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odd that you have to reserve a hold on an ebook from the library 

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    I used to work for a local community council at the library teaching folk computer skills - basic to intermediate.

     

    ebook loaning was only a new thing at the time, but from what I remember, it was a nightmare of a process - they (publishers) don't want libraries "loaning" an infinite copy of books, or for people to share them or keep them beyond the time of the loan. Since the library has to pay a fee for every "copy" they make available to loan, they can only budget for - at most - a few "copies" even of an ebook, due to licensing.

     

    So the publishers want it both ways - to have a library pay for every "copy" of a book they loan, but subsequently don't care that it's costing them nothing to enable a book to be loaned to more than one person at a time. They also don't care that the technology they trust so much (licensing) also makes it safer to loan books, since loaner theft is drastically reduced. Except, of course, if books can't be lost, damaged or stolen, the publishers don't get to sell more books.

     

    It's a truly awful experience, and I feel sorry for the librarians of the world who have to deal with this kind of politics on a daily basis, when all they want is to share knowledge for as little as possible.

     

     

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