this; Harper Collins at one point believed that 26 loans was all that an average book would handle before it degraded,[1] while libraries lending some books (e.g., books placed on reserve) will regularly see lending run into the thousands before degradation occurs.
Libraries may also pay special attention to controlling both digital and physical copies. While all applications of CDL should restrict access to physical copies while the digital is lent, some practical strategies may ensure that such restrictions are especially rigorously followed. For libraries with open stacks, this may mean rapidly removing books from open circulation if they are digitized and lent. For others, a more reliable method may be to only lend books whose physical manifestations are already tightly controlled, either in closed stacks or off-site storage.
Libraries may also limit who they will lend digital copies to as an additional way to limit the overall reach of the copy and therefore the potential market effect. Libraries serve particular communities of users—an academic library primarily serves its students and faculty, a public library serves its local residents—and so the rationale would be that digital lending should be made equivalent to the same group of users who would have access to the physical materials. While many libraries make their collections available broadly to many users, user-group considerations may mean that libraries will want to think carefully about issues such as who their core users are and, for example, how lending to partner libraries in local or regional consortia with deeply integrated print collections may work, as opposed to users at libraries with more distant interlibrary loan arrangements. In any case, the aim would be to make collections more accessible for those who would ordinarily, already be entitled to access.
In addition, libraries may apply more or less restrictive controls on what users can do with copies while they are lent to them. Ordinarily, a borrower of a physical book can make photocopies, scans, or other basic reproductions, usually for private study or minimal further sharing. Practicality usually limits users from reproducing the entire physical work over again. While all CDL systems should implement some type of technological protection measures to prevent wholesale copying, libraries that seek to take a conservative approach to CDL may seek to limit any copying at all, while others may allow users to reproduce or print a small selection from the work.
Finally, libraries may choose to limit access to books based on feedback from rightsholders about specific materials loaned through CDL. While ultimately the
- ↑ Jacket Copy, HarperCollins’ 26-checkout Limit on Libraries’ Ebooks Starts Today, March 7, 2011, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/03/harpercollins-library-ebookcheckout-limit.html.
