Comment on eat the rich and go to libraries
RedFrank24@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Technically libraries don’t give away books for free, they lend them out but they also pay for them. There’s a reason publishers are more than happy to sell books to libraries, but hate Internet Archive, and that’s because a library can only lend out however many copies of the book they have at a time, but Internet Archive lent out hundreds of generated copies.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Even for ebooks, libraries are limited to how many they can lend out, plus the ebook has an imposed end of life.
I’ve read claims that ebooks are more expensive for libraries than physical books, because of those limitations
zed_arthen@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Ebooks are a fun hell to order for a library. Many do have an end of life either in the form of maximum number of checkouts or under a license of 1-2 year access. They have all the same restrictions as normal books so patrons still have to wait to access the magic pixel arrangement. Ebooks are also generally just more expensive, even with the limitations. I have seen several above the $100 range, and many of those still have some form of end of life. If you ever wonder why your libraries ebook collection is a little slim, it is because they are incredibly cost prohibitive to maintain.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Yeah. I think most of them have a lifespan of like 20-30 uses per license.