[Dtb-talk] re The end of NLS/LOC international interlibrary loan

[David Andrews]

It seems to me that people shouldn't assume anything either way.  All 
we know is what one entity said a short letter from NLS 
said.  Anything else is needless speculation.

David Andrews, Moderator

At 12:24 AM 1/18/2010, you wrote:
>The  quote from the NLS letter seems to refer only to digital 
>interlibrary loans, and only at the present time. This would appear 
>to leave open the possibility of digital international interlibrary 
>loans in the future. Can we assume NLS will continue to support 
>international interlibrary   loan of 4 track NLS format titles?
>
> >From my understanding, no large talking book producer, including 
> NLS/LOC, is likely to attempt digital conversion (let alone full 
> formatting to DAISY) of anything like all their analog based 
> titles. The decision to convert or not to convert titles would, I 
> would expect, need to be based on  the costs of conversion versus 
> the expected benefits to readers. The copyright issue as it relates 
> to format conversion  as already mentioned may well be another factor.
>
>For titles that would not be justified converting to digital or 
>DAISY it would seem a reasonable policy for NLS/LOC to continue 
>interlibrary loans in the  audio format in which the title exists, 
>in this case, LOC analog 4 track.
>
>If so, would it not be easier in such a case as this for the client 
>to obtain, or for ABWA to loan to the client, a standard LOC 4 
>track/2 track cassette player? That would appear to save both the 
>LOC and the ABWA having to specially convert and format a title 
>solely for the purposes of one international interlibrary loan. The 
>client gets access, which one assumes is the most important factor.
>
>Best wishes,
>
>Tim Gillett
>Audio/Electronics Technician,
>Perth
>Western Australia