Quote:
Originally Posted by BadBilly
The libraries are not required to purchase the books.
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Correct.
Now, if I am searching correctly, your library has 30,528 encrypted ePUB titles, making it one of the world's best for us:
http://toronto.lib.overdrive.com/780...rtBy=Relevancy
When you add in the duplicate copies, not included in my count, this arguably amounts to a branch library without the costs of construction and physical maintenance.*
8,347 titles have been added in the past six months, showing that the apparently profligate Toronto library continues to feed the alleged beast:
http://toronto.lib.overdrive.com/780...rtBy=Relevancy
Quote:
Originally Posted by latepaul
Publishers will only get the message that they're overpricing their licenses (if that's the case) if enough libraries refuse to pay.
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Absolutely correct. If Toronto stops buying books over a certain dollar limit, publisher data mining systems will notice, and the executives will reconsider pricing. Maybe they will lower their salaries to compensate for lost revenue. Maybe Toronto will lower taxes. More likely, neither.
Because many readers still don't use eReaders, I think that libraries should spend the bulk of their acquisitions budget on paper books. But for those which can, with eBook purchases, afford to support the kind of publishers who offer advances and provide substantial editorial assistance by paying US$90 for a Random House eBook, good for them.
Unless relatively rich cities like Toronto change their ways, the publishers would be mistaken to charge less. It is wonderful that Toronto has enough money to support the book creation industry in this way. But if a community doesn't have the money, just buy paper books, with a mix of regular and large print.
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* This isn't to negate the value of librarians and non-borrowing library services. I'm just pointing out that copyrighted eBooks, while more expensive to buy than paper, save other costs.