Quote:
Originally Posted by steven168
i only see the free... maybe they should change name  |
I suspect the name comes from an era when the majority of libraries were circulation/subscription libraries. Public libraries, by contrast, did not have paid membership with annual/quarterly dues -- they were free libraries. Perhaps the founders of the FLP back in the 1890s did not take into consideration the Internet. Shortsighted of them!
Since I don't pay any taxes in Philadelphia, $50 per year for the number of ebooks available is a bargain which I consider as a donation to the library. Their ebook collection is not quite up to the number available from the $9.99 per month Kindle Unlimited but a good chunk are from traditional publishers who seem to regard KU as being one step below cannibalism.
"
Madam, a circulating library in town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge! It blossoms through the year! And depend on it … they who are so fond of handing the leaves, will long for the fruit at last." Richard Brinsley Sheridan,
The Rivals