April 14 Library Workshop: Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and the Politics of Electronic Reading

5517681790_f416169988_mDigital Rights/Restrictions Management (DRM) is a topic that is discussed in the media from time to time. You may have heard about recent breaches in reader privacy that came up with Adobe Digital Editions last October. Or farther back, you might have read about the restrictions that HarperCollins implemented on all of its ebooks sold to libraries–that the electronic texts would “expire” after 26 circulations. Or you may have had trouble with our GC Library ebooks in the past–it can be hard to know what we should have access to, and even above that, whether you can download, print, or view an electronic book offline.

DRM is a technological tool, as well as a political topic that can be divisive for librarians, publishers, authors and readers. On April 14, librarian Alycia Sellie will present an overview of these issues and how they affect our use of and access to texts in the GC Library. Although Alycia has her own political stance on the issue of DRM, this workshop will discuss many different attributes of electronic book platforms, as they relate to research and scholarship at the Graduate Center. This workshop will involve a tour through the GC’s ebook collections with an eye for what ebook packages offer options for use and which are restricted through content management tools.

For more details about the April 14 workshop and to register, see the event announcement here.

About the Author

Alycia Sellie is the Associate Librarian for Collections at the Graduate Center Library.