Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Oh, please. Go to a library... you know, the institute just waiting to share with everyone? ...and stop trying to label me an elitist Orwellian snob.
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Don't mean to be labeling you an elitist. Really. But the idea that sharing books and reselling them is not important, strikes me as very very wrong--and a nearly impossible statement from anyone who regularly has to chose between books and lunch.
A library is a book-sharing institution, and you'd just said booksharing wasn't important to many people. You didn't specify that you meant person-to-person only. You also didn't specify "non-students"-- plenty of college students only manage to afford school at all because of a healthy secondhand book industry.
Libraries are focused on providing access to what the majority of the local community is interested in reading. They don't provide many niche books (unless the local community is both wealthy and urban), and don't try to provide complete collections of many authors. (For example, I own copies of all the books Heinlein published when he was alive. None of my several local libraries do.)
Libraries are never going to share all possible ebooks, either. Even if they got rid of the DRM lock-in, where only those libraries willing/able to deal with Overdrive etc. can loan ebooks, a library is never going to have the focused collections that individuals create.
I own over 50, maybe over 100 books that would be tagged under Dewey 133.409 in a library. Most libraries have about 8 books with that number. (Maybe a few more, if the local tarot & astrology communities are active.) Libraries don't need to provide all of those. As delightful as I'd find it if thousands of people wanted to read Timothy Leary's book about Tarot and human brain development, I really don't expect it to catch on. Nor can I tell people, "if you're interested, go buy a copy;" they're not available.
Small, personal libraries are a mainstay in any literary community; public libraries just can't afford to spend their resources catering to every special interest group.