Quote:
Originally Posted by meeera
Given that a fair few of the local community are print-disabled and/or housebound, suggesting that local libraries abandon accessible formats seems a rather terrible suggestion to me.
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Ah, the solve world hunger argument. If you can't be all to everyone, it's not a good solution. In general, the more limited a solution is, the more likely that it's sustainable. Sometimes, special circumstances require a specialized solution.
For example, the Chafee amendment in the US allows for an exception to copyright law for the legally blind. That particular mechanism is likely a better solution for the print-disabled. There is the NLS, or national library service, which provides such books to those qualified. So every library doesn't have to be a be all to everyone.
Of course, we also run into the real question of this whole debate, i.e. what is the core purpose of public libraries, and to what extent is the modern never ending copyright compatible with that. If copyright was still at 28 years, then much of the issues involving libraries and ebooks would be moot.