Quote:
Originally Posted by murraypaul
Well we were discussing eBooks, so out-of-print doesn't really apply, and for print books I think it is rather unlikely that a local lending library would have copies to lend of an out of print book that you couldn't find for sale if you looked hard enough.
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There are out-of-print ebooks which have been pulled from publication/sale. Sometimes it's because the author signed with a different publisher or decided to stop selling that version (perhaps they've folded several short stories into an anthology and no longer want to sell the singles). Or the author has died, and the heirs have decided they no longer want that books sold.
Local lending libraries usually contain a great many out of print pbooks which, potentially, could be found for sale "if you looked hard enough" (charming way to say "if you don't have spare time, research skills, and money to pay collector's edition prices, you don't deserve to read out-of-print books")--but libraries make them available for everyone, not just one purchaser.
I am intrigued (and annoyed) at the growing movement that seems to say books are for the wealthy, that people of limited resources don't really need and therefore shouldn't have access to the world's literature. It's been fascinating to see how "ebooks can't be resold or lent" gets turned into "libraries are supporting leeches; if you want to read, just BUY books."