Ebooks: to be checked out from a library no more than 26 times?

In an article at http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/07/business/la-fi-ebooks-20110307 it is said that some publisher

does not allow its e-books to be checked out from a library more than 26 times. After that, the license on the e-book will expire, and libraries will have to decide whether to buy a new one.

The article was written at March 07, 2011. Does someone know the state of that attitude concerning ebooks - is it common practice? Which publishers do this?

Are libraries aware of this? Differ the practice in different countries (I am in particular interested in Germany)?

dr0i

• circulation
• ebooks
• interlibrary-loan
• laws
• publishers

Comments

Answer by Jörg Prante

Every library buying ebooks from HarperCollins is affected.

More information in german from IFLA:

http://www.ifla.org/files/clm/publications/ifla_background_paper_e-lending_de.pdf

Comments

• jonsca: Could you give a brief summary or short quote from the pdf so that if the link goes dead, the answer will still stand on its own? Thanks.
• Joe: here's the english version : http://www.ifla.org/files/clm/publications/ifla-background-paper-e-lending-en.pdf (for some reason, it's not as simple as changing 'de' to 'en' ... you also have to convert underscores to dashes))
• dr0i: Summary in English " Harper Collins sell libraries eBooks that can only be loaned out 26 times before having to be repurchased,[...] " , in German: ". Harper Collins vertreibt eBooks an Bibliotheken, die nur 26 Mal ausgeliehen werden können und danach neu erworben werden müssen [...]".