Panel: Digital Rights for Library Workers, The Path To Digital Equity

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Image of man with photocopier with headline 'I know how to break ALL the rules'

[URL linking] Hi my name's Jessamyn. I can get any digital content from anywhere using a combination of library contacts, technology, and legitimate, grey, and dark web sites. I'm not bragging, this is just true. Being able to do things like this, track stuff down and figure out how to get it to people, is why I became a librarian.

Photograph of my library in the snow

I work in this library in a community serving 4500 people with a library director who told me once that she would never own a smart phone. Do we use 2FA on any library accounts? We do not. I help our community use technology, ranging from "I got hacked, how do I deal with this?" to "I really want to see this movie at home but how do I figure out where it's streaming?" (JustWatch, fyi) I mostly help people who are not very tech literate.

Cover of a book about photocopying titled COPYING

However, even people who are not tech literate understand that the difference between a digital book and a paper book is that you can make an exact copy of a digital book at almost no cost. This leads to questions like "Why is there a waiting list for this ebook when you could just make an exact copy of it?" and "Why can't I take this ebook from my phone and put it on my laptop?" or, the hardest one of all "You seem like some sort of technology wizard so can you show me how to do this thing that *seems* possible that I can't figure out?"

Photograph of a copy machine with a label on the side warning peopel to not break the rules /> </div> <div class=

Because they've seen the signs we put on our photocopiers, and they have questions, and concerns.

Needlepoint saying 'it's not a can't thing it's a won't thing'

And my reply is, usually "This is a thing which is technically possible but ethically disallowed." and then if someone is really interested (and sometimes if they are not) I will prattle on about digital rights management and how we want authors and publishers to get paid and how the restrictions that publishers have chosen about how to do this are not my favorite but it's kind of an imperfect world isn't it and if they had some sort of a "print disability" maybe there are a few more options for them, but if not, we're stuck in....

Illustration showing a person leaping through several hoops with the title 'Digital Rights Management'

a very unpleasant world of DRM hoop jumping which I personally resent.

Close photograph of the Boston Public Library with the heading FREE TO ALL

Because even though I strongly support the Free Culture movement, I also work for...

Quotation by Ronald Reagan: The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help. Ronald Reagan

the government. Which is awkward in public libraries for a number of reasons.

Cover of msheet music The Rebel Girl by Joe Hill featuring a woman holding a big red flag

Because as much as I'd like to be all "We should organize" but also "Here's how you can google some terms that will help you figure out how to get this book on to your laptop or jailbroken Kindle, or email it to your friend" (Calibre, the apprentice) if there's trouble, that doesn't come down on ME but it comes down on my tiny town. A town that operates on a budget of about 3.5 mil, about 10% of which goes to the library (we spend more on our library than we do on our cops and that makes me inordinately proud) and a town that, as much as they like me, would not support me teaching people how to end run DRM to show people how to rip DVDs to their computers (handbrake, VLC) if it cost them thousands in legal fees.

America's Most Dangerous Librarians article linked on links page

While I look up to librarians like the Connecticut Four who stood up to the USA PATRIOT Act's gag order and organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation who push the envelope on digital rights in good ways, but realistically because of the weird combination of technological obscurity and complex legal framework, I don't think that mainstream America is ready for "Let's hack your Kindle!" (jailbreak, hotfix)

Schoo librarians vilified as the 'arm of satan' in book-banning wars linked on links page

Six years ago I might have asked "C'mon, who is going to sue a LIBRARIAN....?" when we wanted to, you know, play a movie AND include its title in the newspaper but couldn't because of licensing. But now.... Obviously, the current spate of legal issues are different cultural issues, but if the last few years have taught us anything it's that nuance may not matter to the people who want to cause trouble.

Title: Can I Do This with a bulleted list Is it technologically possible? Is it okay according to the rules of the system we work within? Is it allowed according to some set of laws that we can agree on? Is it ethical according to some set of ethics that we can agree on? Do I, the librarian, know how to do it? Could they, the patron, understand how to do it?

When people are asking me if there's a way to access the content that they want, when they say "Can I do this?" there are actually a lot of possible questions they may be asking. I try to give honest answers but sometimes that answer is "No."

Cover of the Strokes album, Angles, a bright geometric album cover.

For now I will continue to work all the angles. Be a little vague in public and continue to speak out in semi-private. Work with other people heading my direction. Got something you need to track down, you know where to find me, thanks.