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Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Someone please correct me, but I am thinking just the opposite. Wouldn't any attempt to regulate the prices multi-national publishers charge US-based governmental libraries go against international laws enforced by the World Trade Organization? Even if I am wrong there, forcing publishers to charge every class of customer the same price is politically impossible in almost all countries, and certainly in a center-right country like the US.
Question to any librarians on the thread: To what extent do public libraries based acquisition prioritization on the price of the book?
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Price gouging is a pejorative term referring to a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. This rapid increase in prices occurs after a demand or supply shock...
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I have no clue if there is a law against it nationally - but in this case I think that price gouging is an apt term to describe what is happening to libraries.
While I don't expect that libraries will ever get books for the same price as you and I (and AFAIK they never have)... a 300% price increase for the same product is pretty immoral and I think it should be illegal. The fact does remain that libraries are where the majority of the reading public get access to literacy. There is no way to have a democratic nation without literacy. So, in effect, there is no America as we know it without libraries.