Archive org solves it by ignoring it.
UK and Ireland pay a licence fee per ebook simultaneous loan (like they buy paper books) and then on paper and ebooks pay a per loan royalty.
Amazon pays nothing up front and decides a "pot". Then invades privacy and pays author/publisher a fraction from the "pot" based on pages read.
Quote:
|
Connecticut librarians say they are victims of price-gouging by book publishers whose charges for eBooks are as much as five times the amount of traditional books.
|
But not all publishers do that.
Also in USA the publisher/author gets nothing extra per loan of any book?
See also USA Radio Stations vs rest of the world, where I think in USA no performer's rights royalty, only composers.
There is a problem if publishers are charging much more and also if there is no per loan royalty.
See also historic Video Libraries (VHS, DVD) where in many countries the Rental edition was many times cost of retail version. Originally in 1980s there was only one price, £50 to £200, but then when sales of VHS went mainstream, the retail was 1/4 to 1/10th of Rental version, thus almost all the VHS & DVDs I have have a box
Not For Rental.
Of course I think US Libraries could buy a paper book from anywhere but in UK and Ireland originally it had to be a library copy.
This is not simple and part of a wider problem. There are ebooks on Amazon more expensive than the paper version.
Quote:
|
Other contractual restrictions, which librarians are fighting in the General Assembly with the assistance of bipartisan support from lawmakers, limit the use of individual eBooks for a maximum of two years or 26 "borrows." And unlike inter-library loans of traditional hard and paperbacks, eBooks are limited in use to individual libraries.
|
This is a problem too. We have part of that here. Book1 of a series can be removed from the library ebooks before book 3 is out. All ebooks should be forever. The only reason libraries get rid of paper ones is worn out or space. However the online ebook catalogue here isn't just the local library but the entire Irish region and it's supposed to go nationwide (but not all Island of Ireland).
I can see the Libraries winning some and losing some on this. Here the library is totally free for residents. A proportion of the Council budget pays for it. So sadly in a deprived area of the city the library is only open office hours 5 days a week, and no unaccompanied minors in any Library with only 1 staffer.