[Response followed by the original post. JA]
RE: CDL- illustrations in humanities ebooks
From: "Alleman, Stephen" <allemans_at_umkc.edu>
I think it would be a huge mistake for book publishers to issue e-books
with less content than their print counterparts. There's a lot of
demand building for e-books, but they won't succeed if they're more
accessible but lite versions of 'real' books. We wouldn't want to buy
print books with blank pages, would we? Our users don't want electronic
resources with 'image not available' pages.
Steve
Steve Alleman
Head of Collections
University Libraries
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Miller Nichols Library 307
5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City MO 64110
voice: 816.235.1580
fax: 816.333.5584
mailto:allemans_at_umkc.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-COLLDV-L_at_usc.edu [mailto:owner-COLLDV-L_at_usc.edu] On Behalf
Of Lynn Sipe
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 11:17 AM
To: COLLDV-L_at_usc.edu
Subject: CDL- illustrations in humanities ebooks
From:
"Anderson, Helen" <handerson_at_library.rochester.edu
Apologies for cross-posting with the collib-l list.
Hello,
In addition to my work as a librarian, I'm on the editorial board of a
small academic humanities publisher. To date, they have been supplying
only their backlist titles as ebooks. They submit a disclaimer that
reads " Some images in the printed version of this book are not
available for inclusion in the eBook. To view the images on this page
please refer to the printed version of this book." In other words,
they do not have the electronic rights for all the illustrations.
Now, they would like to move further into the field of ebooks. Rather
than only supplying backlist titles, they intend to release front list
titles within 60 days of the printed book release. Securing electronic
rights to all the illustrations at the same time as securing the print
rights, would increase the price of the book.
They want to know how librarians feel about purchasing eBooks that
don't have the same number of illustrations as the printed version?
They would like to understand what concerns and reactions librarians
have regarding this.
I gave a fairly nuanced response to my contact, saying that it
depended on the title. To save a bit on the price, I reasoned, it
might be OKAY not to have all the illustrations. When it comes to
humanities, I usually buy the print first and the ebook later in order
to provide a greater number of students and faculty. This is a
reflection feedback I've had from our humanities faculty. Yes, they
want to use stuff from their desktop, but they still want us to have
the print in the collection. So if the ebook is seen as supplementary
to the print, maybe it's OKAY to have it without all the
illustrations.
Now that I think it over, I can see that this is a slippery slope.
This is the reasoning of someone who is trying to make her dwindling
budget go as far as possible. Wouldn't this just increase confusion?
Wouldn't it consign the ebook to a lesser status in relation to the
print? What is the book anyway? Shouldn't the author be deciding in
conjunction with the editor which illustrations should be included? If
the illustrations are lacking, doesn't that change the nature of the
book? And what about cost?
Where is the answer? I would love to hear your thoughts and so would
my publisher.
Thank you,
Helen
Helen Anderson
Head, Collection Development
River Campus Libraries
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627-0055
Tel. 585-275-3302
Received on Sat Apr 10 2010 - 03:01:26 EDT