Should Libraries Charge for eBooks?

[minspargal]

I don't think libraries should charge for e-books. Our library is supported by property taxes. They even issue free library cards to our winter and summer visitors.

[bob123]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

While there are some truly poverty-stricken After all, they have an ereader that set them back a hundred bucks or more, so why should all the media be totally free?

That is a good point.





another problem is that the sort of person who will pay for a library might be the sort of person who would just buy the books anyway?

[mwheinz]

I do believe libraries should be free to anyone who needs them, but offering special "memberships", the way NPR does, would be a great way to extend their funding.

They could do something like, for $25-$50/year you could get

1. First access to new ebooks
2. Coupons to local businesses
3. Special members-only ebook clubs/reading circles etc...
   [8]Any other ideas?

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

While there are some truly poverty-stricken people who patronize libraries, very few of the people I see there are wearing cardboard on their feet. They have a few bucks, and they can afford some modest fees. After all, they have an ereader that set them back a hundred bucks or more, so why should all the media be totally free?

Just because something is worthwhile, like a public library, that doesn't mean the government has to totally underwrite it. A library should very reasonably expect to get some government money, do some private fundraising, and charge a few fees. It's a mix.

And I agree about the DVDs. When did public libraries become government sponsored Blockbusters? Is the best use of tax money to loan out free copies of Cabin Boy? Surely there's somebody out there who needs, oh, I don't know...food, maybe, or health care?

Alas, in as much as you cannot tell if someone has chronic pain issues just by looking at them, neither can you tell if someone is poor just by looking at them.

Quite a few poor people have wealthier relatives who can help with hand-me-down clothes and gifted eReaders. Just because you can't realistically pay for eBook rentals doesn't mean that you're going to be walking around wearing cardboard on your feet.

DVDs increase foot traffic to libraries, which increases the pertinence of libraries and helps them to keep funding coming in. They also serve as a sort of educational "loss leader" -- many people will go there for the DVDs and come away with books for themselves or their children.

Furthermore, just because something is entertaining (like a movie) doesn't mean it is not also educational or valuable. The same argument could be made to remove manga from libraries (which my local library carries, bless their hearts): "Why are all these Japanese comics here?! When did a library become a comic import service?"

EVERY government service could be argued against in light of the shameful fact that someone, somewhere, is starving to death in America right now. Why are we expanding the highway when people are starving? Why are we funding libraries when people are dying? Why are we providing unemployment benefits when someone is worse off and needs that money more?

The fact that there are people out there that need government help is not a good argument for getting rid of roads, libraries, and unemployment benefits. It's an argument for raising the money needed to help those people, yes, but not at the cost of every other socially beneficial service.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by mwheinz

I do believe libraries should be free to anyone who needs them, but offering special "memberships", the way NPR does, would be a great way to extend their funding.

They could do something like, for $25-$50/year you could get

1. First access to new ebooks
2. Coupons to local businesses
3. Special members-only ebook clubs/reading circles etc...
   [8]Any other ideas?

I agree, and what's more, I would pay for this happily.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

While there are some truly poverty-stricken people who patronize libraries, very few of the people I see there are wearing cardboard on their feet.

My family didn't wear cardboard shoes, either - we still couldn't afford books.

Please don't advocate that the needy must prove their worthiness before they be allowed access.

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

They have a few bucks, and they can afford some modest fees. After all, they have an ereader that set them back a hundred bucks or more, so why should all the media be totally free?

This is a total non sequitur. Your average library patron probably does not have an ebook reader.

Many of the ones who do got them as gifts. We've already covered that argument.

And when ereaders become as common and as cheap as pocket calculators, will you still advocate charging for access to books?

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Just because something is worthwhile, like a public library, that doesn't mean the government has to totally underwrite it. A library should very reasonably expect to get some government money, do some private fundraising, and charge a few fees. It's a mix.

Benjamin Franklin would disagree with you. Books may not be a necessity to you, but they were to me growing up. I'm sure there's some other poor child out there who's deriving the same benefit from the library system that I did. I don't want to rip the books out of their hands.

[benham]

Originally Posted by minspargal

I don't think libraries should charge for e-books. Our library is supported by property taxes. They even issue free library cards to our winter and summer visitors.

Totally agree with you. If I want to pay for an ebook, I'll buy one. When I get one from the library it has a 7 or 14 day period before it expires.

[abookreader]

so why should all the media be totally free?

But again, you are perpetuating the idea that library users aren't contributing to their library revenue stream. There are very few people who don't in some way or another here. Just because the library media is a shared resource does not equate that it is free.

The only people in our Library District who pay nothing is the homeless population which is minuscule for us. And if they want a free Library card, God Bless them and let them have it. We'll deal.

I'll float another objection out there. In our area a taxing body (schools, park districts, the library etc) that wants to increase revenue via a tax increase has to gain approval of the community via an election referendum. If it fails, then they must find a way to operate under the existing budget.

I'd propose that increasing revenue by implementing or increasing a usage fees would be circumventing that law and probably not legal here locally.

[Jessica Lares]

I think charging for eBooks would be better as like a late fee type deal. 14 days, then 25 cents for each additional week. It's not TOO much money, but it's still supporting the library.

My library card was free, and there is no late fees. At my middle school though, it was 25 cents PER ADDITIONAL DAY. And there were tons of kids who had to pay up $50-100 because of it. But you know, that's the real problem with libraries. You grab books, sit them down, and forget about them. Then a month later comes a notice from the police department about stolen property.

The fact is that if you're having to pay a fee for borrowing something/and or are punished for damaging it, people will most likely be more responsible with it. Returning your materials on time has NOTHING to do with being poor. And people who do use that excuse already have their solution - Pirating. It does not hurt to save money for something you really need/want. Is it really that hard to put aside five bucks?

[Aladyleyna]

I have to admit that I'm extremely lucky, because not only does my National Library offer ebooks, they're completely free to borrow as well.

That being said, I personally believe that the basic services in public libraries should be free of charge, to benefit the lower income group, with additional membership per year for more benefits for those who can afford it, such as more books borrowed each time, or other media such as DVDs and so on. At least, this is done in my country, and I'm pretty happy with the system right now. I wouldn't mind paying for the additional membership, when I start working that is. But I do have basic membership to my libraries.

Though I wouldn't mind having to pay fines for ebooks as well, if they do implement charges... though I have a feeling I'd probably spend more on fines than on buying ebooks, because I cannot seem to remember to return my books on time. I think my record was $50 at one point in time.

But it's extremely fortunate that the ebook library service is completely free.

[DrLaurenceBrown]

I haven't been to a library in years. Personally I like the instant gratification factor and owning my own ebooks, so I would probably just buy them outright before I even made it to the library.

[benham]

I use them for authors that are recommended and I am not sure I will like, or am pretty sure I won't like.

[elizilla]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Alas, in as much as you cannot tell if someone has chronic pain issues just by looking at them, neither can you tell if someone is poor just by looking at them.

Quite a few poor people have wealthier relatives who can help with hand-me-down clothes and gifted eReaders. Just because you can't realistically pay for eBook rentals doesn't mean that you're going to be walking around wearing cardboard on your feet.

I have now gifted two e-readers to friends who would never have been able to afford them. Both are older. One of them has been intermittently homeless, and had to give up on owning books. The other is living on a fixed income in a very small apartment, and has reached an age when books are hard to carry around. I gave them these readers so they could indulge their love of reading despite their inability to stockpile dead tree books. Both of these people are heavy library users and would benefit from the ability to get ebooks from the library, and neither could afford to pay for library ebooks.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I am happy to pay for the option. I just sent the Free Library of Philadelphia $35 to renew my card with them. In the past year I have read 21 ebooks that I borrowed from them. Even if I only read a half-dozen next year, I am happy to support them in their efforts to expand their ebook holdings.

But you only have to pay money to the Free Library of Philadelphia because you don't live in Philadelphia and thus don't pay property taxes to support the library. The Free Library of Philadelphia is, as the name suggests, "free" for people who live in Philadelphia.

Originally Posted by shibamistress

I'm a bit puzzled by the people who know exactly how much of their property taxes go to libraries. How do you know it's that much?

A pie chart came with my property tax bill. But it shouldn't be hard to find for any county - i.e., http://www.indy.gov/eGov/County/Trea.../Pages/go.aspx. This shows that, in 2009, there was a total property tax levy of $1.018 billion; and of this money, just over $40 million went to libraries. If you do the math, that means that 4% of property taxes went to libraries - so if you take 4% of your property tax bill, you can tell how much you spent on libraries.

If your library is also supported by local income taxes, you would need to include that as well - mine isn't, though.

I love the way the Philadelphia Free Library works, allowing people out of their service area to pay to check out e-books. I wonder if other libraries do that? It's a good idea to help get more resources to support a service like this.

This kind of cuts both ways, though - while it allows for the purchase of new books, it also dramatically increases the number of people who want those books - meaning that residents of Philadelphia will have to wait much longer to check out e-books due to demand from out of area users. I think that I would *not* like it if my library did this...especially since the FLP doesn't have a particularly large e-book collection to begin with, and I think they just add the out of area fees to general revenues and don't devote them specifically to e-books.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by abookreader

My problem would be that fee charging for access to those books in effect locks out the lower income members of the community from accessing those materials. This would be in direct disregard to one of the primary parts of the libraries mission, which is to provide access to reading material to all local patrons regardless of their income levels.

Well, that's the public library mission, I suppose. But that's only one model for lending libraries, and perhaps it doesn't work well for ebooks. For one thing, in order to lend ebooks to "lower income" people, it would probably be necessary to lend EBRs as well. That gets a little problematical - although these days, LIP seem to have tvs & dvd players to play the dvds the public library lends out here in Chicago.

I can imagine an ebook lending library model which charged for lending ebooks, either on a per checkout basis, or via a monthly or annual subscription, ala Netflix.

Libraries remind me of newspapers in that they are print-era institutions which curate and mediate information, funded by someone other than the specific consumer of the information (i.e., by advertising in the case of newspapers and taxes in the case of libraries.) We all know what's happened to newspapers as advertising has migrated to television and the internet. so what happens to libraries as the taxes dry up? The answer may well be that the ultimate consumer has to pay the tab.

Whether and to what extent this leaves the LIP out in the cold remains to be seen. When the government stops paying, maybe private citizens will step up to the plate, as Andrew Carnegie did in the past.

I tend to think that the public library system worked only because it was inefficient (in economic terms) so that it did not materially impact bookstores, and in fact supported them by growing and sustaining readers. But epublishing removes a whole lot of inefficiency from the system, such that in the digital world, libraries become a competitor to bookstores, and in a world where the physical bookstores themselves are at risk, I'm not at all sure that free digital public libraries are such a good idea.

Personally, I don't use the local Chicago library for ebooks, because the Overdrive system is so annoying, and the ebooks actually in the library are pretty worthless based on my tastes. But I'd probably use a well stocked Netflix style library, based on a small fee & ease of use.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if someday, Amazon didn't just start lending ebooks out as well as "licensing" them. They have the infrastructure in place. Or what if B&N came into Chicago, and partnered with the public library here to provide ebook access on some kind of time limit plus fee basis? Could work, I think.