First-Sale
December 30th, 2001Once in a job interview, the directory of a library asked me what I though about replacing print materials with subscription electronic ones. Why spend valuable shelf space on journals and reference books that can be delivered digitally? I told him that this solution made me worry about long-term access.
I did not get the job, but I was onto something.
With a hard copy, a library can be reasonably sure that the object will be available ten, twenty, sometimes one hundred years from now. With a digital copy, a library “owns” the object as long as the vendor makes it available.
In his new article, Owning the Future: Looting the Library, Seth Shulman points out that libraries have the hard copy security described above because of the first-sale doctrine. This legal precept allows libraries to archive and make available materials they have purchased.
Now, Patricia Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers, is working to prevent libraries from extending this doctrine to digital publications. This is just one of the bad things she is up to…
Thanks Blake!