Is it possible to rent ebooks (similar to Overdrive?)

[Slite]

Originally Posted by SolRaven

Shhhh... don't tell anyone, but I've gotten around that little snafu by changing the date on my reader to a much earlier time.

Or you could just run the borrowed books thorough a deDRM script and don't bother with the 21 days limit. But then, of course, you should delete them from your reader once you have read them.

[tench]

Originally Posted by SolRaven

I wonder how much the NYPL actually collects from taxes per NY resident from a library card. Id' think that it's more likely that they only get less money from the residents and more from out of state library card holders so they don't lose money, but gain revenue from the out of state subscribers.

Except that presumably someone who is paying for an out-of-state card is likely to use the library quite a bit, and your average NY resident probably uses it much less. So I'd guess that on a per "book-checked-out" basis, the NYPL probably got less money from the out-of state-cardholders than from NY residents.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by tench

Except that presumably someone who is paying for an out-of-state card is likely to use the library quite a bit, and your average NY resident probably uses it much less. So I'd guess that on a per "book-checked-out" basis, the NYPL probably got less money from the out-of state-cardholders than from NY residents.

Taking that into account. If you separated the card holder that were residents vs. out of state, looked at the cash in to cash out ratio, I'm wondering who they'd most benefit from and if they aren't benefiting more from out of state holders, why not? I'm sure many of us would be willing to use their services like any other rental business like audible, netflix and the like.

[tench]

Originally Posted by SolRaven

If you separated the card holder that were residents vs. out of state, looked at the cash in to cash out ratio, I'm wondering who they'd most benefit from and if they aren't benefiting more from out of state holders, why not?

I don't know how the NYPL is funded, but I would guess that the state funding NYPL receives is actually not dependent on how many in-state card holders they have. So a comparison might be difficult.

In any event, it sounds from other posts as though they can't do out-of-state cards anymore because of licensing problems with Overdrive, so however much they benefited from those paid cards, it is kind of academic at this point. They can't set themselves up as the Netflix of ebooks.

[katiebird]

I'm totally new here so please forgive me if I shouldn't be jumping into this conversation.

This has been an interesting thread -- I've spent a lot of time searching through the Overdrive collection for a couple of dozen public libraries. As it happens my own library's collection (jocolibrary.org) isn't bad. But the best that I found was Seattle Public Library. They're Overdrive collection has every book I've looked up. And complete series too. It's incredible. They also have the O'Reilly Bookshelf too. I still have to contact them to see if an out of state card gives access to the digital collection. But, if it does then it would really be worth the $70!

[forkyfork]

Originally Posted by katiebird

I'm totally new here so please forgive me if I shouldn't be jumping into this conversation.

This has been an interesting thread -- I've spent a lot of time searching through the Overdrive collection for a couple of dozen public libraries. As it happens my own library's collection (jocolibrary.org) isn't bad. But the best that I found was Seattle Public Library. They're Overdrive collection has every book I've looked up. And complete series too. It's incredible. They also have the O'Reilly Bookshelf too. I still have to contact them to see if an out of state card gives access to the digital collection. But, if it does then it would really be worth the $70!

Oooh.. I'm curious as well. Please keep us posted.

Have you been to the Seattle Main Branch Library? It's probably THE nicest library I've ever been to.

[katiebird]

I was there many, many years ago and it was pretty impressive then. But, I think they've done some extensive remodeling since I last saw it.