from Hacker News

Ash HN: Why are “rented” eBooks at the library a thing?

by fmitchell0 on 12/28/22, 6:42 PM with 12 comments

I've never understood the concept of "renting" or "borrowing" an eBook from the library.

What is it's purpose? What problem does it solve?

I get that eBooks may need to expired access after a given amount of time, but I'm not sure why.

  • by tmpburning on 12/28/22, 6:46 PM

    Because the copyright industry is stuck in the past...

    But to their defense, I don't know what the best alternative is.

  • by maltalex on 12/28/22, 9:01 PM

    Because the economic relationships between libraries, publishers, and authors was established on the basis of physical books. And that relationship mostly works.

    Ebooks break that model, so the solution is to treat ebooks like physical books.

  • by jleyank on 12/28/22, 6:46 PM

    Probably to limit the number of simultaneous rentals, handle people forgetting to return or delete books and preventing them from wandering off to others. Win for the libraries if the cost of the service < handling all those dead trees.

  • by toast0 on 12/29/22, 1:18 AM

    > What is it's purpose? What problem does it solve?

    Patron wants to read a book. Library wants to let them read a book. Publisher wants to get paid. Library doesn't want to buy a whole book for the patron.

  • by tamaharbor on 12/28/22, 8:58 PM

    Are you suggesting eBooks be free? How would the authors be compensated?

  • by fred_is_fred on 12/29/22, 3:40 AM

    Is someone on hacker news asking how libraries work?