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Originally Posted by DNSB
Hmmm...
1. According to library records, very few ebook loans are returned early. In point, their computer system will flag people who borrow books and return them early on a consistent basis. Very few people can churn through 5 to 10 books per week on a consistent basis. I was caught by this at one time and ended up chatting with the library IT about the effect of a 1K WPM reading speed on book consumption.
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Great thanks for providing data you had left out in your initial statement. Few isn't 0 though I'll grant it's also not a large minority. It's still not a statistic which can be totally ignored.
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2. You want the number of copies? They are displayed along with the projected hold wait period. On these books, the number was from 1 to 13 -- the 13 copy had an 18 week wait time.
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Yes, I want relevant data to statistics you're citing to try and make a claim. This shouldn't be shocking. So the book with the larger number of copies had a lower waiting period, this would seem to tie in to the publishers logic of wanting to restrict the copies to one to try and pressure people into buying rather than borrowing. I trust you see how including all the data makes a difference.
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3. Nor was it intended to. You seem to be saying the publishers regard any library loan as a "lost sale". To me, those wait times suggest that those people are not planning on buying the book or they would not have bothered to place the hold. After all, the wait time is displayed when you go to place the hold.
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What you aren't seeing in the figures you posted, and indeed couldn't see, are the people who look at those wait times and decide to purchase the book rather than waiting. The wait times suggest that at one point the person who signed up for them was willing to wait, this can of course change at any point, we lack access to enough data to draw more of a conclusion than they were at the time of the hold willing to wait the estimated time, we don't know why, if it'll change, etc. We can draw on previous studies which suggest the longer someone has to wait for something they could otherwise obtain for a price has a tipping point, but I think that's going rather far afield in an already far afield conversation.
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You might want to read my words more closely. The library paid $40.31 more for a single copy with a limited lifetime. That is the amount over costs that would have to be made on the sales to those 5 customers allowing for whatever additional costs are associated with Overdrive or other service provider reducing that number. Are we to believe the total costs of producing and selling an ebook sold at $8.99 Cdn is $0.93 Cdn? Not to mention that when the library copy expires, the library will have to choose whether to repurchase the ebook at the same inflated price or remove it from their collection so yet another chance for profit.
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I'm going to go out on a limb and say the publisher sells the licenses to the libraries at a profit for them which incorporates any costs such as overdrive, or other delivery services. The costs to produce the ebook itself are of course the same regardless of who buys it. Yes the library purchase expires, after a year or 'x' loans, or whatever the terms they have with the publisher. However it's still relatively few sales to beat the sale of the library be it 5 or 6 or 7 the number isn't anything staggering.