ALA, Publishers Talk Ebooks

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A few days before her September 27 meeting with the Association of American Publishers (AAP) in New York City, ALA President Maureen Sullivan released an open letter to the industry regarding the refusal of Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin to sell their imprints' ebooks to libraries. "Publishers, libraries, and other entitites have worked together for centuries," she wrote. "Given the obvious value of libraries to publishers, it simply does not add up that any publisher would continue to lock out libraries."

Sullivan noted that 76% of public libraries now offer ebooks--double the number of five years ago--and that 39% of libraries circulate e-readers.

She …