Some thoughts on the second circuit oral argument in Hachette v. Internet Archive
Peter Murray
Thoughts are my own, not those of my employer, hence I'm using my blogging email address.
Peter
O-Donovan,K
Dear CDLI colleagues,
Some CDL enthusiasts in the UK met with representatives from Clarivate / ExLibris in early December 2024 to discuss the current situation with “Long-Term Digital Loans” functionality in Alma and Alma Digital.
There are still some unfinished aspects of the workflow that need to be addressed, primarily from the patron’s side in Primo.
- Loaned digital items do not appear in a patron's 'loans' area in their account, but remain under the patron's 'requests' area in their Primo account, alongside digital items that they are on the waitlist for (and Digital loans do not appear in the patron’s Loans list in Alma).
- When a patron returns a digital item, the screen goes blank, with no navigation options to return to Primo Search or My Account.
- Patrons do not get a notification that an item is overdue, or if it has been returned and issued to the next patron on the waitlist.
There are other longer-term developments that we would like to see happen, such as a proper integration with Primo (so that the visibility of some collections is only revealed to authenticated users) and / or with Leganto (titles linked to teaching are available for Digital Loan only to students on specific cohorts).
ExLibris explained that since the Hachette vs. Internet Archive ruling in New York, approximately 40 US institutions that were doing CDL with Alma Digital have ceased. As a result interest in the necessary developments to finish the patron side workflow has diminished. The original workflows were constructed around “short term digital loans” (e.g. for 2 or 3 hours) in response to customer demands in the US, but this has not been extended to the longer-term loans.
At present, ExLibris aren’t seeing enough of a market or potential market for them to continue with / prioritise the Long-Term Digital Loans developments in Alma Digital. We have pressed them for the patron end of the current workflow to be finished. Our other requests around representation visibility would be more complex to resolve and would require involvement from the Primo side. These may hopefully come but will be at a later point.
What they have said they would like to see happen next is a new working group formed, of half a dozen Alma Digital UK/EU customers who either want to continue with their Digital Loans programme; or from institutions who are ready to go with it immediately – that is, they have cleared any institutional legal hurdles and have titles selected for digitisation, so they can actively participate in the group and focus solely on the technical aspects of getting the workflow straightened out. I am asking around networks on this side of the Atlantic.
In the UK we are taking a managed risk approach with the recommendations in the Jisc white paper, so that content is specifically required for “illustration for instruction” (a copyright act exception term), and also that the content is entirely out of commerce. That means it is not available to purchase or lease as an ebook on any platform, it is out of print, there are no subsequent new editions of the work in commerce, and so on. This means the scale of the opportunity for CDL is reduced, but the chances of any legal action are reduced to near zero.
If there are any colleagues in the US who are interested in taking a similar approach to this, continuing with CDL in a limited way solely for out of commerce works, and are already Alma Digital customers – could you please get in touch with me if you are interested in participating in this group.
If you have any questions please get in touch. Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
Kind regards,
Kevin
Kevin O’Donovan | Library Acquisitions Manager | Collections and Academic Services Group
London School of Economics and Political Science, 10 Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HD