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Digital Rights Management: The Librarian's Guide. Edited by Catherine A. Lemmer and Carla P. Wale. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016. 212 p. $45.00 softcover (ISBN: 978-1-4422-6375-8); $110.00 hardback (ISBN: 978-1-4422-6374-1).
Passion for digital rights management (DRM) does not typically lure anyone into the library profession; however, DRM is an essential topic for librarians driven to serve their users well. DRM is a daily challenge for libraries and their users, and librarians have a role to play in ensuring public access to information and privacy are considered, counterbalancing the rights of copyright holders. Only by being knowledgeable on the topic can librarians educate and advocate for library users. To this end, Lemmer and Wale have compiled a valuable guide on the basics of DRM for both public and academic librarians. It forms a strong foundation for those unfamiliar with a librarian's perspective of DRM, and the latter half of the book will be engaging even for experienced librarians. Instructors will be pleased with the sequencing of chapters. They scaffold from basic to more complex concepts, and many of the questions prompted along the way are answered in a subsequent chapter. Though some chapters fall short, most readers will discover something valuable in this collection.
The first three chapters define DRM and explore the technologies that enable it. Chapter 4 addresses staffing and workflows, pointing out the need for greater interaction between public services and technical services staff. A familiar scenario is described wherein users "rarely blink an eye at a DRM contract that pops up on a DVD or e-book without necessarily understanding to what they are agreeing." The authors assert that librarians...