False public libraries

A recent post on the LISNews blog brought my attention to a rally staged last weekend at the Boston Public Library to protest the library’s use of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology on its electronic materials. DRM restricts the use of electronic files–for example, making it impossible to transfer a file from one computer to another, or limiting the amount of time during which you can open and use a file. DRM is ubiquitous in the media industry, and it is concerning for many reasons. (If you want to find out more, I suggest taking a look at the DefectiveByDesign or Electronic Frontier Foundation websites.) I want to talk about one particularly pernicious aspect of DRM, and other digital technologies: the way in which they limit the devices which you can use to play the protected files.

I work for the Mobile Services branch of an urban public library. Unlike rural bookmobiles, which focus mainly on bringing library services to areas that are geographically isolated, urban bookmobiles bring services to people with other barriers to library use: low-income young children, seniors, and people with disabilities. My work with this program has, among other things, made me more sensitive to the ways in which citizens are commonly excluded from public services.