with these protections in place.
This feels like an important article — thank you for posting, OP. I have to say, I’ve had a pretty positive experience with Libby. I still check out physical books from my branch, but Libby is...
This feels like an important article — thank you for posting, OP. I have to say, I’ve had a pretty positive experience with Libby. I still check out physical books from my branch, but Libby is go-to for audiobooks (which I make frequent use of whilst walking my dog).
Arguments made here re: privacy are valid. The fact that my name is associated with a bunch of books about topics such as drug use has crossed my mind, but I just sort of shrugged it off because it’s the library. The VC-backed middleman with access to all that data was sort of in my blind spot. Also, I just checked, and I currently have 15 books tagged with Notify Me. I did not know I was making a request for those books to be purchased
If I knew more about ebooks, or more about app development, I'd suggest making some kind of open source option that any library would have free access to download and start using. But I don't even...
If I knew more about ebooks, or more about app development, I'd suggest making some kind of open source option that any library would have free access to download and start using.
But I don't even really know what all Libby does, so I'm in no place to say how difficult such a thing would be to replicate.
It’s all DRM-based artificial scarcity. It completely undermines the promise of digital text and file sharing that the internet was supposed to bring us. Information wants to be free, but the dire...
It’s all DRM-based artificial scarcity. It completely undermines the promise of digital text and file sharing that the internet was supposed to bring us. Information wants to be free, but the dire state of copyright law and rapacious IP rights-holders has caused arbitrary anti-user walls to be erected around it.
Ironically the whole point of public libraries was always something closer to that original open-source, piracy-adjacent vision. The libraries have gotten into bed with a system that’s fundamentally opposed to the values they were built on.
The libraries didn't have a choice. It was either get in bed with the devil or be eradicated. Books and print were already going extinct, the digital age evolved the media and they had to evolve...
The libraries didn't have a choice. It was either get in bed with the devil or be eradicated. Books and print were already going extinct, the digital age evolved the media and they had to evolve with it.
The issue is libraries don't have the capital to innovate their own solution so they asked for help. The help manufactured a way to make money because that's the world we live in. The libraries play by one rule and the rest of the world plays by another.
As you said, piracy adjacent. Libraries and piracy are queer bedfellows. But that's just tugging at the larger cord of the internet.
The library of Alexandria, the written word, early universities, and the internet. Information shouldn't be gated, I agree, and yet it becomes gated. Artifical walls erected, like you said. What's the purpose of that self defeating ideology? Why can't we share works? Should only reference and educational texts be free and not entertainment? Is that the line? Can there even be a line?
What boggles my mind is the success at which information has been gated and the tenacity of pirates to push back. Pirates wouldn't exist where it not for the gatekeepers. Gatekeepers wouldn't feel the need to gate if they weren't required to secure profits or generate profits.
See, that's bunk. Kind of. They have plenty of space to innovate, when giant legal barriers aren't erected in their faces. Early on, libraries were rapid adopters of digital databases, because of...
The issue is libraries don't have the capital to innovate their own solution so they asked for help
See, that's bunk. Kind of. They have plenty of space to innovate, when giant legal barriers aren't erected in their faces.
Early on, libraries were rapid adopters of digital databases, because of the ease of curating and maintaining it.
I recall that when the internet was first hitting the masses in the 90s, but ebooks were not yet a thing, many libraries were undergoing efforts to digitize books for digital lending. This of course was shot down.
I also recall there being much friction between the movie and music industries that libraries would loan out movies and cds for free. I think there werre several lawsuits from copyright holders trying to turn librarians into copyright police, making them culpable for downstream infringement by their users.
Libraries aren't on the cutting edge moatly becauae they're in constant friction against the IP industry, and that said industry tries to downplay the value of libraries to the masses.
Well that still goes back to money doesn't it? How would they fight the laws and lobbyists? Money. Who lobby's for libraries? No one. Who can fund the defense counter lawsuit for libraries? No...
Well that still goes back to money doesn't it? How would they fight the laws and lobbyists? Money. Who lobby's for libraries? No one. Who can fund the defense counter lawsuit for libraries? No one.
Part of developing is to navigate legal waters with your solution. If emulator developers managed to do it and can fend off Sony and Nintendo then the issue isn't necessarily capital but creativity.
Libraries have / had solutions, some innovative. Where did those people go? I believe the solutions are now tricky and require legal expertise or require paying people a very high salary, one the libraries can't afford.
So is there a barrier to entry for some kind of open source alternative? If I understand it the problem right now is that when libraries are "buying" an audio book they're just buying a licensing...
So is there a barrier to entry for some kind of open source alternative?
If I understand it the problem right now is that when libraries are "buying" an audio book they're just buying a licensing agreement to stream audio books from a server owned by the company which maintains actual control over the data and increasingly limits access only through proprietary apps.
If we compare this to the current alternative to this, pirating, that often occurs through peer to peer sharing of files that are scattered around various other people's personal files. So would a similar scheme be possible where individual libraries secure copies of audio books as requested by their listeners, and then share those copies between other libraries through some peer to peer file sharing?
That way, all participating libraries effectively become one large eLibrary, for the purpose of audiobooks. When you want a book your library doesn't have, it just sends a down load request to a participating library and gets a copy from them for free. And since each library is keeping copies of its own small slice of audiobooks, there isn't the need to invest in massive data centers, you just need enough storage to hold the audio books YOUR library is responsible for.
I dont know how 3rd party audiobook sales work though. Maybe libraries just don't get the option to buy directly?
The problem is copyright laws. The first sale doctrine is what basically allowed libraries to operate, but ownership is a thing that barely exists in the digital world where you're not buying...
So would a similar scheme be possible where individual libraries secure copies of audio books as requested by their listeners, and then share those copies between other libraries through some peer to peer file sharing?
The problem is copyright laws. The first sale doctrine is what basically allowed libraries to operate, but ownership is a thing that barely exists in the digital world where you're not buying ownership to the thing you spend your money on, you're buying a license that gives you limited rights to use the content in a fashion that the rights holder permits.
That link is from the American Library Association. Even has this towards the top
Quite simply, first sale is what allows libraries to do what we do – lend books and materials to our patrons, the public.
You can see other resources and materials in that link as well.
In any case, modern copyright laws are what is destroying all of this, because the laws have been written by and for corporate interests and not public interests.
Speaking of enshittification generally, it occurs to me its hardly new or limited to online platforms. Publishers themselves are an example, at one time effectively connecting authors and readers;...
Speaking of enshittification generally, it occurs to me its hardly new or limited to online platforms. Publishers themselves are an example, at one time effectively connecting authors and readers; no just collecting rents on highly promoted works.
Car dealerships are another off line example. Walmart is arguably an example. I wonder if it could be said that Sears did not sufficiently enshittify itself?
Perhaps HOAs are a symptom of the community enshittification brought on initially by suburbanism?
I swear I was thinking of this same thing just a few days ago! I wanted to make a post about how in a world of subscriptions, ads, control, politics and definitely enshitification due to corporate interests and profit margins, how public libraries are still "allowed".
Think about it. Public libraries have an inherent liberal bias (l say this with tongue in cheek on purpose). They seek to provide education to the masses for free. This concept of education for all, of withholding education being amoral and cruel, of education being what you decide you need, not mandated or controlled or censored, absolutely does not fit in the world I've described.
It provides no immediate profit, instead it provides unmeasured and theoretical profit as the adult learns and gets higher paying jobs where his or her output is multiplied back into the economy. That's not good for excel sheet bean counters. If it can't be tracked and that profit isn't controlled, it's unwanted.
Worst still, educating an adult has the unfortunate side effect of them gaining the ability to think critically. A thorn in the side of fascists everywhere. No body wants someone that knows actual facts and can see through ploys. No body wants a self sufficient human subsisting off the land, you can't make a wage slave out of that.
Public libraries are inherently liberal and inherently anti capitalistic. They produce secular and intelligent people. And they do it for free.
They are also under funded, constantly under attack, and in my opinion only around because of ancient philosophies and legislation that will inevitably be eroded until they are no more.
They couldn't have more of a massive target on their back, just like public schools and really, public_ in general.
And now here someone wrote an essay about it.
Universities already underwent enshitification. They champion education as a core value talking point and happily demand your money as well. Some universities are self aware and are fighting the tide which is good. But they have millions to do it.
If libraries fall and their resources become harder to reach, we will slide further and further into what we all fear, feudalism with no middle class. Purely the haves and the have nots.
I guess to be more on point: the enshitification of public libraries is happening because they're trying to keep up with a world that has no room for them. The shitty services that are trying to accommodate their models in a digital age are something no one wants to develop because there's little money in it.
They've gotten creative with how they've stayed alive but for how long?
I see why you are saying what you are, but I have to disagree on one point in particular. Public libraries do not inherently produce secular and intelligent people. I have worked for over five years in a public library shelving materials, and I have heard and seen things that have lead me to the conclusion that the public library is a tool that is only as good as the person who wields it.
I can walk into a library and find books that do not reflect facts or reality. "Then why are they in the library?" you might ask. Because there is a public demand for it. Librarians are not and should not be the arbiters of what is factually correct; they are there to help people find the answers they are looking for, and those answers aren't always right. I've heard it said, and I agree, if you don't find something offensive at your local library then it isn't a good library. Discourse only happens when opposing ideas are introduced.
Speaking only of my own library, I have seen books promoting unproven health fads, "medical" treatments that are more snake oil than anything else. various political pundits' pet theories on why the world is terrible, self-help books like The Secret which promote some truly out there claims about how reality works, and books about extra terrestrials from the 80's that still circulate for some reason. I find all of these to be incorrect and inaccurate, but I know why we have them. In the same way that there are books in the collection that I love, I acknowledge that there's likely at least one person out there would probably find fault with them. They have as much right to read what they want to as I have to read what I want. People are people, and people make mistakes.
I get what you're going for, and I feel you, but public libraries aren't going to fix society by simply existing. Public libraries are simply the starting point for societal change. Get the tools that you need from your local library and use them to teach the people around you. So yes, get out there and lobby for your libraries. Get them all the funding they can. And most importantly, USE your library. Funding is based on things like circulation numbers, program attendance statistics, and daily visitors counts. The more you use your library, the more it will grow.
Umm, hard disagree, especially with regard to reference librarians. Libraries should catalog every point of view perhaps, but they should definitely make judgments about the factual value of their volumes, and where possible, help educate their patrons about why they made their decisions.
And it’s the whole reason for having a classification system, separating fiction from non fiction at the top.
Totally agree with you. I’m an academic librarian and our primary focus is teaching information literacy skills. Which, at its core, is teaching students to make judgements about the factual value of information.
Very good addition! Thanks for correcting me and chiming in with your experience. Public libraries won't always produce secular and intelligent people, just like public schools won't produce intelligent critical thinking members of society. It's a numbers game. A percentage. Maybe there was a time when libraries and universities produced highly productive and thoughtful members of society. Let's say 50% of the people walking in walked out better for it. That imaginary metric is certainly tanked if I'd do an imaginary survey today.
The quality of the books going down is also a symptom of the library system failing. It's not up to the library to have an agenda or bias in terms of what should be available to the reader, but if having anime and Die Hard 2 for rent gets people in the door, then so be it. It's a percentage game. As long as they produce at least 1 secular and intelligent person, they're still a public service. But if the library is full of terrible books then now it's harming the public because if they can't discern why these books are trash before they walk in the door, the public library will just further them along.
Being reactionary (money is running out what do we do: anime) is not ideal. It's a sign the system started to fail long before modern times. If the library won't weigh in on what's on their shelves then they're to blame for their own downfall as well. If they aren't an active agent but a reactionary one it's difficult to sympathize if they claim victimhood.
The people refilling the stacks should absolutely not be making judgement calls on individual books; at the same time, each book is being reviewed (or at least given a cursory glance) by someone qualified to do it. The fiction books are in the fiction section.
Oook?
I sometimes think about the miracle of public libraries. Can you imagine trying to propose something like this now? The arguments about how they're socialist, how they would hurt mom and pop bookstore shops (but more importantly, Barnes and Nobles), how why should my taxes pay for free books for poor people bad with money, etc etc etc? I'm frankly stunned that its a concept that still exists.
Exactly my point! It's a almost an anachronism. It shouldn't exist here and yet they still do. Pitching this idea now would be impossible. Pitching public schools is also an exercise in futility.
I'm trying to forecast what else will be under attack and I almost have a formula.
To find your target first pick something that is free or very cheap and benefits people.
That's it.
To be honest, I've kind of always thought Overdrive/Libby was kind of shitty.
When The Martian (movie) came out, I wanted to read the book it was based off of. So I went to the library, and naturally they didn't have it. So I went into Overdrive to try and read the ebook version. It was already checked out, so I put myself on the waitlist. It took months before I got it, by which time I had lost interest. So I thought I'd do what any responsible library patron would do - return the book. And it turned out that the only way to do so is to simply wait for your lending period to expire.
That honestly made me feel like dirt. Here I was, preventing people who actually wanted to read it from accessing it for a week for literally no reason. And to make things worse, the library probably had to pay for my ability to not read it.
I don't think libraries are wrong for partnering with Overdrive for ebooks, but as far as I'm concerned, Overdrive was always something of a racket. It's the same with just about every middleman. Readers would do much better to read the physical books if they can, and if they can't it's probably better for your local library if you pirate the book (not using their internet!). Though sadly, it's not better for the author of the book.
You can definitely return books back early on Libby now.
If you like e-books and audio books you may want to give Libby another chance. It's honestly the only reason I've started reading for fun again. I got a Kindle and all of a sudden a ton of books I was curious to read were available. Plus I can put holds on lots of books I'm interested in and because of it always have something new to read once I've finished the current book.
If I don't respond to a book I've been on the wait-list for when it's my turn, Libby, puts me back on the list and gives the opportunity to the next person. I can return a book instantly when I've finished it or am no longer interested. I never really did much besides audiobooks with overdrive, but Libby is doing a very good job as it's successor in my experience. Additionally it makes it easy to add multiple library cards and search for books in different catalogs. This has been great since I have access to a few library cards and some books aren't available in every library. I can usually find books I'm interested in, don't need to pirate them, and I suspect the engagement helps support library use statistics which pirating wouldn't help.
Additionally, the accessibility of e-books is much higher for me than paper. I love the feeling of paper books, don't get me wrong. But long books are daunting for me to start. E-readers take size and length issue out of my mind and allow me to just enjoy the experience of reading. Being able to adjust the find, spacing, and brightness are huge experience bonuses. Also being able to take several books with me on trips has been an unexpected enjoyment as I find I like reading a few books at a time so I can read something to fits my mood and interest at the time.
I certainly understand e-books and the Libby format for interacting with a Library aren't for everyone, but it does make library resources much more accessible to a lot of people. So I'm not sure your criticism is necessarily fair based on the current state of Libby.
A great read of an Essay that deep dives into the enshittification of Overdrive, an App that partners with Libraries, and also gives a pretty grim outlook of politicians banning thousands of books in the US and making it illegal for minors to access certain library materials. Some great investigative writing.
My biggest frustration with the move to Libby was the loss of MP3 files being downloadable from within the app. Now it delivers some encrypted files that are absolutely useless in MP3 players. Thankfully I found a workaround from a Firefox Extension, but it's still more work than I had to put in before.
But to actually discuss the article...
I never used the library recommend feature, mostly because I was self-conscious about asking my library to spend money on my requests. I realize that it's important for them to serve their patrons though, and that is, after all, the goal of the library.
The "Notify Me" feature definitely seems like a poorly thought out replacement. Or at least, a poorly-implemented one. Libby is still relatively new, so maybe it's under development. I can't imagine why it's so well-hidden, but I do understand them tying the functionality to a notification of when book becomes available, because that expresses similar intent to the previous button.
On the whole, I don't really see the author's argument that the removal of this feature is indicative of a larger, evil plan to drain the company of all of its value. Buyouts absolutely can signal changes in companies, but the scenarios depicted here rely a lot on imagination, and not very much on actual changes to Overdrive.
I also find it a little unfair to accuse them of pushing the Libby app for "surveillance data collection". First, there was no actual evidence for that claim. Second, as much as I hate it, apps are just the way of the world. It's likely how the vast majority of their users are interacting with their platform, so it makes sense for them to concentrate their efforts there.
I also find the privacy argument to be weird because they go on to criticize Overdrive for anonymizing library requests. Previously libraries could see the users making requests and reach out, but now it's anonymous and aggregated. This reduces a library's effectiveness, but it does introduce more user privacy. It's a tradeoff; not simple good or evil. Because the mechanism to request books is now a notification toggle, I think people are more likely to assume it's an anonymous action, so the move actually makes sense to me.
I guess I agree with the main thrust of the article, but find it poorly argued and a bit long-winded and ranty. Plus I'm getting really sick of the word "enshittification" already. I don't need to look at photos of birds pooping when reading about reading.
...I mean, it's not THAT new. I used it when I was in college, and that was more then five years ago.
Whenever I see stuff like this, it makes me wish there were open source alternatives for these kinds of things. Same with Google's growing stranglehold over schools with Chromebooks and Google Classroom.
It sucks because I'm honestly not sure it would be doable. Many of these types of services wouldn't be cheap to build or run, and I can't imagine funding would be easy — after all, most successful open source projects either serve to make big companies money or are basically someone's hobby. I suppose it wouldn't be all that hard to build something the library/school would have to host themselves, but there are good reasons for these institutions to want a turnkey service.
It would be amazing if there could be some kind of "public works" type government funding for software projects like this. Definitely a pipe dream, but hey, it'd be cool.
Looks like there kind of is already Library Simplified by the New York Public Library
Although they work with and heavily integrate Ebook and Audiobook DRM with Overdrive/Adobe :(
https://github.com/NYPL-Simplified
I don't think there's generally much of a way around this with the corrupted intellectual property and copyright laws. The rightsholders which have become more and more concentrated into fewer and fewer hands generally only want to work with these protections in place.
This feels like an important article — thank you for posting, OP. I have to say, I’ve had a pretty positive experience with Libby. I still check out physical books from my branch, but Libby is go-to for audiobooks (which I make frequent use of whilst walking my dog).
Arguments made here re: privacy are valid. The fact that my name is associated with a bunch of books about topics such as drug use has crossed my mind, but I just sort of shrugged it off because it’s the library. The VC-backed middleman with access to all that data was sort of in my blind spot. Also, I just checked, and I currently have 15 books tagged with
Notify Me. I did not know I was making a request for those books to be purchasedIf I knew more about ebooks, or more about app development, I'd suggest making some kind of open source option that any library would have free access to download and start using.
But I don't even really know what all Libby does, so I'm in no place to say how difficult such a thing would be to replicate.
It’s all DRM-based artificial scarcity. It completely undermines the promise of digital text and file sharing that the internet was supposed to bring us. Information wants to be free, but the dire state of copyright law and rapacious IP rights-holders has caused arbitrary anti-user walls to be erected around it.
Ironically the whole point of public libraries was always something closer to that original open-source, piracy-adjacent vision. The libraries have gotten into bed with a system that’s fundamentally opposed to the values they were built on.
The libraries didn't have a choice. It was either get in bed with the devil or be eradicated. Books and print were already going extinct, the digital age evolved the media and they had to evolve with it.
The issue is libraries don't have the capital to innovate their own solution so they asked for help. The help manufactured a way to make money because that's the world we live in. The libraries play by one rule and the rest of the world plays by another.
As you said, piracy adjacent. Libraries and piracy are queer bedfellows. But that's just tugging at the larger cord of the internet.
The library of Alexandria, the written word, early universities, and the internet. Information shouldn't be gated, I agree, and yet it becomes gated. Artifical walls erected, like you said. What's the purpose of that self defeating ideology? Why can't we share works? Should only reference and educational texts be free and not entertainment? Is that the line? Can there even be a line?
What boggles my mind is the success at which information has been gated and the tenacity of pirates to push back. Pirates wouldn't exist where it not for the gatekeepers. Gatekeepers wouldn't feel the need to gate if they weren't required to secure profits or generate profits.
See, that's bunk. Kind of. They have plenty of space to innovate, when giant legal barriers aren't erected in their faces.
Early on, libraries were rapid adopters of digital databases, because of the ease of curating and maintaining it.
I recall that when the internet was first hitting the masses in the 90s, but ebooks were not yet a thing, many libraries were undergoing efforts to digitize books for digital lending. This of course was shot down.
I also recall there being much friction between the movie and music industries that libraries would loan out movies and cds for free. I think there werre several lawsuits from copyright holders trying to turn librarians into copyright police, making them culpable for downstream infringement by their users.
Libraries aren't on the cutting edge moatly becauae they're in constant friction against the IP industry, and that said industry tries to downplay the value of libraries to the masses.
Well that still goes back to money doesn't it? How would they fight the laws and lobbyists? Money. Who lobby's for libraries? No one. Who can fund the defense counter lawsuit for libraries? No one.
Part of developing is to navigate legal waters with your solution. If emulator developers managed to do it and can fend off Sony and Nintendo then the issue isn't necessarily capital but creativity.
Libraries have / had solutions, some innovative. Where did those people go? I believe the solutions are now tricky and require legal expertise or require paying people a very high salary, one the libraries can't afford.
So is there a barrier to entry for some kind of open source alternative?
If I understand it the problem right now is that when libraries are "buying" an audio book they're just buying a licensing agreement to stream audio books from a server owned by the company which maintains actual control over the data and increasingly limits access only through proprietary apps.
If we compare this to the current alternative to this, pirating, that often occurs through peer to peer sharing of files that are scattered around various other people's personal files. So would a similar scheme be possible where individual libraries secure copies of audio books as requested by their listeners, and then share those copies between other libraries through some peer to peer file sharing?
That way, all participating libraries effectively become one large eLibrary, for the purpose of audiobooks. When you want a book your library doesn't have, it just sends a down load request to a participating library and gets a copy from them for free. And since each library is keeping copies of its own small slice of audiobooks, there isn't the need to invest in massive data centers, you just need enough storage to hold the audio books YOUR library is responsible for.
I dont know how 3rd party audiobook sales work though. Maybe libraries just don't get the option to buy directly?
The problem is copyright laws. The first sale doctrine is what basically allowed libraries to operate, but ownership is a thing that barely exists in the digital world where you're not buying ownership to the thing you spend your money on, you're buying a license that gives you limited rights to use the content in a fashion that the rights holder permits.
https://libguides.ala.org/copyright/firstsale
That link is from the American Library Association. Even has this towards the top
You can see other resources and materials in that link as well.
In any case, modern copyright laws are what is destroying all of this, because the laws have been written by and for corporate interests and not public interests.
Speaking of enshittification generally, it occurs to me its hardly new or limited to online platforms. Publishers themselves are an example, at one time effectively connecting authors and readers; no just collecting rents on highly promoted works.
Car dealerships are another off line example. Walmart is arguably an example. I wonder if it could be said that Sears did not sufficiently enshittify itself?
Perhaps HOAs are a symptom of the community enshittification brought on initially by suburbanism?