E-books mean a plot twist for public libraries and publishers
In publishers’ eyes librarians are “sitting close to Satan”, declared Phil
Bradley, president of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals. He was addressing indignant librarians who recently gathered in
London to swap tales of e-lending woe. Some publishers have refused to sell
their e-books to public libraries, made them prohibitively costly or put severe
restrictions on their use. Although 71% of British public libraries lend out
e-books, 85% of e-book titles are not available in public libraries, according
to Mr Bradley. In America the average public library makes available only 4,350
e-books (Amazon, an online retail giant, stocks more than 1.7m).
