More About LIbraries - From the blog of Libby Fischer Hellmann

Speaking about libraries, the following article appeared in today’s Washington Post. Thanks to Angkor at KindleBoards for pointing it out!

Today’s Washington Post has an interesting article on the pent-up and growing demand for ebook borrowing at libraries. Big publishing houses are limiting access to ebooks or refusing access altogether to libraries. This is yet another self-defeating act on the part of the publishers. It also marks opportunity for Amazon and indie authors.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/as-demand-for-e-books-soars-libraries-struggle-to-stock-their-virtual-shelves/2012/01/13/gIQAkIOXzP_story_1.html

Excerpt:

“Wary of piracy and the devastation it has caused the music and film industries, Penguin recently put its new e-book titles off-limits. Like Simon & Schuster, Macmillan doesn’t make its e-book content available to libraries. And last year, HarperCollins announced that it would require libraries to renew licenses for e-books after 26 checkouts, outraging some librarians.

Several library systems have pushed back against publishers who limit their content, refusing to buy from them and speaking out about how such restrictions upend more than 200 years of collaboration between publishers and libraries to make information available to the public.”