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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

#101

Post by raynr »

irjustin wrote: post #60

> 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…

> Something went very wrong in negotiations here. That's all I can say. Who allowed this deal to be penned in its exact fashion?

I'm not sure this is the right way to look at it. It's more likely that nobody "allowed" the situation to happen, and the publishers just had much stronger bargaining power. So libraries either pay to participate and adjust their budget accordingly, or don't have e-books to lend out.

Or, put more provocatively in a forum run by a startup incubator: capitalism allowed this to happen.

My local library does appear to have a large enough budget to cater for this new demand but I can understand if many other city libraries don't.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#102

Post by dagw »

kazinator wrote: post #79
brewdad wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Libraries have limited money. I'd rather they buy 10 different books than 10 copies of the same book, even if that means some people have to wait longer to read that one popular book.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#103

Post by lazyasciiart »

RheingoldRiver wrote: post #63
gerad wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, if you have kids then you check out tons of books at a time.

To put a concrete number on "tons" - when I was a kid we'd frequently check out 300 books at a time, and the reason the number was 300 was that library cards had a limit of 100 each, and my mom, my dad, and I each had our own library card. Any time I was home sick from school they were all used to check out books for me; and yes, we would go through all 300 of them. Kids' books are pretty short.

How often did you go to the library?

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#104

Post by lazyasciiart »

brewdad wrote: post #59
knappe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose this is true, but feels like the exceptional case. And why not have a reasonable policy that allows someone to appeal their hold limit and have it subjectively approved. I am a fairly prolific reader and I only have 7 holds spread out across 3 libraries. I seriously doubt 25 is the p90 here.

You’ve never been behind a parent and two kids at the automated book return? I have seen kids with 30+ books each. Usually the parent has a bunch too. I’ve also seen people with dozens of videos too. Usually older folks who may not be able to enjoy reading as much anymore or maybe enjoy the background noise in an empty home.

Hold limits are different to borrowing limits, and I would guess that most people borrow a lot more than they put on hold.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#105

Post by geraldwhen »

markatto wrote: post #81
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

A half century? Surely that must be a typo?

Why? People have been illiterate for most of human history. So even if libraries existed, they could not be used.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#106

Post by briandear »

esrauch wrote: post #90
fsckboy wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

once libraries exist, they want to perpetuate their existence (or jobs, at least) so they chase the popular in search of more library "views" which justifies their existence. I'm not anti library, but this is why they do stuff like lend out power tools.

You make it sound nefarious for them to loan power tools somehow, while it seems like it's just an identified community need niche that they can service that no other organization will, the same as offering free tax advice or ESL classes or anything else.

[flagged]

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#107

Post by dagw »

itsgrimetime wrote: post #95
brewdad wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Depends slightly where you are, but often the ebook licenses are time limited, often to 1 year. So not only can't you resell the licenses, you have to keep rebuying them.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#108

Post by _djo_ »

geraldwhen wrote: post #105
markatto wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A half century? Surely that must be a typo?

Why? People have been illiterate for most of human history. So even if libraries existed, they could not be used.

I think the OP meant ‘half a millennium’.

Re: The Seattle Public Library is reducing maximum digital holds

#109

Post by LoFiSamurai »

briandear wrote: post #106
esrauch wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make it sound nefarious for them to loan power tools somehow, while it seems like it's just an identified community need niche that they can service that no other organization will, the same as offering free tax advice or ESL classes or anything else.

[flagged]

This is overly reductionist and cynical regarding what libraries provide for communities. You should visit a library sometime — it might surprise you.
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