slwvx
9 hours ago
In the US, one can use Libby [1] (and likely other tools) to read books online. I guess it's the same elsewhere in the world. I don't think it will be the end of the world if public libraries put more and more of their books online, and use their physical spaces for other civic functions.
voxic11
6 hours ago
One very unfortunate thing about online book lending is that it requires a license from the copyright holder. With physical books you can lend them out freely and without any restrictions as no copies are being created due to lending. But every time one lends a online book a copy is necessarily created due to how computers work (bytes are not physically moved over a network, they are copied) and so copyright law applies. A valid license to make copies must be held at the time the copy is created and so copyright holders can use this to extract perpetual rents or even restrict access to works for various reasons [0].
[0] https://bookriot.com/macmillans-new-library-ebook-lending-mo...
AStonesThrow
5 hours ago
You know, I got into Libby and OverDrive and the other apps that libraries love nowadays. And the experience is totally different. I mean, it's fine because you've got a taxpayer-supported streaming service, and you can pick up audiobooks without the cassettes and rewinding and melting on your dashboard.
But the eBook experience in a mobile app is markedly different than the experience of dropping into the library, chatting with the refdesk matron, paging through the cardfile/online catalog, going to the stacks, browsing the stacks, finding 3 more titles nearby that you love, pulling books from the stacks and taking them home with you, or at least to a study carrel to flip through and see whether you love it or not, then check them out.
It's like online shopping vs. going to a store. Sometimes it's better, sometimes you'd rather have the meatspace experiences.
My library has a café, print services, a 'seed library', culture passes for museums, and all sorts of really cool atmosphere that I'll never get if I'm lying in bed staring at my phone, but I can binge-read all the Libby content I ever wanted, without riding the stinky free bus, whoopee!