New Policy Paper: Controlled Digital Lending

Information Community News

During NISO's August Hot Topics event, Ebooks and Collections, Jennie Rose Halperin, Executive Director of Library Futures referenced a forthcoming publication about the need for new licensing provisions for the lending out of ebooks. Subsequently released on August 26, the paper provides the organization's rationale for support of Controlled Digital Lending (CDL).

The crux of that rationale is contained in this quote from the Executive Summary:

Communities rely on libraries to serve as a hub for education and knowledge. CDL (1) drives economic efficiency by maximizing returns on tax dollars, (2) expands reliable and equitable education, (3) promotes civil rights for marginalized communities and (4) improves access through digitization. 

A thread of tweets associated with the announcement of its availability noted:

This document expands beyond legal rationale for CDL and clarifies core equity and social principles that are the foundations of a library’s mission to provide access to materials to serve the public good.

Library Futures Foundation (LFF) is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization that seeks to empower modern libraries with a focus on increasing equitable access to knowledge through legislative change and policy.

The full text of the paper, Controlled Digital Lending: Unlocking the Library's Full Potential, is available here.  A blog post written by Kyle K. Courtney of Harvard, provides additional background here.