For You Library Lovers: eBook Loan Problem
January 23, 2012
E-reader sales have skyrocketed this holiday season and so too have e-book rentals from public libraries. The New York Times reported on the ongoing battle between e-readers and paper books in the article “For Libraries vs. Publishers: An E-Book Tug of War.”
According to the article, due to a fear of loss of revenue, most publishers in the United States now block libraries’ access to the e-book form of either all of their titles or their most recently published ones.
Despite the fact that only one e-book can be checked out at a time, just like paper books, publishers say that the difference lies in the convenience of e-book rentals.
Elinor Hirschorn, executive vice president and chief digital officer of Simon & Schuster said:
The reason publishers didn’t worry about lost sales from library lending of print books is that buying a book is easier — no return trip is needed to the bookstore — and the buyer has a physical collectible after reading it.
While the rapid technological advancement over the last decade has been very lucrative for some industries, in it has lead to the demise of others. In order to keep their overall revenue from taking a dramatic hit, publishers need to find a way to remain cost effective and convenient without putting themselves out of business.
Great idea: encourage people to avoid libraries for content.
Jasmine Ashton, January 23, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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