What is DRM?
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. eBooks are digital files on your computer, not physical books. They can be copied and shared an unlimited amount of times. If you loan a book to your friend, you don't have it anymore. But, you can loan an eBook and still keep a copy for yourself, right? Wrong! That's were DRM comes in. It is a way to prevent coping and sharing of eBooks. Publishers and sellers attach DRM to eBooks to prevent unlimited sharing and to restrict what you can do with the book. DRM is also what restricts content from being shared across devices. For example, a book from Barnes&Noble can't be read on a Kindle and Amazon books can't be read on Nooks.
Since libraries are in the lending business, DRM is particularly problematic. Most recently, Harper Collins placed a 26 loan cap on lending its eBooks. After 26 "check outs" the libraries rights to it would be revoked and they would have to buy another copy. Policies like these are not good for school media centers trying to get by on shrinking budgets.
Since libraries are in the lending business, DRM is particularly problematic. Most recently, Harper Collins placed a 26 loan cap on lending its eBooks. After 26 "check outs" the libraries rights to it would be revoked and they would have to buy another copy. Policies like these are not good for school media centers trying to get by on shrinking budgets.
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Bottom line...
DRM is still a tricky issue and should guide how you use eBooks and eReaders in your media center. Right now, eBooks need to be thought of in terms of subscriptions not ownership--we don't own them, only the license to access them. Check out eBook Providers tab for information on DRM free books. Check out this article from School Library Journal about two paths to using eBooks. One librarian chooses to go with items that are all DRM free and another chooses Overdrive to provide eBooks.