I realise that the discussion is about e-books, which to me is just another copy of a physical book that has other copies in some library branches. Maybe I should not have explained away not charging for e-books by saying there are no physical loss because it is a poor way of answering the essence of the question raised in this thread.
The truth is I don't believe in restricting book circulation, regardless of whether it exists in physical or electronic form. Even if people who want to access e-books would have to be relatively well-off to own a device on which to read them, I still do not believe in restricting content knowledge.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tubemonkey
But when hours and services are cut back, that inevitably leads to content cutbacks in order to provide an even balance. I'd rather pay an additional fee for an eCard so that e-content is always increasing and never decreasing.
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Haha I realise that I should have explained how the local library board works and local culture is like before moving forward. I may complain plenty about my country and the government (like almost every citizen), but I'm quite happy with our government in terms of their support for encouraging reading, and there are plenty of reference and public libraries to go around in my tiny country.
There is actually free library membership for all local citizens, and since primary school education has been made compulsory since a couple of decades (?) ago, most school-going students would have registered an account with the local library board (for free).
Adults can also register if not yet done so, and since it does not require you to do anything other than to bring your identity card, turn up and register at the library, it does not restrict library use across socio-economic background. Basic membership is lifetime with no need for renewal. There are also libraries in all school (or almost all? I'd be surprised if there isn't) where students can check out books.
I work in a school which bought Kindles (no support here) to encourage reading. Students can't actually borrow the Kindle out of the school but they are free to browse through the selection of e-books and stay in the library to read (something I find conflicting but still).
p/s: I'd gladly pay membership money for additional services but I have never needed those services, and the library board does not need my money to remain free and available for other socio-economic groups.
I used to pay extra (SGD 21 annually) when they introduced the DVD borrowing, which I assumed was to test interest of public. Two years later, the collection expanded incredibly because the board saw the interest, and now people with basic membership are also able to borrow them. The privilege of paying for upgraded membership right now is to be able to borrow more items at one go.
Based on the above, I do not foresee a problem in my local library board when it comes to content being compromised as a result of budget crunches. I suspect that the budget for our libraries are so incredible it can probably feed an entire nation.
Sorry for the looooonnng post.
