Big publishers think libraries are the enemy

"Rather than implementing their own expensive and labor-intensive lending systems, libraries typically sign up with a provider like Overdrive (the creator of the Libby app) or Hoopla. Through these platforms, they purchase metered e-book licenses at rates that are typically multiple times what they would spend on a physical copy of the same book.^d These licenses permit the libraries to lend out their e-books, typically, to a single patron at a time per copy, for a fixed number of times or for a fixed duration. This is ostensibly to mimic the wear and tear on typical physical books that forces libraries to periodically purchase new copies, but in reality seems to reflect hypothetical wear and tear on books if they were made of tissue paper and loaned only to people who promise to exclusively read them in the bathtub.^e Other restrictions may also apply: for example, some publishers only allow each library to purchase a single e-book copy of newly released books, for fear of libraries “cannibalizing” their print sales.² Some e-book publishers do not offer library licenses on any terms whatsoever.³ The whole model is premised on the idea that libraries and their patrons are the enemy of publishers — and, by extension, the authors they claim to represent...."