| Name | Ownership | DRM-free | Copyright/License | Source | Distribution | Format | Cost | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | Yes | No | Fair Use/First Sale | Print-based books digitized by Open Library and converted to eBooks. Open Library has also bought ebooks directly from a few publishers. | Hosted by Open Library: a set of over 200,000 ebooks is available for “in library” lending, and a set of 10,000 is available for “open lending” | ePub, PDF, in-browser | Free | Over 1,000 participating libraries |
| Unglue.it | Yes | Yes | Creative Commons | Rightsholders are paid to relicense their work | Any digital format | Any | Initially crowdsourced in order to meet rightsholder’s asking price, then free to anyone | Oral Literature in Africa by Ruth A. Finnegan |
| Sneakernet Model | Yes | Yes | Fair Use/First Sale | Any eBook distributor or “DIY” | Read-only USB drives | Any | Price of eBook and price of USB drive | None yet, but presently viable |
| Steampunk Model | Yes | Yes | Fair Use/First Sale | Digital-only texts purchased by libraries and printed as paper-based books | Standard model used currently for paper-based books | Paper | Price of eBook and price of printing | None yet, but presently viable |
| DIY Model | Yes | Depends on Distribution and Format | Fair Use/First Sale | Paper-based texts purchased and digitized by libraries, then circulated only in digital format (purchasing a single copy and circulating it in two or more formats would violate copyright) | DRM-enabled hosting software or read-only USB drives | Any | Price of paper-based book, price of digitization, and price of distribution method | None yet, but presently viable |
| Open Source/DRM Hybrid Model | Yes | Both | Common Understanding | Any eBook distributor or “DIY” | Library-hosted, open source (MySQL/VuFind) and DRM-enabled commercial (Adobe Content Server) software | ePub, PDF, in-browser (ebooks hosted via Adobe Content Server are not available on Kindle) | eBooks (25–45% publisher discounts); Adobe Content Server ($10,000 one-time license; $1,500 annual maintenance; 8 cents per checkout); Public Domain/ Creative Commons/ Open Source (Free) |
Douglas County (Colorado) Libraries and the MARMOT Library Consortia |
| Library License | Yes | Depends on Distribution and Format | To be determined | Rightsholders agree to relicense their work | To be determined | Any | To be determined | Not yet viable |
| Unlimited Content License Model | Yes | Yes | AADL Unlimited Use, Fixed Term Content License | Rightsholder is paid to provide files, which are accessed without limits or returns by authenticated cardholders | Library-hosted, open source software (SOPAC/Drupal) | Any, including streaming or downloaded audio and video, plus PDF and ePub | Negotiated with rightsholder | Magnatune at Ann Arbor District Public Library |
| State Redistribution Model | No | Yes | Author retains copyright, but file sharing is legalized | Authors paid based on the cube root of popularity of their publications | Any. Sharing would be legal, and widespread sharing would be in the author's best interest | Any | Authors or publishers can charge what they wish for copies obtained directly from them | Not yet viable (requires government intervention) |
| Portability Model | Yes | No | Fair Use/First Sale | Any eBook distributor (State Library of Kansas obtained permission from publishers to transfer copies between hosting vendors) | Vendor-hosted, DRM-enabled software (currently Adobe Content Server) | All but PC, Nook, and Kindle | Negotiated with Vendor | 3M Cloud Library at the State Library of Kansas and Baker & Taylor's Axis 360 at King County Library System |
| Publisher Hosting Model | Yes | Yes | Fair Use | Publisher | Publisher-hosted software | PDF or in-browser | Prices posted or negotiated with vendor | Publishers who have sold DRM-free ebooks to OhioLINK: ABC-CLIO, Gale, Oxford University Press, Sage, Springer, and Wiley |