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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

#91

Post by abnercoimbre »

dangus wrote: post #19
shkkmo wrote: post #4

> As a consumer, when you buy an e-book or e-audiobook, it costs about the same or sometimes even less than the print book version. But for libraries, the e-book or e-audiobook version of a title actually costs up to three times or more than the print version. > This is because publishers use a licensing model for selling e-books to libraries. Each copy of a digital book title requires a purchase of a license. While…

I think the sadder part of this is that this licensing model means that a cartel of publishers will set ebook pricing as high as possible to squeeze every surplus dime out of libraries. High enough to make libraries make extremely difficult budgeting systems but not high enough to strangle their golden geese. In the past, libraries could buy physical books and that was it. But once, own forever. Maybe they’d need to…

I really just want to vent. This keeps happening everywhere across the nation, everything is corporatized. I'm so exhausted.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#92

Post by banish-m4 »

kazinator wrote: post #27

> As a consumer, when you buy an e-book or e-audiobook, it costs about the same or sometimes even less than the print book version. That "even" looks out of place. Since I would expect some digital detritus that can be reproduced in unlimited copies at close to zero cost to cost less, then I would say that it "sometimes even costs more than the actual book". It's not surprising when it's less; "even" adds emphasis on…

The amortized unit cost of digital books is in fact absolutely $0.00.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#93

Post by banish-m4 »

DRM e-books should be banished because they subsidize rent-seeking parasitic capitalism.

0. Stick to real books that don't impose technical limitations or ongoing costs.

1. Promote piracy at every opportunity. Fuck the big 5 publishers and their celebrity book advance deals.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#95

Post by itsgrimetime »

brewdad wrote: post #56
LeafItAlone wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's beyond odd; it's simply idiotic. You would not "buy down" holds for physical books, or not to a ridiculous degree. If there are 100 holds for some book, you're not going to go out and buy 75 or whatever. Libraries certainly do this. Might not be at (your suggested) 75/100 rates, but if a physical book is popular, library systems do purchase more copies.

Those same libraries can then resell their excess copies a few years later at a Friends of the Library sale and recoup a few dollars. This isn’t possible with e-books currently.

Are they prohibited from reselling the licenses?

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#96

Post by nomilk »

> But for libraries, the e-book or e-audiobook version of a title actually costs up to three times or more than the print version.

Is this an economically rational outcome for a not-obvious reason, or have libraries been very poor negotiators here, in the way they have spent public funds; or have e-book sellers been exploitative (or a bit of both)?

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#97

Post by Tempest1981 »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #58
LeafItAlone wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's beyond odd; it's simply idiotic. You would not "buy down" holds for physical books, or not to a ridiculous degree. If there are 100 holds for some book, you're not going to go out and buy 75 or whatever. Libraries certainly do this. Might not be at (your suggested) 75/100 rates, but if a physical book is popular, library systems do purchase more copies.

Then why aren't they reducing the maximum number of non-digital holds? (or did they already have that limit?)

Santa Clara county (California):

> Limits. You may borrow at any one time, 100 total items per library card, including up to 10 console games and up to 30 DVDs/Blu-rays.

https://sccld.org/borrowing-policy/

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#98

Post by hoseja »

gostsamo wrote: post #24
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…

> It feels like how electric cars add artifical engine sounds. A side note, there is some sense in the artificial sounds of the ev engines. I'm blind and if not for them, I might be dead in five years, together with many no so attentive people.

At any dangerous speed the tire noise dominates anyway.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#99

Post by hnben »

nomilk wrote: post #96

> But for libraries, the e-book or e-audiobook version of a title actually costs up to three times or more than the print version. Is this an economically rational outcome for a not-obvious reason, or have libraries been very poor negotiators here, in the way they have spent public funds; or have e-book sellers been exploitative (or a bit of both)?

I guess it's because of copyright, i.e. it's hard to make an illegal copy of a printed book, and it's easy to make a digital copy of an ebook. So the ebook-markup is partial due to the expected privacy.

My other guess is, that it really is more expensive. I think, the publisher's digital infrastructure is really bad. And there is a lot of overhead when publishing a new book with lots of DRM on it. And most books don't get sold that often. So a small number digital purchases must pay for that over-proportional up-front cost.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#100

Post by dagw »

nomilk wrote: post #96

> But for libraries, the e-book or e-audiobook version of a title actually costs up to three times or more than the print version. Is this an economically rational outcome for a not-obvious reason, or have libraries been very poor negotiators here, in the way they have spent public funds; or have e-book sellers been exploitative (or a bit of both)?

I know that where I live my understanding is that basically the publishers felt 'screwed' by the old deal that they had with print books and that libraries were underpaying. So when e-book negotiations started they used that to try to claw back some of the money they felt they where owed as it where.
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