Maria Bustillos has a story about a lawsuit against
the Internet Archive by some major book publishers for being overly generous
with rental e-copies of books to students during the pandemic, link.
That’s ironic in that publishers normally have strong
relationships with public libraries (although I haven’t gotten far with that
with my own books).
The article discusses the “rentier” behavior of both
publishers and digital libraries.
Internet archive rental periods are supposed to expire
but have been relaxed during the pandemic.
The article also implies a concern with what makes
digital books “sell”. It has become
popular, even sometimes expected, to see books on social justice address the
reader and instruct them (even provide worksheets), as opposed to more
abstract, literary style of writing which is now seen by many people as gratuitous
and abusive, a curious change in values.
YouTubers who recommend books (like John Fish and Nate
O’Brien) ought to look at this.
Picture: San Francisco, 2018
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