Editorial: Format Free

We should have called the April 15 LJ simply “format free,” because in one way or another that's the theme of so much in this issue, as well as of the netConnect supplement—“Content Your Way”—mailed along with it. The phrase format free also describes libraries today. They're content rich but increasingly format free, experimenting with all kinds of services and delivery of the very things previewed, reviewed, highlighted, or debuted in LJ.

In the cover story, “The Sound of Crime,” LJ's Wilda Williams examines the latest in mystery, which has proliferated in audio, both as CDs and digital downloads. In fact, she says, the genre ranks so high at Random House's audio divisions that mystery and suspense titles comprise nearly two-thirds of its top 15 digital best sellers. Mystery on audio is one of BBC Audiobooks America's best sellers as well, so much so that it is releasing an original audio-only novella by up-and-comer Karin Slaughter this summer.

Early summer also will see some 3000 downloadable MP3 audiobooks available for libraries without DRM (digital rights management technology) and the subsequent launch of a media console for the Mac from OverDrive (“OverDrive Offering Downloadable MP3s Sans DRM”), ensuring that library patrons can listen to audiobooks on their iPods as well. While good news for listeners, it's still a small step toward distributing content any way, anywhere, and in any format users want, since the huge publishing houses haven't signed on to lend their DRM-free and iPod-compatible titles to libraries through OverDrive—yet.

The reluctance of trade publishers to loosen the reins on their content and experiment with format and distribution models is also the theme of articles by LJ's Andrew Richard Albanese (“Reality Checks,” netConnect) and librarian (and author) Barbara Fister (“What If You Ran Your Bookstore Like a Library?”). Both take publishers to task for their less-than-exciting forays into the online world. “[R]ather than learn from the mistakes of the music business, book publishers seem poised to repeat them—with restrictive…DRM, a sluggish if not hostile response to digital media, and a tendency to ignore consumer preferences,” writes Fister.

Albanese takes on publishers, too, in his “ten truths, guesses, and warnings about the future of publishing”: “If your business forces users to use only specific formats or platforms…if you push users through clunky interfaces…or require DRM-laden plug-ins…consider yourself a candidate for early retirement.”

Both authors point to the viability of combined digital and print-on-demand technology to shape distribution in the coming years, whether through bookstores or libraries. And Fister proposes that publishers offer an “all-you-can-read subscription” to ebooks for consumers and libraries, too, to help build the format's popularity.

As for those so-called “ebooks,” Albanese calls for ditching the term entirely. What “made us think books…had to be rebranded to survive the web?” he asks. A book is a book is a book, whether it's “read, searched, browsed, complemented, supplemented, expanded, sliced, diced, and served any way we wish, anywhere, any time.”

On the academic and STM (scientific, technical, and medical) side, Judy Luther sees “more rapid experimentation and more engagement with readers” (“A New Era,” netConnect). She points to group collaboration, community-contributed content, and free content online from commercial publishers, among some of the indicators of change, but much more is to come, driven by user (aka reader) demand.

And speaking of format free, if you're not already reading this on your PC or whatever device you use to connect to the web, you'll find LJ, netConnect, and much more at LibraryJournal.com. We've addressed download times too, for speedy access. There are blogs, participatory tools like TalkBack, free newsletters (LJXpress and LJAcademic Newswire), Xpress reviews, columns like The Word on Street Lit, RA Crossroads, and Tag Team Reviews (two librarians on the same book). We're not on audio yet, but we've introduced videos (ours and yours) and upcoming webcasts. So, increasingly, each day you can get your dose of LJ almost any way you want it.