Comments on: In Which I Once Again Solve the Ebook Library Lending Problem

By: Dude Librarian

Dude Librarian — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 07:09:28 +0000

“And people will continue/start to pirate ebooks, since they won’t be able to get them from the library. In which we see that publishers are no smarter than the music industry or RIAA.”

They did it before ebooks were made for specific devices. It’s just not many people knew that there are electronic formats availible for illegal distribution. Since word processing and the internet was made, there had been books typed out and dispersed into the web. Ebooks just saves “pirates” time now cause all they have to do is just change the coding of the file.

By: Emily Victorson

Emily Victorson — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:02:26 +0000

Libraries, take the opportunity to help your patrons discover all the wonderful ebooks being published by small, independent presses. We’re more than happy to work with you to make our books available to more readers. And we’re not so focused on the first six weeks or six months of a book’s life-span. We’re more interested in the “long tail.”

There are many, many worthy books out there that are not published by the major publishers and librarians can play a key role in helping readers find out about them.

By: Jean Costello

Jean Costello — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 19:24:16 +0000

Publishing veteran Joe Esposito summed it up well: "Librarians tend to argue on moral grounds, publishers on economic grounds. Most of the time, the money wins." This February 2012 address at the annual NFAIS conference is highly recommended. Publishing topics covered are: 1) Extensionism (extending some aspect of an existing business into a new area) 2) The face-down publishing paradigm 3) Hybridization of online and physical worlds 4) Library bypass

By: Mlisa

Mlisa — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:24:28 +0000

Agree with “me” and Jean. Dogma will kill the libraries. So let’s get creative, shall we?

By: Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries

Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 02:47:11 +0000

“tossing out most of their books over time”

Censorship!! Censorship!!

!!!!!!

By: Really?

Really? — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:08:27 +0000

And people will continue/start to pirate ebooks, since they won’t be able to get them from the library. In which we see that publishers are no smarter than the music industry or RIAA.

By: Joneser

Joneser — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:00:06 +0000

Yes and Yes.

By: Melinda Mattingly

Melinda Mattingly — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 22:56:45 +0000

I don’t know if you’re right or wrong, but you make me laugh and there’s no DOUBT about all of us needing a laugh at this point. Thanks for your great posts!

By: Rosalie Donlon

Rosalie Donlon — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 22:36:56 +0000

I believe that e-books are another content delivery system, similar to having a paperback version of a hardcover book. I can understand the six-month wait time, but I would prefer to have the e-book at the same time as the hard cover because the e-book is much easier to travel with. I don’t agree with the one-year renewal. Publishers don’t require libraries to pull hardcovers after a year or when the paperback version comes out so why should they have to pull e-books?

By: Jean Costello

Jean Costello — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 20:49:38 +0000

Dale – I’m with “me” on this one. eBooks are a different domain with different dynamics. I’ve not seen an appreciation of this in library rhetoric, which may be a big reason why they have not been able to establish themselves as an eBook channel.

Even if libraries gain distribution rights to eBooks, “Development Arrested” and I both raised key questions:
- Do libraries know how to manage eCollections?
- Will their product offerings be attractive to customers?

If the answer is no, this adds more credence to your prediction about “The End of Libraries”.