[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Here's an article from Library Journal where the Kansas State Librarian discusses the issue. She provides specific details.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/new...eball.html.csp

I know this may sound anti-Kindle, but it's not.

Is this fee increase due to the Kindle about to have library eBook access? Is Overdrive raising fees so the work to integrate the Kindle will be paid for by the libraries and not Amazon or Overdrive? I am suspicious with the timing of these increases and the announcement.

(Stasiewski noted that the company's overall national checkout number for 2011 was rapidly approaching the total checkouts for 2010. "We are at one checkout per second, which is something we haven't seen before.")

If these numbers are part of the reason for the fee increase, then what's going to happen when the Kindle has library eBook access? Will this cause Overdrive to raise fees even more?

The Kindle will finally have library eBook access and no libraries to afford to offer them.

Originally Posted by Piper_

It makes sense that increased circulation will result in increased fees, but circulation was rising steeply already and was going to continue. They said that here in 2011, they were already almost at 2010's total levels.

Choices and adjustments need to be made all around, but they were already coming.

Will it be a net burden or benefit?

It depends on what matters most to tax payers (which includes kindlers) and how well the funds are managed. I hope they're managed well, because I think we'll all benefit from increased popularity of ebooks in libraries.

But what it sounds like it that the fees are going to keep going up and up to the point where the libraries won't be able to afford any additional content. So the libraries will just have stagnant content if they agree. This is not good. We already have a lot of libraries that do not purchase all that much content as it is. To raise the fees in such a dramatic way will cause them to stop with new content or have to do away with digital content. We don't want this. This is not good. And I think the Kindle coming on board is only going to exacerbate the issue. If it's because of how much content is being served, then libraries may very well have to say no to the Kindle or fear even higher increases.