libraries are not the enemy

If I could say anything to Sargent and the people who make similar decisions to limit access to digital books in libraries, it’s this: Libraries are not your competition. We are a PR department who you have never, ever paid. I live in a dense, urban area. Seriously, there are like eleventy billion people where I live. Not every city has a bookstore. Now think about flyover country? Sure as shootin’ they don’t have easy access to physical bookstores.

But you know what they do have access to? Libraries. There are an estimated 116,867 libraries in the United States and over the past ten years libraries have spent an estimated $40 billion on digital content. Now consider all the debut and midlist authors whose books libraries are buying. How many of us as readers, even considering we’re avid readers, plunk down retail prices on unknown-to-us authors? However, libraries routinely buy and promote debut and midlist authors. We provide exposure and help create a fanbase. Embargoes and higher mark-ups make this incredibly difficult to keep doing.

Source: Libraries Are Not the Enemy by Wendy, SuperLibrarian (archive) / Noted: 2019 November 16 / Discuss: On Dreamwidth