Tag Archives: library collections

The subscription model in the book industry: then and now

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Today, nearly everything is available on subscription. The subscription model entails selling a product or service for a recurring price. Depending on the company and product, the bill can be paid every month, every year, or some other interval. The book industry used a somewhat different subscription model beginning in the 17th century, where authors could raise the money to print their books before publication. It amounted to an early version of crowdsourcing. Selling e-books requires a different business model than selling printed books. The publisher has one master copy of the book, which it makes available to customers’ e-readers. When they sell to libraries, they have imposed a new subscription model that essentially rips off libraries and, in the case of public libraries, tax payers. Where did it come from and what are libraries doing about it?

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The WPA and public libraries in the Great Depression

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Public libraries in the Great Depression suffered along with everyone else, but at least two federal programs actually expanded the reach of libraries. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) began operation in May 1933. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) superseded it in 1935. WPA continued in operation until 1943.

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How to use the library: a reminder of awesome library services

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For the better part of two years, the pandemic shut down most public institutions, including libraries. Now that things are getting back to normal, let’s take a look at using the library and the wide variety of library services. Some of them were too little known even before the pandemic. Library buildings house library collections, which encompass a wide variety of materials. Or, actually, more than materials. Electronic resources make up a growing portion of library collections. The internet makes it possible for people to use library resources without ever visiting the library building. But the library building houses much more than the collection. It has meeting rooms, exhibit areas, and performance areas, too. Library services do not depend on the building. You can take advantage of many of them from home. Library personnel take various services to people around the community. After all, libraries serve many different constituencies, including people who for various reasons cannot visit the building.

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What is the condition of US public libraries?

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I recently received an important report on the state of libraries from WordsRated. WordsRated is a non-commercial, international research data and analytics group that studies reading, books, authors, and the publishing industry. The report examines library trends in the US over the past three decades. Although it doesn’t say so explicitly, it specifically concerns public libraries. Here is a summary of its findings:

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Why you have to wait for ebook best sellers at the library

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Have you ever eagerly looked forward to the publication of a new book? If the publisher expects it to be a best-seller, you won’t be alone. Your public library will order as many copies as it thinks it needs to let as many people as possible check it out. But if very many patrons want to read it as an ebook, most of them will likely wind up on a waiting list. What’s the difference? For one thing, the library can buy dozens of copies of a printed book. A patron checks one out, reads it, and returns it. It can’t buy dozens of copies of an ebook. The publisher has the one master copy. Every transfer of an electronic file creates a new file. An individual customer can’t easily make a copy of that copy for someone else. But when a library lends an ebook, it puts a new copy on a reading device. At the end of the loan period, that copy disappears. Logically, it would seem, deleting the digital copy should have the same effect on the publisher as returning a physical book to the library. Publishers don’t see it that way.

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