Thread: Libraries: ‘We can’t do this on our own’
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Old 12-14-2023, 06:40 AM   #17
John F
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg View Post
This is why the library eBook prices are reasonably much higher than paper.

Where I used to live, they renovated, about four years ago, the 30,000 volume physical public library for US$3 million -- about $100 a book.

Where I now live, a new showplace 53,000 volume replacement town library opened this year at a cost of US$21.7 million -- $409 a book!

These libraries do a lot more than warehouse books. The showplace has English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms. Still, at least half of it is a traditional library. And the cost of housing and circulating a physical book is a lot more than initial real estate costs.

I haven't run the numbers but believe there's a case for eBooks being cheaper than paper, adding up all library operating costs, even at current publisher prices. If not, Connecticut has the option of asking residents to go back to borrowing in person.
Although that $100 and $409 numbers look like a lot, aren't you missing a variable? Time? Those renovations will hopefully last for many years, let's say 20 years? Let's say the pbook needs to be replaced three times, so $409/20 + 3*$30/20= $24.95 a year, vs an ebook at $60 a year?
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