Libraries Demand Better eBook Services

Originally Posted by JeremyR

I would say that libraries are the dinosaurs in the room.
...
Or basically, $2 for every $1,000. Have a modest (say $100,000) home, the library will cost you $200 a year.
...
How about this - everyone just keeps their money and uses it to buy the ebooks they want?

It sounds like a lot of money, until you realize that the library houses individual books that cost more than $200 and that they often provide access to databases that cost more than $200 for an individual to access. And that's only considering the wealthy home owners, because there are plenty of people who aren't wealthy enough to afford that modest home (i.e. they wouldn't save that $200 in taxes to buy ebooks).

Libraries are a pooling of resources to serve a public good. We care about things like the public good because ignoring it has some pretty ugly consequences. Just take a look at the uprisings that have happened around the world, both in the present and in the past, when leaders have failed to address the basic needs of all citizens.

[spindlegirl]

Here in our local library, if I reserve an e-book I have to wait until the people ahead of me are finished just like with a paper book. Sometimes weeks. This does not bother me. I am not part of our culture whereby their hands twitch if they have to delay gratification. Waiting for things is pretty much the foundation of my life.

If I had to go to the library to fetch electronic bytes to borrow, I'd quit using the library, too. Like tubemonkey said above, reading is a hobby, and there is no fiction that I "have to read". I am not desperate enough that I would buy it either. I have many other hobbies that I am passionate about, and many other things I can read on a tight budget.

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

And ebooks are different from physical books. They don't wear out. If a library buys a book, it's going to be worn out after X amount of readers. An e-book wont. Is it fair to the author that one sale of his work will be readable to an infinite amount of readers? (Albeit sequential)

Is that the way the ebook license works for a library? Can they lend it an infinite number of times?

[Cdesja5]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

Is that the way the ebook license works for a library? Can they lend it an infinite number of times?

No, in many cases the publisher sets a limit, say 28 lends, and then they have to purchase a new copy...seems ridiculous to me. I don't think a paper book would necessarily be worn out by then but that's the equivalent they use in somes cases.

[plib]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

I would say that libraries are the dinosaurs in the room.

There's a recent story in my local paper about a city wanting to start a library. The tax to pay for it will be 20 cents for every $100 in taxable property you own.

Or basically, $2 for every $1,000. Have a modest (say $100,000) home, the library will cost you $200 a year.

Did you see any stories about public funding of sports stadiums? Personally I'd rather my tax dollars went to a library.

[Ntsimp]

I've been a huge user of the public library most of my life. I'm sure they get more funds from my late fees than from my taxes! But library ebook lending is totally useless to me, because I don't use one of the approved operating systems.

[ProfCrash]

I can put a physical book on hold from my computer at home. I have to go to the library to get it but that does not take that long. So there really is no difference in getting a paper book or an ebook. One requires I pick the book up but I can do that on the way home for work.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

That leaves purchase over the Internet (say Amazon) with at least ten days or so wait...

Why do you have to wait 10 days? If I buy a book from Amazon, it arrives the next day.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

It is hard for me to wrap my head around the disconnect between lending paper and lending bits.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I don't see a difference either.

Originally Posted by murraypaul

The interest isn't different.
They probably would rather prevent their paper books being sold to libraries.
But they can't. Libraries can but a book just like anyone else can. And once they own that physical copy, they can do what they like with that single copy, including renting it out.
The difference isn't that publishers want to prevent libraries lending ebooks, it is that they can prevent them lending ebooks, while they can't prevent them lending pbooks.

The difference, as my local librarian recently explained it to me, is quite simple. As murraypaul said, they, like anyone, can buy a copy of a pbook (or a CD) and lend that one copy to anyone they choose. No copyright violation, no copying of the media.
But to lend an ebook (or an mp3 download) to ANYONE inherently involves copying it. That would be a copyright violation.
Stuff like the DMCA, DRM systems, licencing agreements and terms of service exist to try to address that fact, protecting the IP owner's rights, while still allowing access to the material, and it adds complexity.

I'm happy libraries are interested in addressing this. Their efforts will hopefully lead to better arrangements for all our private eBook dealings as well.

[QuantumIguana]

Libraries will be what the community wants them to be, it's small government in action.

[AndrewH]

Originally Posted by Ntsimp

But library ebook lending is totally useless to me, because I don't use one of the approved operating systems.

Surely you could use VirtualBox, or the equivalent?

[CyGuy]

There is a fundamental misunderstanding of the way libraries should purchase and loan ebooks. Libraries should simply purchase a copy (or copies) of a particular ebook from whatever vendor they want and then loan it out one-instance-at-a-time forever. Stop this “ebooks wear out after X uses” nonsense, they don’t. Stop the “pay-per-loan” nonsense, reading library books is free once they have been purchased.

[QuantumIguana]

It's not a misunderstanding, it's a disagreement. It's not obvious that libraries should be able buy an e-book once and continue to loan it out forever.

[CyGuy]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

...It's not obvious that libraries should be able buy an e-book once and continue to loan it out forever.

For me that is the very definition of "library"...

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why do you have to wait 10 days? If I buy a book from Amazon, it arrives the next day.

Lucky you. Here in the US standard shipping (the cheapest among offered alternatives) is supposedly 3-5 business days transit time after 2-3 days from when the order is placed. I live in a small town remote from any large city so my total wait from when I order the item is usually at least 7-10 days.


Odd the lack of support for public libraries from some here days after the death of Ray Bradbury. I consider the small amount of my property tax that actually goes to support my local public library system actually not enough. The amount that goes to the number of police we have driving around this community (where a major crime wave may be some kid vandalizing a few houses) in their tricked-out $80,000 SUVs on the other hand . . .. But I stray off topic. Libraries are a prime example of something funded by everyone for the public good.