January 19th, 2010 | 
Author: I had no idea that book piracy was so prevalent. Music pirates are pikers by comparison:
Hot on the heels of the story in Publisher’s Weekly that “publishers could be losing out on as much $3 billion to online book piracy” comes a sudden realization of a much larger threat to the viability of the book industry.
From what we’ve been able to piece together, the book “lending” takes place in “libraries”. On entering one of these dens, patrons may view a dazzling array of books, periodicals, even CDs and DVDs, all available to anyone willing to disclose valuable personal information in exchange for a “card”.
Believe it or not, libraries are under fire in some cities. Go out and support your local library. Before it’s too late.
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I am shocked SHOCKED!
Darn it, my secret is now out.
The word “shocking” is now considered the intellectual property of the Disney Corporation and may not be used without our express written consent.
Our lawyers will be in touch.
Really?
I might be a smart-ass, Kate. Hard to tell.
While I have heard the odd report of grumbling about libraries from the publishing industry execs, they’re in more danger of budgets cuts by clueless politicians.
Man, clueless would be right.
Contraband. I love contraband.
Even better is contraband that can teach you how to protect it.
So………..let me get this straight, libraries are pirating books by “Lending” them to people who have a library “card”/ subscription. That has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!
This also means that I’m as guilty as the libraries are, just for “checking” out said pirated books in the first place.
BTW this is the son of Highly Distractible.
I should have clarified my ‘really’ as… {{{shocking}}} with my hand up to my mouth in mock disbelief. Followed by an ‘Oh My’!!! lol.
Beyond the joking… just in case anyone wondered, smart publishers actually like libraries. There are a number of books each year that get published because the publisher figures in that they will be able to sell several hundred copies to libraries — or perhaps many more — enough to take a chunk of risk out of publishing a book. There are more than nine thousand public libraries in the United States, many with multiple branches. (And there are more than a hundred thousand school libraries, although many of them might be rather small.)