As libraries and schools transition to e-books, the value of e-book vendors like OverDrive, which make money by licensing content to libraries, has skyrocketed
Increasingly, books are something that libraries do not own but borrow from the corporations that do. Tweets: @penamerica , @hkanji , @janefriedman , @fr_hossain , @alexhcranz , and @readwriteradio See also Mediagazer Tweets: PEN America / @penamerica : The sudden shift to e-books had enormous practical and financial implications, not only for vendors like OverDrive but for public libraries across the country. https://www.newyorker.com/... Hussein Kanji / @hkanji : The vast majority of OverDrive's earnings come from markups on the digital content that it licenses to libraries and schools, which is to say that these earnings come largely from American taxes https://www.newyorker.com/... Jane Friedman / @janefriedman : The economics of library lending today: the NYPL spent $22k on 639 one- and two-year licenses for a bestselling ebook, and less than $10k for 226 hardcovers. In the @newyorker: https://www.newyorker.com/... Farzana R Hossain MD / @fr_hossain : The Surprisingly Big Business of Library E-books Increasingly, books are something that libraries do not own but borrow from the corporations that do. https://www.newyorker.com/... @alexhcranz : Overdrive was a lifeline the last 18 months, but the way we license digital media, which is cheaper to produce and more costly to lend, than physical media, is an absolute crime. https://twitter.com/... Daniel A. Gross / @readwriteradio : I wrote for @newyorker about Libby, a library e-book and audiobook app that has been a daily comfort for 1.5 years, and the hidden costs of reading for free https://www.newyorker.com/... See also Mediagazer