this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2023
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Libraries are (generally) not for profit. There's not really the revenue stream to strike deals like that. Publishers are likely only getting a pittance from licensing to libraries, hell for most publishers they likely only do it as a PR move, and if they start charging per read... well, libraries may as well not bother with ebook licensing at that point and just put a book scanner in the library.
My understanding is that they actually do kind of get charged per read for digital copies. The contracts are weird, but there are terms where they have to treat them as "wearing out" like regular books do.
But the bottom line point remains the same. Libraries get favorable pricing compared to normal people and can't sustain the publishing industry.