David Vinjamuri summarizes the battle between libraries and publishers on how to lend out ebooks – and at what price:
Four of the six publishers are not providing eBooks to libraries at any price. The other two – Random House and HarperCollins lead the industry with two different models. Random House adjusted eBook pricing in 2012. While the prices on some books were lowered, the most popular titles increased in price – some dramatically. Author Justin Cronin’s post-apocalyptic bestseller "The Twelve" whose print edition costs the Douglas County Libraries $15.51 from Baker & Taylor and whose eBook is priced at $9.99 on Amazon was priced at $84 to Douglas County on October 31. HarperCollins meanwhile has adopted a different model, selling eBooks to libraries at consumer prices but electronically limiting them to 26 lends and then requiring that the book be repurchased.
How Vinjamuri proposes to fix the system:
There is one number that libraries can easily calculate which publishers will understand: the cost-per-circulation.
This number is simple to calculate. It is the number of lends and divided by the cost of the books lent. This number is somewhere in the 50 cent to $1.00 range according to both publishers and libraries. It can be calculated separately by publisher and even split between bestsellers and older titles. …
For better or worse, Big Six publishers are unlikely to adopt a pricing model for eBooks that mirrors how print books are sold to libraries. But current pricing and lending restrictions unfairly penalize libraries to the detriment of publishers and readers. A system based on actual use would more fairly allocate cost and risk as long as eBooks are not governed by the First Sale doctrine.
(Partial view of an infographic by Mashable)
The Dish 