Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
If publishers did that, the total cost of ownership, or of a lend, for the library, of an eBook would be a fraction of the pbook price. So public libraries would be incentivized to buy/lease so many eBooks that there would be no or little wait. This would cannibalize retail big five sales while, eventually, undermining taxpayer support for physical libraries.
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A rather interesting claim. If an ebook and a pbook cost the library the same, the cost of the ebook would be a fraction of the pbook price? What is the basis for that statement? The cost of library staff is going to decline? The cost of their physical plant is going to shrink? Oh, I know! Overdrive and its competitors are going to drop their charges for managing the ebook loans? Perhaps in my wildest dreams...
You may also have noticed that today's libraries do much more than warehouse and loan books though that is a major portion of their raison d'être.
One item from the IFLA and Sharon Day from the Edmonton Public Library can be found here:
Libraries Can't Get Enough eBooks.