Ebook readers and library books

[eGeezer]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

As does ours - once you've gone through the hassle of showing up and proving you are who you say you are.

Derek

Wow, sorry to hear that you won't be able to tell your grandkids about the time you went to the library ONCE, and that it was uphill both ways, the snow was 3 feet deep, you were wearing your brother's hand-me-down boots with holes in the soles, and the wind was blowing in your face the whole way. Oh, and because it was so cold, the battery on your scooter ran out in the parking lot.

C'mon. Your excuse to blow off free books forever is cuz you have to go to the library one single time to get your library card? You must LOVE all the free credit card offerings that you don't even have to prove you are alive to qualify for.

Don't get me wrong, I always enjoy your perspective on things and I understand that as a publisher, "free" books at the library doesn't put as many $$ in your author's pockets. On the other hand, we also have the old old argument that the typical pbook can be passed along about 5 times before it is trash (the paper, not necessarily the content).

Just look at the library ebooks as picking up the slack on the restriction from being able to pass them on at the next garage sale. Yer not losing money, you are gaining audience.

[tponzo]

One of the main reasons I went w/Sony was the ability to borrow material from the library. I love our library but can't always go there because of my work schedule. My e-reader lets me take advantage of the library again. I have a card for my local library (Cleveland) and also got a card from Free Library of Philadelphia. I read lots of books and can't afford to purchase all of the books I might want to read. (Plus not having room). I only purchase books I will probably read more than once but there's lots of books I want to read but only once. Also I can try new authors I might not want to spend money on (yet).

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by eGeezer

Wow, sorry to hear that you won't be able to tell your grandkids about the time you went to the library ONCE, and that it was uphill both ways, the snow was 3 feet deep, you were wearing your brother's hand-me-down boots with holes in the soles, and the wind was blowing in your face the whole way. Oh, and because it was so cold, the battery on your scooter ran out in the parking lot.

I *DID*! And let me tell you! That snow was SOOOOOOOOOooooooo deep and the wind was a-blowin' SOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo hard that I purt' near got maself blowed to Bermuda! (And thet woulda been nice as Ah cain't hardly remember when Ah last gots to have me a vacashun!)

Yep. Them thar Central California Valley snowstorms is whatcha call "killer storms", doncha know?

Ah gots me a picher of one o' them an whut it did to the gas bar-be-coo!
Derek

[mikaelalind]

I love the Swedish system. There are *no* waiting lists! . Most of the bestsellers are available, plus I can check out authors I have been curious about. I get all my swedish books from the library.
Edit: There are limits on how many books you can sign out. You can sign out five within a seven day period.

I am about to sign up to Free Library, since the geo-restrictions frustrate me. Plus, I spend too much money on e-books. I am not sure about the payment. Oh, I can afford it. I just need to talk to the bank about the Money Order.

[mediax]

"My library does not support this function" is definitely the missing answer here - especially in the UK, it seems.

[TallMomof2]

I got a library card from the next county over and I have 10 books on hold and I'm either 3 of 4 or 4 of 4 waiting for the books. I've perused about half the fiction collection and roughly 75% are checked out. My county has a paltry selection and when I find a book I almost always have to wait because there will be at least 2 people already waiting for the book.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Then that is the fault of the Big Five publishers, yes? Them and their stupid 'agent' pricing plan. Time to buy up all stocks of pitchforks and torches, yes?



Derek

One of the problems is that part of the deal they made with Apple is that Apple is not allowed to be undersold. So, prices at other eBook stores for the agency 5's eBooks are not allowed to be less then Apple's prices.

So really, Apple has allowed the agency 5 to ruin something that didn't need all that much to get fixed.

[JSWolf]

I tend to check daily what's new at the libraries I have access to and have a lot less waiting time if I want to get something new.

[journey711]

My county has almost no selection, so I have persuaded people that live in different counties to sign up for cards and then let me have access. Until I moved here, library doesn't have a very good selection, I have always used the library. I have also purchased many books so I think whatever works.

[DJHARKAVY]

Originally Posted by theducks

I would use my Public Library e-books, if the book I wanted was available when I wanted it
Every title (not front list titles) I wanted, was checked out (are the readers, just letting them time out instead of checking the back in?).

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that the majority of people don't know that you CAN check a book back in early. At least with ADE books. Mobipocket can't be checked in early at all.

Originally Posted by julia103

I've borrowed five or six books from the Maryland Public Library. Most of the titles are PDF rather than epub, and I got really frustrated with how the reflow messes up the paragraphs and dialogue. They do seem to be getting more titles as epub, so I'll probably borrow more as that happens.

I've been borrowing from the library for about a decade. I have NEVER liked the way pdf files work with ereading programs/devices. At best, it is really slow and requires multiple presses to a page.

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

IMHO it wouldn't be ethically wrong, but you might get locked out of the Overdrive system. They use some kind of a computer algorithim to decide you are checking out too many books and returning them too quickly. Unfortunately, you get locked out even if you check out a book and decide in 5 minutes you don't want to read it (kind of what you might do in a real library, skimming the book, although you can do it without checking it out). I have been locked out a couple times - you cannot check out a new book or return a book. It only lasts about 48 hours. Now, I try not to return a book early unless I have one come up on my hold list.

I didn't notice that, and I tend to return books early. Of course, I only do one at a time, every couple of days, so I might not have even noticed a lockout.

Originally Posted by delphidb96

After all, the biggest problem in 'borrowing' library e-books is that there is no single, coherent program developed by the libraries to support 'lending' e-books that covers all e-book readers. And that is the fault of the library systems.

Derek

That was part of the idea of going to the ePub Standard. Unfortunately, Kindle doesn't do that, but most other ebook readers do.

Originally Posted by delphidb96

As does ours - once you've gone through the hassle of showing up and proving you are who you say you are.

Derek

I didn't have to do that when I first got my NYPL card. I was reading ebooks and I found out that while Brooklyn Public library did not (at the time) have an ebooks program, NYPL did. I emailed them and then mailed me back a card.

Last year, they decided that they wanted to have clients come in and prove who they are. I had not been using the library for a while, as I had a backlog of books that I had bought, and when I logged in, I got a notice that my card (which had not previously had an expiration date) had expired. I finally took care of it, and now am good for the next three years.