"Libraries - at least public libraries in the U.S. and Canada - are not private companies. Their goals are not on profit and not built upon those who can afford to pay for the services. Rather, public libraries are one of the few institutions where any and all citizens, regardless of their income or abilities to pay, may receive equitable access and service. It doesn't matter whether you park a Ferrari or a used car in the library parking lot or you walk or take public transit to the library. When you walk in that door, you are treated equally and you are able to do and access the same things as everyone else (minor restrictions apply based on individual libraries, but those are special cases and not the norm).
It is not the goal of the library to make money. Nor is it the goal of the library to create levels of service so that those who can afford to indulge will receive more while those who can't, don't. Instead, libraries work to ensure their services reach as many facets of their community as possible. Libraries want to offer what they can to those who have nothing and those who maybe have everything.
The library is the center and the heart of community."
"How much should an e-book cost? Publishers set the retail price for a current e-book, like James Patterson's "Invisible," at $14.99. That's a lot less than a hardcover copy of the book ($25.50), but it's still more than Amazon thinks a reader should be paying for an e-book; Amazon says the price tag should be $9.99.
"A key objective is lower e-book prices," Amazon wrote in a blog post last week. The company made its case for $9.99 e-books, explaining that "For every copy an e-book would sell at $14.99, it would sell 1.74 copies if priced at $9.99."
Certainly publishers would like to sell 1.74 times as many books as they do now. And Amazon provides an example that sounds very tempting: "if customers would buy 100,000 copies of a particular e-book at $14.99, then customers would buy 174,000 copies of that same e-book at $9.99. Total revenue at $14.99 would be $1,499,000. Total revenue at $9.99 is $1,738,000."
What author doesn't want to make $1.7 million? But before running to cash that hypothetical check, let's look at what Amazon, which declined to respond to our questions about the statement, is and isn't saying."
"La plateforme polonaise OpenBooks.com repose sur la bonne volonté, littéralement, de ses clients. Le site propose en effet de télécharger gratuitement des titres et de payer après la lecture. Un moyen d'exprimer son plaisir ou son mécontentement avec son porte-monnaie. Un modèle économique viable ?"
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