http://chronicle.com/article/Library-Consortium-Tests/144743/
Worried about security and sales, many publishers and vendors permit individual e-book chapters to be shared but don’t routinely include the lending of whole e-books in library contracts. Even when licenses do allow e-book lending, libraries typically lack the technology to make it work. You can’t just pop an e-book into an envelope and ship it off by delivery van or the post office.
But lending e-books may soon get easier. This spring a pilot project called Occam’s Reader will test software custom-built to make it both easy and secure for libraries to share e-book files while keeping publishers happy—or so the software’s creators hope.
Wow
I’m on vacation and this is still the most exciting thing I will see today! ILL is one of the big reasons we have resisted e-books in my small special library.
better than nothing. and maybe better than better than nothing.
I’ve seen lending with very limited access and that’s what this is. No download (similar to in-house use only); no copies (restricted access)… these are common practices with some library materials. so this could work.
I think this is definitely
I think this is definitely something to look into. e-books are only growing.