Electronic books

This supplementary submission is made to the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts in regards Australia’s lending rights schemes. This short submission clarifies comments made about public and educational lending rights at the hearing on 13 November 2020, including the importance of supplementing the existing lending to cover Australian ebooks and audiobooks collected and loaned by Australia’s libraries.

Formally established in 2015, the Advisory Committee provides advice to the ALIA Board and Executive about all issues relating to ebooks and the book industry. These include copyright, lending rights, parallel importation, GST on books, elending, promotion of Australian books and authors, and other issues requested by the Board.

This submission from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), the Australian Public Library Alliance (APLA), and the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) presents how libraries across the sector have supported their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The submission also discusses the issues encountered and provides the following recommendations to the Senate Committee:

This document presents the results of a survey undertaken by the Australian Library and Information Association Book Industry and eLending Advisory Committee. The survey provides a snapshot of the situation at the end of 2019. The top five 'asks' from respondents were a wider range of ebook content, better lending model conditions, improved cost per use, improved timeliness of release to libraries and improved reporting. While 83% were satisfied or very satisfied with the choice of ebooks, 91% were less than satisfied or not satisfied by the licensing conditions and costs.

ALIA Information Online 2019 Conference, 11-15 February 2019 Sydney: Infinite Possibilities

This conference paper discusses a project undertaken by the University of Queensland library which explored the accessibility of a range of ebook platforms commonly encountered by students and how well these platforms serve library clients with a print disability.

ALIA Information Online 2019 Conference, 11-15 February 2019 Sydney: Infinite Possibilities

This conference paper provides an analysis of collection, circulation and customer data relating to eBook lending statistics.

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) discussion paper on ebooks and elending.

Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers (ANZSI) response to the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) paper summarising the current ebook and elending environment and outlining the issues facing libraries throughout Australia.

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) paper summarising the current ebook and elending environment and outlining the issues facing libraries throughout Australia.

This guideline is intended to provide library and information professionals with guidance on negotiating third party digital licensing or agreements and the appropriate management and security practices in respect to library customers’ personal information.