Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
If I understand correctly, you want to let libraries loan popular new books without a reserve wait.
Going on the assumption I did understand: I like the collection-building mission of the library. This goes against it. If this was adopted, I think sales to individuals would plummet. While libraries have a mission to make books available to the public, they also have a mission to support creation of great books, and I think no-wait library borrowing goes against that.
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Usually libraries get e-copies of popular books later than p-copies. Some publishers even have explicit policies about that. For instance, my library has paper copies of
And the Mountains Echoed. They pre-ordered copies before the book was released. However, they have yet to purchase any e-copies of the same book. This book has been out for a couple of months. By the time my library purchases e-books of this novel, it probably will have been out for a few months. It isn't likely that having an open license of this e-book will cannibalize sale of the novel as it will have already been available for months for purchase to individuals.
The way that publishers currently deal with libraries in regards to e-books does little to help libraries in collection building or even authors. If libraries have to spend so much money buying multiple licenses for popular books it doesn't leave nearly as much for them to buy licenses for other e-books.