I cannot express my anger adequately in this forum. Of course, it won’t be as bad as that article makes it out to be.
[Immature mode]If a certain publisher starts making libraries pay usage fees I will Xerox all of that publisher’s materials and sell them extremly cheaply on every street corner, sending all the cash to the authors directly. [/immature mode]
Now this is just beyond greedy.
I can understand totally musicians being upset with Napster. I can understand being upset with copyright violations.
But Jesus Christ! This is a LIBRARY for crying out loud!
I mean, come on! Whatever happened to “Fair Use?”
It’s because lending libraries are one of the few kinds of institutions that either exist in a social-democratic fashion or do not exist.
Fortunately, to most people, library bashing sounds about on a par with nun assaulting or kitten punting.
Even as a rabid Libertarian, I must say “Keep your frickin’ hands off of my libraries.” If it weren’t for the library, I wouldn’t be able to afford food.
Why is it that publishers want to screw the rest of us with royalties? It used to be that you bought a copy of something and had the right to use it privately in any way that you wished and sell or give give it away when you were done with it. Now everyone wants to lease it to us and keep collecting fees for as long as we keep it. What’s next? Charging us for things we don’t even buy?