*E-Books Can Subvert Book Bans, But Corporate Profit-Seeking Stands in
the Way*
/Exorbitant costs and restrictive licenses are obstructing libraries’
efforts to resist book bans via access to e-books./
By Laura Crossett
March 10, 2024
The past few years have seen record e-book lending
<https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/94025-overdrive-reports-another-record-year-for-digital-library-circulation.html>
for libraries — as well as record profits
<https://www.crainscleveland.com/awards/steven-potash-newsmakers-year-2021>
for OverDrive, the company that provides e-books access for 95 percent
of libraries in the U.S. (OverDrive’s profits have trickled up — the
company was bought by
<https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/an-app-called-libby-and-the-surprisingly-big-business-of-library-e-books>
the private equity firm K.K.R. in 2015.) But as library e-book lending
has taken off, so has another trend: book bans. Book bans, library board
takeovers and efforts designed to remove books from school and public
library shelves are rampant, with 158 bills
<https://www.everylibrary.org/billtracking2023> attempting to ban
everything from books to drag queen story times introduced in state
legislatures in 2023.
[...]
continua qui:
https://truthout.org/articles/e-books-can-subvert-book-bans-but-corporate-profit-seeking-stands-in-the-way/
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