Greetings, all.

While keenly appreciative of the move toward DRM-free (features such as unlimited PDF downloads, no personal login or Adobe Digital Editions required, etc.), I strongly encourage publishers to ensure that they offer ebooks with a patron option to download the whole ebook with one click. Many publishers already offer this option because lacking an easy way to download ebooks discourages certain forms of patron use, especially deep reading. In order to read many "DRM-free" ebooks cover-to-cover, patrons must download each chapter separately, then merge PDFs. This creates barriers to usage and feeds negative perceptions of ebooks. It's not as problematic if a download-whole-ebook option isn't enabled for encyclopedias, but it absolutely should be enabled for monographs.

True DRM-free status should include book-level as well as chapter-level downloading options for library patrons. Shout-out to publishers like Wiley that have already enabled this option.

Best wishes,

Michael Rodriguez

Collections Strategist

University of Connecticut