Why Your Library May Not Have the E-Book You Want

by Ursula K. Le Guin

While most small presses sell all their books freely and happily to libraries, the “Big Five” publishers continue to be terrified by the idea of letting public libraries have their e-books, and to punish libraries for even trying to get their e-books to customers.

The corporations’ confused and panic-driven search for an “acceptable business model” for the library e-book has led to some truly grotesque solutions:

HarperCollins rents a library the license to an e-book for 26...