Authors accuse publishers of undermining libraries

More than 300 authors have signed an open letter asking publishers and trade organisations to ‘cease efforts to undermine the essential contributions of libraries to an accessible and inclusive world of books’, reports the Bookseller.

The primary subject of the letter is the lawsuit brought against the Internet Archive over its Open Library program, which publishers and trade organisations have criticised for ‘facilitating the distribution of millions of pirated books without paying a penny to the authors and publishers who produce them’. The letter also references the Association of American Publishers (AAP) suing to block a Maryland law, which would have required publishers to offer libraries ebook licences on ‘reasonable terms’.

The open letter calls for publishers, distributors and trade associations to enshrine the right of libraries to own and preserve books, and to purchase these permanent copies on reasonable terms, regardless of format; the end of lawsuits aimed at intimidating libraries and diminishing their role in society; and an end to smear campaigns against libraries.

The major trade associations have pushed back strongly against the claims made in the letter, and called the campaign ‘highly misleading’. A statement issued by the US Authors Guild, and supported by 17 other writer and creator organisations, said the lawsuit against Open Library ‘is completely unrelated to the traditional rights of libraries to own and preserve books’.

‘It is about Open Library’s attempt to stretch fair use to the breaking point, where any website that calls itself a library could scan books and make them publicly available, a practice engaged in by e-book pirates, not libraries,’ the statement said.

Category: International news