unglueitFound on PaidContent: A company called Gluejar has launched a new website called Unglue.it with the goal of “freeing” e-book versions of copyrighted books that do not have any yet. The site hopes to contract with the owners of particular books to determine how much money they want to allow free e-book versions of the books under a Creative Commons license, then raise that money from its users.

[Site founder Eric] Hellman says Gluejar is in part a reaction to the changing role of libraries in the U.S. “We’re excited about the possibility of using libraries as our way to reach people who are interested in reading and want to support the production of books,” Hellman told me. With many big publishers either withdrawing e-books from libraries or refusing to make them available in the first place, Unglue.it could be a way for libraries to directly contribute funds toward their patrons’ most-requested digital titles. The company is adding features that cater to libraries, according to Library Journal.

The site is in its early launch stages, and still polling users about what books they would like to see it try for. Although the article mentions such titles as To Kill a Mockingbird, A Wrinkle in Time, or Little House on the Prairie as examples of not-e-book-available works the site is meant to license, Hellman admits that any campaign for popular, well-known titles of that nature is well off in the distance—such a work would be so expensive that it would be something the site would need to work up to. The site will be starting with a few campaigns for lesser-known titles first.

I am a touch skeptical that such a new and unorthodox approach can succeed, but I will be delighted to see them try. It’s so crazy that it just might work. I’ll be looking forward to seeing just what books the site decides to go after, and how many of them get successfully “unglued”.

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