[QuantumIguana]

Reciprocity for e-books hasn't been figured out yet. With paper books, there's no problem. I can get a book from one of the other county libraries if it isn't available in mine, and someone from one of the other counties in the metro area can get a book from my county library.

With e-books, the reciprocity doesn't work so well. If my library doesn't have e-books, so I get e-books from yours, that's not reciprocity. I would just be shifting the burden away from my library to your library.

Why should Hennepin County taxes pay for the e-books in Anoka County? Reciprocity works when there is a more or less even flow, when books are as likely to flow in one direction as in another. Allowing people in Anoka County to check out e-books from Hennepin County just mean that the tax burden gets shifted. Why offer e-books if you can just shove the cost to someone else? I'd be in favor of a metro area consortium for e-books, it would spread the funding across all of the metro area, so no one is able to shove the costs onto someone else.

A consortium of libraries to pool paying for e-books is reciprocal. Everyone has shared in the funding. It should be all the same to the publishers, as they get paid for X number of times the book is downloaded.