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The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

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Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#71

Post by jldugger »

brewdad wrote: post #57
jldugger wrote: post #34

I don't live in Seattle and I don't use that many digital holds; for me most are just video games. But recently my county library added a limit for physical holds. "Wait times" seem to be one of those Goodhart's law metrics: by capping holds, you haven't really reduced wait times, just moved most of it out of sight of the reporting API. But there's also kind of a mismatch of incentives at play here. As a patron, I re…

When a new book comes out the I know I want to read but do not wish to own for various reasons, I will generally put a hold on both physical and digital copies. Sometimes the audiobook too though that’s my least preferred way of consuming the content. Whichever comes available first is the one I will read. My library does have a holds limit but it is something like 75 items so I rarely have to think about it.

> I will generally put a hold on both physical and digital copies

Ah, I suppose their goal is to nudge people towards cheaper physical book borrowing, not just reduce borrowing overall.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#72

Post by rahimnathwani »

I find these two bits interesting:

  The Library has increased investment in digital collections to meet patron interest.

  the most common license needs to be purchased and then re-purchased every year.
This doesn't sound like an 'investment' to me. It sounds like they're renting books for a year at a time.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#73

Post by ravetcofx »

Animats wrote: post #48
koolba wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Forcing libraries to repurchase their entire collection every year should be illegal. We could have public libraries be entirely outside the copyright system. I doubt it’d have a material effect on production of new books. If as a society we have a problem that our libraries are too popular, then that’s probably a good thing. > I would also settle for a loophole that would allow the library to OCR a physical copy t…

> We could have public libraries be entirely outside the copyright system. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France has, I think, such an exemption.

Any reading on this phenomenon with Bibliothèque Nationale de France in English? Sounds like old school copyleft

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#74

Post by [deleted] »

teeray wrote: post #6

> While there are many types of licenses, the most common license needs to be purchased and then re-purchased every year. Forcing libraries to repurchase their entire collection every year should be illegal. I would also settle for a loophole that would allow the library to OCR a physical copy they own and then own the resulting digital copy.

[deleted]

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#76

Post by JumpCrisscross »

greyface- wrote: post #22
dmbche wrote: post #8

"What do holds have to do with the cost of digital books? This may seem surprising, but patron holds are the single biggest factor in rising costs. To maintain reasonable wait times, the Library buys additional licenses of a digital title when patrons place more holds on it. That means that when hundreds of patrons place holds on a single New York Times bestseller, the costs of “buying down the holds” can quickly bec…

People say that if public libraries didn't already exist and were proposed today as a new thing, they'd be found illegal. I agree that they've sort of lost the plot by taking this digital lending stuff seriously.

> People say that if public libraries didn't already exist and were proposed today as a new thing, they'd be found illegal

ARPANET was gracefully turned over, for the most part, to the commons, as was GPS. Public libraries are a millenium old as a concept [1], but only half a century (EDIT: millenium) old as a continuous practice [2]. We're not at the tail end of a collective-action halcyon; we're in the centre of it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Knowledge

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malatestiana_Library

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#77

Post by blackeyeblitzar »

I can get the anger against publishers, who seem to add almost no value to the process. But what’s wrong with the authors charging a licensing fee as described here? They deserve a right to charge what the market will support for their work, like everyone else. Personally I don’t even think this change matters - reducing the number of holds to 10 is very reasonable and I bet most will not even do enough reading to make those holds “worth it”

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#78

Post by ravetcofx »

blcknight wrote: post #3

I find the limits at ny libraries to be exceptionally high. Why does anyone need 25 digital books checked out at a time? That’d probably help with waitlists too. I love Libby, I want to see it survive.

Libby/Overdrive are a big part of the problem as they're VC owned https://buttondown.email/ninelives/archive/the-coming-enshit...

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#79

Post by kazinator »

brewdad wrote: post #61
kazinator wrote: post #35

If libraries want to be part of the e-racket, maybe they need to drink the full commercial Kool-Aid, and introduce a two-tier model: a free, regular membership and a paid, premium membership. The premium memberships fees go toward buying content, and are rewarded with perks like longer loan periods, priority holds, and exclusive access to new material.

Libraries are one of the most socially equal institutions we have. They are crucial to lower income families. I’d rather those who don’t want to join the queue simply use their money to buy the material than let them buy their way to the head of the line.

> I’d rather those who don’t want to join the queue simply use their money to buy the material

So that the material is then in their home, only for their use, rather than in the library?

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#80

Post by Dalewyn »

vel0city wrote: post #70
brewdad wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No doubt the external artificial noises serve a valuable purpose for both the blind and the sometimes inattentive. The artificial sounds pumped into the cabin to simulate a naturally aspirated V8 are nonsensical.

I'm not fully against the idea. Audio feedback has been a part of the experience of driving for so long. A lot of people probably get a feeling of "I'm going fast" based partially from audio queues. Having that audio feedback of the car speeding up rapidly might help make people realize they're accelerating a bit hard or whatever. It can be easy to not realize how fast an EV can accelerate with its instant torque I d…

I love driving Subarus because their boxer engines are noisier than most car engines, likewise diesel cars like a Ford F-350.

The auditory feedback is faster and easier to process than visually seeing or physically feeling the car move, I can respond quicker and drive more accurately hence it's safer. It's also easier to notice if something is wrong or strange with the engine.

Consequently, I hate driving quiet cars (sedans especially) and find EVs annoying because they have the high pitched, hard to hear motor whine that takes away some of my attention.

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