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Thanks OP and HN :) since I have been wanting to ask this question for a long time: What stops a library from buying a physical book, scanning and digitizing i

Thanks OP and HN :) since I have been wanting to ask this question for a long time: What stops a library from buying a physical book, scanning and digitizing it, sticking the physical book in a vault, and then making the book available via a e-lending system that ensures only one copy is checked out? Libraries can also share the digitized version with other libraries who have bought physical books. To go one step further, what stops a bunch of libraries from pooling their digitized collections together and making it available to sister libraries. I think there is nothing in current law that stops it or is there? What in the law allows e-book publishers to make distinction between physical copies of books owned by libraries and digital books? Seems to me like they are holding libraries hostage over a barrel because they can.

sjy 6y ago
The starting point is that scanning a book and making it available to somebody else involves copying the book, and therefore infringes copyright unless you have the copyright holder’s permission or a fair use justification. In contrast, lending a physical book does not result in a copy being created. The e-lending system you have proposed is essentially what the Internet Archive calls “controlled digital lending.” The publishers say it is copyright infringement [1]; the Internet Archive says it is analogous to traditional library lending and falls under fair use [2]. The case hasn’t gone to trial yet. [1] https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.1.0.pdf https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900... [2] https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.33.0.pdf https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900...
- haltingproblem 6y ago
  Thank You for the links. Does what Google books have done and their work with Haathi Trust (https://www.hathitrust.org/ https://www.hathitrust.org/) fall in the same category? I thought this was tested in courts with respect to books. There is analogous case law backing up music CDs, won't that hold?
dafoex 6y ago
I believe most countries allow making archival copies - either digital or physical, and sometimes both - of a whole publication of any sort. The fair use aspect of archival is the preservation of the contained information under the assumption that it won't see the light of day, except for if the person or party making the archive needs to reference it in some way (such as for writing a paper), or once the publication in question enters the public domain. I'm not a lawyer, so check your local laws, but I know that such a thing has happened for the BBC's Doomsday programme in order to save it from laser disc rot, so one can only assume that this logic applies to other things.

sjy 6y ago

The starting point is that scanning a book and making it available to somebody else involves copying the book, and therefore infringes copyright unless you have the copyright holder’s permission or a fair use justification. In contrast, lending a physical book does not result in a copy being created. The e-lending system you have proposed is essentially what the Internet Archive calls “controlled digital lending.” The publishers say it is copyright infringement [1]; the Internet Archive says it is analogous to traditional library lending and falls under fair use [2]. The case hasn’t gone to trial yet. [1] https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.1.0.pdf https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900... [2] https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.33.0.pdf https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900...

haltingproblem 6y ago
Thank You for the links. Does what Google books have done and their work with Haathi Trust (https://www.hathitrust.org/ https://www.hathitrust.org/) fall in the same category? I thought this was tested in courts with respect to books. There is analogous case law backing up music CDs, won't that hold?

dafoex 6y ago

I believe most countries allow making archival copies - either digital or physical, and sometimes both - of a whole publication of any sort. The fair use aspect of archival is the preservation of the contained information under the assumption that it won't see the light of day, except for if the person or party making the archive needs to reference it in some way (such as for writing a paper), or once the publication in question enters the public domain. I'm not a lawyer, so check your local laws, but I know that such a thing has happened for the BBC's Doomsday programme in order to save it from laser disc rot, so one can only assume that this logic applies to other things.