More Changes in the Library Landscape
An interesting post from Sue Polanka highlights some of the issues with a bread & butter library process - book donations. [On the other hand I suspect some Collections librarians will be happy to think of a day when they don't have to consider moldy boxes of past bestsellers.] Many libraries rely on the annual spring cleaning ritual for new material, so Sue's thoughts on what happens when they are all digital is an interesting one. As she points out, the challenges with donating eBooks far outweigh the advantages, at least in the current DRM-focused landscape. What struck me with this one was how quickly another long-standing tradition, not to mention way of building a Friends network, suddenly disappears. The other sad thought was how much this highlights the death knell of public lending in the digital age - at least in a way we can fathom. Contrast this with my coming post on ways for public libraries to make use of eBook readers.
Scraped from No Shelf Required
What we consider challenges outweighing advantages the publisher's consider exactly the reverse. That you can't easily loan or give an e-book to someone else is a PLUS for them.
Posted by: Jonathan Rochkind | June 11, 2009 at 12:06 AM