A year ago, the publishing industry heralded the debut of virtual libraries. No longer would we have to travel to the library to check out a book, or so said the organizers of these libraries. But public and academic libraries are still with us, and online libraries are now struggling to stay alive.
"Libraries have always been places you go to and if you have the right card and the right idea, places you are allowed to read in," said Peter Lyman, professor of information management at the University of California at Berkeley. "They are unique and powerful American institutions. Now all of a sudden, with the Web, libraries come to you."
Take for example the world's largest library, the Library of Congress. It's undergoing a massive effort to digitize most of its special collections. These collections have millions of items. Some items are copyrighted but most are not. The Library of Congress must operate under the same copyright rules as any online library. It must seek out the rights owner and ask permission to post the items on the website.
The efforts made by the Library of Congress prove that the technology to put a library's content online works. Many public and academic libraries would like to do the same, but they face a huge obstacle: They can't get the rights.
"All the copyright issues have to be negotiated with the authors, first of all, and publishers," said Alice Calabrese, board member of the American Library Association. "It's moving quickly but not as quick as some would like."
Publishers have been hesitant to give libraries the Web and e-book distribution rights to their copyright material. And the music industry's battle with Napster and other file-sharing services hasn't helped matters either.
"With a book, the book stays with you as long as you want to keep the book. We are just not sure how [an e-book] will transfer," Calabrese said.
Public and academic libraries could charge a fee to view or download a book from their catalog, but according to Calabrese libraries that are taxpayer supported are refusing to charge a fee because patrons expect services to be free.
Enter the entrepreneurs. Years ago, they saw the digital rights logjam and recognized the potentially lucrative market that some analysts say will be worth $850 million in three years. Companies such as Ebrary.com, NetLibrary.com, and Questia.com have negotiated their own digital rights deals with publishers.
"Every student has access to a first-rate college-level library, 24/7, no books ever," Questia CEO Troy Williams said. "They can search the full text of the library and find passages that are relevant instantly."
Originally, the new online libraries wanted to create a subscription model where users pay a monthly fee to read online or download entire books into e-book readers. That's Questia's model.
But e-books haven't taken off.
The book selection in these for-profit libraries is smaller than in traditional brick-and-mortar libraries. NetLibrary has filed for bankruptcy, Questia has cut its staff, and Ebrary has adopted a new pay-as-you-go business model where each downloaded page costs 25 cents.
"There's free browsing and free viewing and access and free searching," said Tom Turvey, vice president of content for Ebrary. "No one is aggregating books in PDF directly from the publishers or is funded directly from publishers as we are."
If public libraries ever solve the digital rights dilemma, there's another worry: job loss. The American Library Association fears that the new technology will ease out the role of the librarian.
"We are very concerned that technology shouldn't take over the public library or the academic library, that the librarian is the techno savvy person behind the scenes that helps that information move forward and be accurate," Calabrese said.
Except for the Library of Congress, the concept of the online library appears to be gathering virtual dust. Observers say the book industry needs a digital rights shakeout, like the one that's struck the music industry, before public libraries can offer book borrowing online.
