* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    ‘The Roses’ review: Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch sparkle in dark comedy – Yakima Herald-Republic

    The Roses’ Review: Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch Shine in Dark Comedy Delight

    ‘When Calls the Heart’ Fans All Want the Same Thing After Seeing the Show’s Latest Update – yahoo.com

    When Calls the Heart’ Fans Rally Together in Excitement Over Exciting New Update!

    Quotes of the Week: Peacemaker, Project Runway, Countdown and More – yahoo.com

    This Week’s Most Memorable Quotes from Peacemaker, Project Runway, Countdown, and More!

    Drake Appears in Teaser for Bobbi Althoff’s New Podcast ‘Not This Again’ – yahoo.com

    Drake Drops a Surprise Cameo in Bobbi Althoff’s Thrilling New Podcast Teaser ‘Not This Again

    From polka to Poison, Corn Palace adjusts entertainment offerings with the times – Mitchell Republic

    From polka to Poison, Corn Palace adjusts entertainment offerings with the times – Mitchell Republic

    How to watch ‘F1: The Movie’ on Prime Video – About Amazon

    Experience the Thrill: How to Stream ‘F1: The Movie’ on Prime Video

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    The Role of AI and Technology in Shaping the Future of Interactive Entertainment – Technology Org

    How AI and Technology Are Transforming the Future of Interactive Entertainment

    Ten upcoming sports stadiums where technology takes to the field – Dezeen

    10 Futuristic Sports Stadiums Revolutionizing the Game with Cutting-Edge Technology

    Figure Technology Solutions, Inc. Files Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering – Business Wire

    Figure Technology Solutions, Inc. Unveils Exciting Plans for Its Upcoming Initial Public Offering

    UNLV Responds to Workforce Need with Microcredential in Nuclear Technology – University of Nevada, Las Vegas | UNLV

    UNLV Unveils Cutting-Edge Microcredential Program to Fuel Growth in Nuclear Technology

    Why Technology Will Never Take Over Completely – Patheos

    Why Technology Will Never Completely Control Our Lives

    Alcorn State awarded grant to boost STEM with VR technology – WJTV

    Alcorn State Secures Grant to Transform STEM Education Through Cutting-Edge VR Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    ‘The Roses’ review: Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch sparkle in dark comedy – Yakima Herald-Republic

    The Roses’ Review: Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch Shine in Dark Comedy Delight

    ‘When Calls the Heart’ Fans All Want the Same Thing After Seeing the Show’s Latest Update – yahoo.com

    When Calls the Heart’ Fans Rally Together in Excitement Over Exciting New Update!

    Quotes of the Week: Peacemaker, Project Runway, Countdown and More – yahoo.com

    This Week’s Most Memorable Quotes from Peacemaker, Project Runway, Countdown, and More!

    Drake Appears in Teaser for Bobbi Althoff’s New Podcast ‘Not This Again’ – yahoo.com

    Drake Drops a Surprise Cameo in Bobbi Althoff’s Thrilling New Podcast Teaser ‘Not This Again

    From polka to Poison, Corn Palace adjusts entertainment offerings with the times – Mitchell Republic

    From polka to Poison, Corn Palace adjusts entertainment offerings with the times – Mitchell Republic

    How to watch ‘F1: The Movie’ on Prime Video – About Amazon

    Experience the Thrill: How to Stream ‘F1: The Movie’ on Prime Video

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    The Role of AI and Technology in Shaping the Future of Interactive Entertainment – Technology Org

    How AI and Technology Are Transforming the Future of Interactive Entertainment

    Ten upcoming sports stadiums where technology takes to the field – Dezeen

    10 Futuristic Sports Stadiums Revolutionizing the Game with Cutting-Edge Technology

    Figure Technology Solutions, Inc. Files Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering – Business Wire

    Figure Technology Solutions, Inc. Unveils Exciting Plans for Its Upcoming Initial Public Offering

    UNLV Responds to Workforce Need with Microcredential in Nuclear Technology – University of Nevada, Las Vegas | UNLV

    UNLV Unveils Cutting-Edge Microcredential Program to Fuel Growth in Nuclear Technology

    Why Technology Will Never Take Over Completely – Patheos

    Why Technology Will Never Completely Control Our Lives

    Alcorn State awarded grant to boost STEM with VR technology – WJTV

    Alcorn State Secures Grant to Transform STEM Education Through Cutting-Edge VR Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

For libraries, e-book lending is a new chapter – and a new challenge

February 23, 2024
in Science
For libraries, e-book lending is a new chapter – and a new challenge
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

They don’t go missing or get torn and tattered, but e-books are posing concerns for U.S. libraries as publishers insist on restrictive and costly digital licensing contracts, librarians say.

“We have to pay for every single checkout, have major limitations on how many copies we can have … and a lot of other arbitrary issues,” said Alison Macrina, a librarian and director of the Library Freedom Project, an advocacy group.

Digital collections – including e-books, audiobooks, music, and more – have become increasingly central to libraries’ work, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, when they allowed lending to continue during lockdowns.

Patrons checked out a record 662 million e-books and other digital products from libraries last year, 19% more than the previous year, according to OverDrive, a major platform.

Over the past decade-and-a-half, the handful of companies that control most U.S. e-book production and distribution have started to lease these works to libraries – rather than selling copies outright.

Dubbed “the Netflix model” by some librarians, licensing is not only more expensive, but some also worry it allows companies to track reading habits, remove books, or censor content.

“Major publishers offer no option for the vast majority of e-books to be owned at all by a consumer, whether an individual or a library. You buy a license to view the file,” said Lia Holland of Fight for the Future, a digital rights nonprofit.

The clash of interests between publishers and libraries has resulted in a series of legal battles in recent years.

Publishing companies worry that constraints on e-book licensing could hurt the sector’s economics, while libraries argue that higher fees and other restrictions undermine their mission to make books easily available and encourage reading.

“It’s an illustration of the vehemence of this push toward profit maximization at the cost of an educated populace,” said Ms. Holland, campaigns and communications director at Fight for the Future, which has been meeting federal lawmakers on the issue.

A number of states have considered laws to oblige publishers to make e-books available to libraries on “reasonable terms.” But publishers and authors have warned the proposals would lower the value of literary works, and a federal judge in 2022 ruled one such state law in Maryland was unconstitutional.

Library lawsuits

Two copyright lawsuits now threaten further restrictions on how libraries can make digital works available.

In 2020, four major publishers sued the Internet Archive, a nonprofit library with some 44 million print materials and also the world’s largest archive of the internet.

The publishers seek to limit what is known as controlled digital lending – the library’s ability to purchase a book, scan it, and then lend the digital copy.

Music publishers also brought a second lawsuit over some of the group’s audio recordings.

“It’s about ownership – library ownership versus licensing – and the tension that exists between those two ways of managing materials,” said Chris Freeland, director of library services at the Internet Archive.

Mr. Freeland said the issue was crucial for reader access as well as preservation: “We can’t preserve what we don’t own.”

Terrence Hart, the general counsel for an industry trade organization, the Association of American Publishers, said last year the “Internet Archive’s industrial scale format-shifting activities constitute copyright infringement.”

“There is simply no legal support for the notion that Internet Archive or a library may convert millions of e-books from print books for public distribution without the consent of, or compensation to, the authors and publishers,” he said.

A judge sided with the publishers last year, but the Internet Archive appealed and the case is ongoing.

Longstanding fights over content ownership have expanded to control of distribution channels, said Dave Hansen, executive director of Authors Alliance, which represents authors and submitted a brief in the Internet Archive lawsuit.

He said there were now four major e-book publishers in the United States, each with their own rules.

“These private contracts, private terms, and private pieces of technology have supplanted the more generally applicable rules that we have under copyright,” he said.

Mr. Hansen pointed to a 2022 incident when publisher John Wiley and Sons suddenly removed 1,380 titles from a collection of academic e-books that many libraries use.

The experience “demonstrated the power that publishers had to unilaterally dictate what kind of content users could get access to,” he said.

Wiley later reversed the decision. It said in a statement it was committed to providing students with affordable e-books and expanding the range of titles available.

AI-guided book bans

New technologies are also being used by school boards in their efforts to comply with recently passed state laws banning material that lawmakers have ruled to be offensive.

School book bans have increased substantially in recent years and become more comprehensive, according to PEN America, which tracked 5,894 efforts in 41 states from 2021 to 2023.

In Iowa, Mason City Community Schools used artificial intelligence to analyze book content to ensure compliance with a state law passed last year requiring the removal of works depicting sexual acts.

“With thousands of books to manage across nine building-level libraries, AI was a tool to efficiently narrow down the list of potential non-compliant books,” Mason City schools superintendent Pat Hamilton said in an email.

In December, a federal judge blocked implementation of the state law, pending a legal challenge.

Yet the new use of this technology echoes past lessons around AI and social media moderation, said Emile Ayoub, counsel in the liberty and national security program with the Brennan Center for Justice, a think-tank.

“Again and again we’ve seen the limitations of these tools – they’re unreliable, unable to understand content and nuance, they’re biased and can disproportionately impact minority communities,” he said.

A tool such as ChatGPT – the “generative” AI program released a year ago – offers a veneer of objectivity, even while producing inconsistent results, he said.

“Broad and vague book bans like in Iowa are a basic threat to free speech,” Mr. Ayoub said. “And when you use generative AI tools to comply with those bans, it only increases that risk.”

Researchers with the Harvard Library Innovation Lab last year tested several “large language models” that power tools such as ChatGPT – asking the models to provide justifications to ban particular books.

They found that safeguards against harmful requests were “unpredictable,” with models often going back and forth but complying 75% of the time.

“The key point to remember here is that variability is not a bug, but a feature of LLMs,” the lab’s Matteo Cargnelutti and Kristi Mukk said in email.

“For now you’ll learn a lot more by talking to a real librarian,” added the lab’s director, Jack Cushman.

This story was reported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : The Christian Science Monitor – https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2024/0222/For-libraries-e-book-lending-is-a-new-chapter-and-a-new-challenge?icid=rss

Tags: e-booklibrariesscience
Previous Post

Climate change not to blame for deadly Chile Fires: researchers

Next Post

New kind of whale watch: Puget Sound pilot program tracks whale safety

Why Your Subway System Isn’t Ready for Today’s Challenges

August 26, 2025
Considering the economic impact of the President’s law enforcement measures in DC – Federal News Network

How the President’s Law Enforcement Actions Are Shaping DC’s Economy

August 26, 2025
What Were Andy Griffith’s Last Words to Don Knotts? – Cadillac News

What Were Andy Griffith’s Final Words to Don Knotts?

August 26, 2025
Heinrich, Leger Fernández ask key U.S. health official to visit struggling Gallup Indian Medical Center – Santa Fe New Mexican

Heinrich, Leger Fernández ask key U.S. health official to visit struggling Gallup Indian Medical Center – Santa Fe New Mexican

August 26, 2025
Kilmar Ábrego García speaks out before entering ICE facility – CNN

Kilmar Ábrego García Breaks Silence Ahead of ICE Detention

August 26, 2025
WA Ecology official testifies against repeal of ‘endangerment finding’ that allows for climate regulation – The Spokesman-Review

WA Ecology official testifies against repeal of ‘endangerment finding’ that allows for climate regulation – The Spokesman-Review

August 26, 2025
Bishop Kearney girls’ hockey team partners with UR Medicine for science-based training – 13wham.com

Bishop Kearney Girls’ Hockey Team Teams Up with UR Medicine for Cutting-Edge Science-Based Training

August 26, 2025
STEM camps offered at National Museum of Nuclear Science and History – KRQE

Discover Thrilling STEM Camps Now Open at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History!

August 26, 2025
7 things people do when they care too much about what others think – VegOut

7 Signs You’re Caring Too Much About What Others Think

August 26, 2025
The Role of AI and Technology in Shaping the Future of Interactive Entertainment – Technology Org

How AI and Technology Are Transforming the Future of Interactive Entertainment

August 26, 2025

Categories

Archives

August 2025
MTWTFSS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Jul    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (790)
  • Economy (810)
  • Entertainment (21,689)
  • General (16,678)
  • Health (9,851)
  • Lifestyle (823)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (811)
  • Politics (818)
  • Science (16,020)
  • Sports (21,309)
  • Technology (15,791)
  • World (792)

Recent News

Why Your Subway System Isn’t Ready for Today’s Challenges

August 26, 2025
Considering the economic impact of the President’s law enforcement measures in DC – Federal News Network

How the President’s Law Enforcement Actions Are Shaping DC’s Economy

August 26, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version