Librarians across the U.S. are urging a boycott of HarperCollins after the publishing giant announced it would ask public libraries to repurchase e-books after they've been checked out 26 times. The publisher said libraries typically replace physical books after that many checkouts, so it made sense to ask the same of e-books. Defenders of libraries say this demand is "ridiculous." Until a deal can be reached, HarperCollins will not allow its e-books, by authors such as Sarah Palin and Michael Crichton, to be checked out more than 26 times. Which side should blink?
Haven't libraries conceded enough? "A 26-loan limit doesn't make any sense," says Nicholas Jackson at The Atlantic. Many libraries are "still circulating century-old books." But more importantly, librarians have already made several concessions to publishers. Most libraries are prohibited from "lending out more than one digital copy of a book at a time, and often only for two weeks." This latest demand goes too far.
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