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I often see this erroneous statement "I can't return a library book early." I think the problem is, you can't return a library book *through the library's website.* But if you think about it, there is a technical reason for that. There is no link between your reader and the website. So if they had an option to return the book on the website, how would your reader know that the book had been returned and is no longer available?
I would love to see a cost analysis of library ebooks vs library pbooks. I would think it costs a LOT more to maintain the pbook collection (in addition to the books themselves, you need to pay for staff, bathroom upkeep, building maintenance, etc etc). I would imagine that the ebook collection might have one full-time person maintaining the entire collection. BUT there are also the Overdrive fees to consider, which as I understand have skyrocketed. (and Overdrive is in a nearly monopolistic position to charge whatever fees they want, since #1 they are nearly the only game in town for library lending and #2 libraries have invested a lot in ebook licenses. If they switched to another vendor, I doubt the licenses would transfer over.) Anyway, I would certainly love to see such a cost analysis.
re: library ebooks and piracy: I find it maddening that Penguin cites piracy as their reason to pull library ebooks. Simply making your book available as an ebook (whether that be at a bookstore or library) makes it expedient for pirates to pirate it. Perhaps Penguin found their sales went down because of the legitimate library checkouts, not piracy? (which is scary for publishers, of course.) But it's bad press to say that you're "against libraries" so they had to put another spin on it.
So, it would also be great to see some analysis of ebook sales of publishers who do participate in library lending, vs those who don't. I doubt we'd be able to see those kinds of figures, though!
I also agree with "wait times are just fine." The scary thing (to publishers) about library ebook lending is that it is "frictionless" so the wait time adds a bit of friction. I wouldn't even mind so much if publishers limit the number of copies a library can license, at the cost of REALLY long wait times. Just so long as they continue to participate in library ebook lending!
eP
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