Nick - I'm afraid I take issue with your suggestion that the debate is "extremely one-sided". If the vast majority of library services do not agree with charging their customers for borrowing e-books perhaps they are right rather than being victims of groupthink?
When you mention that "e-book retailers will not be able to compete if publicly funded services can offer free loans" I think that you fail to address the complexities of the issue - what we're talking about are 3 week DRM-protected loans with a one user, one book model. This is going to have a negligible impact on e-book sales or even perhaps encourage them as was mentioned in Debby Raven's e-books article in April's CILIP Update p28 which stated:
"research reveals that for many people (more than a third surveyed) free content inspires them to buy e-books"
I take CD's out from my library service and if I like them I buy them - what I don't buy is publishers' specious arguments which serve only to justify the simplest, most profitable solution for them. Libraries are partners in this and have responsiblities to our patrons to fight their corner - if this means accepting a limited number of publishers initially on a free loan model then why not? If this becomes unsustainable then we might have to change the model slightly but there's no need to cave in straight away!
As you can tell I feel rather strongly about this issue so I apologise if my tone offends you.
Kind regards
Phil Jones MCLIP
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