Recently, I’ve had a few folks ask why libraries than join the new ListenIllinois contract for audio ebooks from Audible, OverDrive, and Recorded Books need to purchase their own MP3 player to circulate to patrons when patrons could just download OD and RB titles at home. Since my answer is the standard recommendation I make for any library circulating any digital audiobooks, I’m posting it here.

Back in 2001, I told folks that libraries would only be in the hardware business for ebooks and audio ebooks for about five years. For the most part, the increase in user adoption of devices that read ebooks (laptops, PDAs, cell phones) and MP3 players for audio ebooks have been pretty much on target for where I thought they would be. However, I also thought that by now, the vendors would have seen the wisdom in settling on one DRM scheme that worked cross-platform. That side of the equation has been an utter and total failure and as a result, publishers and middlemen are losing millions of dollars a year (at best). Think how much more revenue Apple, Overdrive, Recorded Books, Audible, Microsoft, and others could be reaping if all of the ebook vendors could make their products available on every operating system. Yet there is no movement to rectify the situation and the market grows even more splintered.

I’m not going to get into another debate about whose fault it is, but for us, the most unfortunate side effect is that libraries are caught in the middle. So you have situations like what happened to the Fairfax County Public Libraries in Virginia earlier this year. In case you didn’t see it make the rounds of the blogosphere, the Libraries began circulating Recorded Books/netLibrary audio ebooks, which are not compatible with iPods, Macs, or Linux machines. Is this the Libraries’ fault? No, it’s not. Is there a single service out there that offers current, popular bestsellers that they could circulate to iPods, Macs, or Linux machines? No, there isn’t. Is that the Libraries’ fault? No, it isn’t. So the Libraries got stuck with a product that works for a high percentage of users, but certainly not all of them.

Hal Cauthen was upset about this, so he asked Phil Shapiro to compose a song about the problem and put it on the web. Phil was particularly outraged because he had helped set up a low cost Linux computer lab for tenants in affordable housing units in Fairfax County. Is he right to be upset? Certainly. Is he wrong to blame the Libraries? Yes. I’m sure the Libraries would love to circulate titles to Linux machines and to iPods as well, but Phil doesn’t need them to get public domain texts, and there just isn’t anything else out there that fills the current, bestseller void for libraries. So what would Hal and Phil have them do? Not serve the other half of the patron base that can use these audio ebooks? As Greg Schwartz noted in one of his podcasts, should they then get rid of large-print books, CDs, Braille books, etc. because they serve only one segment of the population? Of course not.

Unfortunately, Phil doesn’t really propose a resolution to the problem, probably because he’s just as caught in the middle of all of this as libraries are, and he’s just as powerless, even though he is an active supporter of the Digital Divide Network. I sympathize with him (after all, I can’t circulate these titles to my Archos player, either), but it’s not like the Library ignored a valid option that would have given him access to the titles.

Or did they?

Well, unfortunately, I think they did, and that’s why I’m posting this. If you are an OverDrive or Recorded Books subscriber, then you need to understand that you are not providing access to those titles to a segment of your population, even though it’s not your fault. Here’s how Phil puts it at the end of his essay:

“The train has left the station on building a more participatory and inclusive world. Would you care to be a passenger on this train?”

It’s a valid point. So what could the Fairfax County Libraries have done to help this situation? Like ListenIllinois, they can try to put pressure on the vendors, but we just don’t have that much clout. More immediately, though, they could circulate their own players in order to provide access to these titles to everyone. Not just those iPod users or the affordable housing tenants or even seniors, but everyone. It’s a proven fact that libraries help bridge the digital divide, and now we need to step up and help bridge what is a growing digital audiobook divide. It’s simply unethical to say you’re not going to circulate players because it would be too much of a hassle for your staff. This is the future format of audiobooks, and we need to make them available to everyone, especially because there are some titles that are available exclusively in this format. There are so many reasons to circulate your own players right now that it’s almost a crime not to. If you look at it from a PR standpoint, do you really want to be the one standing up in front of the microphone explaining why you couldn’t spend $70 on one measly player for those patrons that don’t have one of their own?

So that’s why ListenIllinois requires participants to purchase at least one MP3 player, and that’s why you should circulate players, too. Is it ideal? No. Is it as convenient as letting these folks download titles at home? No. Would it cause long waits (and maybe force you to buy more players because it’s a popular service)? Yes. But it’s access nonetheless and as the community and literacy center that you are, it’s the right thing to do. If you circulate audio ebooks, you have to circulate players, too. It’s that simple.