I had a question re: your queer library books post!
So I use my library card all the time--around 3 books a month--but I basically only use Libby (the online library system for my area). I wanted to know if taking out queer books from Libby actually helps the ""read count"" go up. I feel like it makes /sense/ that it both would and wouldn't, because Libby pulls from all of the books in the county system, not just those at the library in my town! Do you know anything about this?
I’m finally going through my asks. Sorry for the wait!
Libby, and other digital book collections, are extremely useful. You will not find me knocking the digital use statistics, especially since those have made library materials so much more accessible than ever. However, I do want to bring to light some of the nuance of how these collections work!
(I said in an earlier ask, the really long one, that organizing a library collection–even just in the placement of the books on the shelves–is a form of labor that takes multiple different people with trained skillsets that don’t always cross-over. I don’t work in the department that handles acquisition of materials or communication with the database providers. Many of my coworkers who do the same job as me are as in the dark as patrons about the specifics of these things because we don’t really work with all that ourselves. I only know this because I’m a nosey bitch. I don’t do digital collections hands-on. There are more qualified people than me to talk about this but I’ll do my best to tell you what I know.)
The main boon of Libby/OverDrive/Hoopla/Etc databases is, of course, the broader accessibility of materials for a general public. It allows us to hold larger collections than we could ever physically house, and collect statistics on the usage of those materials that we use to guide our decision making for the rest of the library. These even let us experiment a little to see if our community is more interested in certain subjects or authors than we might have expected–especially since younger adults are more likely to use digital items, it gives us more insight into what you all are into. We can use those statistics to make decisions in the physical library.
If we find queer books are circulating more often, physical or digital, we’re more likely to get queer books for the collection. Of course, sometimes our acquisition folks will notice if materials like that only circulate online. In that case, they may make the decision to only keep them digital. Remember, we aren’t mind readers and we are ESPECIALLY NOT data brokers. We are a community trust that relies on trust in the community. We cannot function without your input, and if we do not have that input–or, we aren’t getting the signals you actually want us to act on–we just won’t know that information.
At the same time, digital books aren’t a safety net. You know that issue where when you “buy” something digital, you’re not actually getting ownership of that item? You’re just getting a license to access it on, say, your phone. Or your TV. You don’t own your Kindle books or your audible library. You’re just paying to access a personally curated collection of licenses. If Amazon, for any reason, strips you of that license or just stops honoring it, which they are known to do, you no longer have access to those items. They were never yours. You just paid full price for the privilege of being able to look at it for a while.
Digital library books (Most of the time, like Libby, but different databases work differently–your own librarian would be able to better answer questions regarding the specifics) are the same, but the library is the one paying for that license instead. Often, we must pay more money for a license to distribute a book on Libby than an individual patron might pay for their personal e-book license. And because of the stranglehold monopoly most publishers have on their products, many digital books are only allowed to circulate a limited number of times before we are forced to repurchase that same license. This is extremely expensive, and why there are often such long waits on popular books online.
In the same way you do not "buy" an e-book, but a license to view that e-book. You are borrowing from a library our viewing license. Our e-books are at the same corporate mercy as your own.
With a physical book, the only time we might need to repurchase a copy is if it is unexpectedly popular, or if it gets damaged in some way. That in mind, those physical copies belong to the library–wholesale–and by proxy, belong to the community. Your right to read, research, and redistribute that book stays firmly yours, and cannot be stripped from you unless that item is physically stolen or weeded from our collection.
TL;DR– Do not stop using library resources, even if they aren’t perfect. Perfection is the killer of good and using any library is better than never using it all. Your patronage helps always. Don’t feel bad for using what is accessible to you, either. It’s just that the more reliant patrons become on digital materials, the more reliant the library becomes on them (because we exist to meet the needs of our communities, and that is the only thing we exist for) and the less control and true community ownership we have over our own collection.
