E-books have been billed as the next great thing for books and publishing--they are convenient, attractively priced, and environmentally friendly. But how do libraries, a traditional user of the printed book, adapt to this change? How do e-books fit into the lending model? And will publishers allow libraries to lend them out? Some publishers fear that a lending model will completely unravel the e-book industry and their concerns are very familiar to those who were worried about DRM and the music industry. So some propose lending with restrictions--only use on-site and limiting the number of copies that can be lent at one time. In essence, this tries to recreate the same lending model as for physical books. But is that feasible? Or reasonable? Other publishers are recognizing the need for new standards and are not requiring such stringent controls. Will they still monetize sales? And how?
The bottom line, however, is that libraries only account for 4% of book sales--so would they really be able to make a significant dent in e-book sales?
I wonder what happens where your e-book is overdue? Right now, libraries can't forcefully take a book back from you. With e-books, they theoretically could. I've been known to keep an overdue book that I can't renew because I need it for something and then just pay the $2 late fee because it's still cheaper than buying a book I'll probably never read again. But that ability will likely change if libraries do move to e-books (which, I still believe, isn't happening anytime soon).
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