Librarians launch boycott in battle over e-books - Lending limit

[RamboLiberal]

One advantage of e-books is that they're virtually indestructible.

But a decision by publisher HarperCollins to limit the circulation of library e-books is rousing librarians, who have started a boycott via blogs and Twitter protesting what some consider the digital "destruction" of books.

Under a policy that began Monday, libraries can "lease" (for a fee) new HarperCollins e-books and loan them no more than 26 times. At that point, the book disappears — digitally — unless the library pays to lease another copy for the next 26 readers. (Libraries lend e-books one at a time, just like print, unless multiple copies are bought.)

"Of course the librarians went crazy," says Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, published last year by HarperCollins. "Think about it: 'I'm the 27th patron; I see that the book is in the catalog, and then suddenly it's not?' "

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Two other major publishers — Simon & Schuster (home to Stephen King) and Macmillan (Kristin Hannah) — do not sell e-books to libraries.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2011-03-08-libraries08_ST_N.htm

IMHO that's a greedy ripoff.

[inademv]

1. This sounds like a job for Anonymous

Should be simple enough to produce a crack to the DRM.

[FSogol]

2. I highly recommend "This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All"

I listened to it on audio book last month. Great book.

[LuckyTheDog]

3. How does borrowing of e-books work?

Do you have to erase your copy of the book once it is "returned" to the library?

[RamboLiberal]

6. I would imagine the ebook keeps track by date

and automatically erases when time is up.

On edit that is exactly how it works:

“Your library buys an e-book from a publisher. It is then offered for loan to the library’s patrons, and there is a waiting list. When your turn comes up you download the e-book and have it exclusively for a limited period of time. When that time expires the e-book disappears from the patron’s computer and is offered to the next person on the waiting list. If a book is popular, a library or library system may buy more than one e-book version enabling the library to offer it to multiple borrowers.” (See What’s the Difference between Borrowing E-Books and Borrowing Print Books?) For a device-by-device instructional on downloading library books from the New York Public Library, read Get the Most Out of Your Gadgets with NYPL.

http://ereads.com/2011/02/lending-e-books-as-easy-as-building-a-large-hadron-collider.html

[LuckyTheDog]

7. Not sure how that would work (nt)

[RamboLiberal]

9. I haven't done it but my Nook would let me lend to a fellow Nook owner

And I believe the Nook I lend to then tracks by date. Also if I lend I believe I then can't read it till date is expired.

on edit:

But at the moment, e-book lending is still quite limited. For one, B&N e-books can only be lent once and only up to 14 days, without an option to renew. Furthermore, not all e-books are lendable; this is solely up to the publisher or rights holder's discretion. A cursory glance at Barnes & Noble's e-bookstore shows that only 107,000 of its 272,000 paid e-books, roughly 40 percent, are lendable.

E-book lending clubs and forums have popped up online. A popular Facebook group, 'I have a NOOK and I'm willing to share books!' has 2,729 members to date where participants can post requests to borrow or lend e-books.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2371418,00.asp

[HopeHoops]

4. Fucking DRM.

[Peregrine Took]

5. I was shocked when, 5 years ago, I helped a student "check out" an e book

and we couldn't access it online as another student had it checked out. This was at a local junior college and e books were just coming into use.

[RamboLiberal]

8. I would think that would be ok the same as books

If it is popular then buy multiple copies or wait till previous ebook is checked back in. What is unfair IMHO is the fact that Harper-Collins is putting a 26 times lent limit.