MacMillan E-Book Library Lending
I generally think that ebooks are convenient, but shouldn’t all be considered as a replacement for printed books. But here is the kicker about business of book publishing. Now that just about everyone can publish literary content through websites and the like, its meant a real change for their business model, so what do they do? They try to leverage the technology, by making expiring electronic books.
Expiring books.
One of the reasons that I like books (or any other printed material) is that its durable and it doesn’t require anything more than light, eyes or fingers. Printed books don’t require batteries, operating systems, computers, tablets, electricity, synching, internet connections or infrastructure needed to get enough juice to read an e-book.
Don’t get me wrong, I know they are convenient, but once again we have to recognize the trade offs of convenience. Sure you can carry 100 ebooks on your person, but when was the last time you ready 100 books of any kind at once?
But back to the matter of expiring books. Printed books do not expire unless they are exposed to abnormal conditions, but under normal conditions they can last for decades or even centuries. Once its printed for all intents and purposes its permanent. I can’t imagine if the books I bought disintegrated after two weeks or 12 months. The author giving me a time limit to read what they wrote or else! Or even worse the publisher telling me what I can and cannot do with what I bought from them after I bought it.
What if I want to loan that book to a friend, I just give it to them and hope they give it back. I want to lean a friend an e-book, not nearly so simple.
I drifting again.
Basically its like this: Libraries should do their best to stick to printed books, but they cannot dismiss the fact that e-books are not going anywhere and its up to them to find the best way to implement them. Expiring e-books are a bad idea. Perhaps they e-books given to the library should be controlled by the library instead of the publisher, so the library can maintain its lending policies. What do you think?
Oh, and here are the books they are trying out first:
Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo
In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer
Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
A Taint in the Blood by Dana Stabenow
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box
Burn by Nevada Barr
The Real Macaw by Donna Andrews
A Crimson Warning by Tasha Alexander
A Burial at Sea by Charles Finch