Ebooks were supposed to be indestructible. Where you had disk-space, you had literature – in perpetuity. Which is bad news for publishers now deprived of that extra round of sales revenue engendered by books being dropped in baths.
HarperCollins has got wise to this: it has announced that US libraries will be allowed to lend ebooks only up to 26 times. Its sales president, Josh Marwell, believes that’s only fair: 26, he claims, is the average number of loans a print book would survive before having to be replaced. HarperCollins UK won’t rule out applying this ebook strategy to British libraries – and should it do so, it can expect a frustrated reaction.
At a time when governments should be making drastic cuts to already struggling libraries, ebooks were like the light at the end of the tunnel. But now Harper Collins wants to rip the last rug right out from under libraries. there is NO reason beyond avarice for them to do this.
Look, libraries are by nature a socialistic enterprise. However, they serve a larger purpose than just giving poor people free stuff – they also promote literacy. And perhaps, as a resident of Toronto, I see more homeless people keeping warm in winter and cool in summer in the library than I see kids coming in for afterschool programs, but it does happen. I also see tons of parents coming in to pick up books for their toddlers, hoping to instill a love of reading in them at an early age. This is, as philosopher Charlie Sheen says, WINNING.
The last thing America needs is more illiterate people. It’s also the last thing Harper Collins needs. Illiterate people don’t buy books or join book clubs. They go to bars and beat their wives. Harper Collins is promoting domestic violence!! (ok, not really, but work with me here).
In other news, you can promote literacy and pad my bank account by buying your book – electronic or otherwise – using this link to Amazon.com
