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Tablet with online lending page in Rostock city library: "One copy, one lender"
Photo: Bernd Wüstneck / picture alliance / dpa
The German Library Association has rejected the criticism of authors and publishers of e-book rentals in newspaper advertisements.
The »Fair Reading« campaign assumes that public libraries are destroying the e-book market.
The appeal was based on false and misinformation, it was said on Monday in Berlin on the part of the library association.
"For every e-book that a library wants to lend out, it has to acquire a license," wrote the association.
As with printed books, "one copy, one lender" applies.
This ensures that an e-book can only be read by one person at the same time.
Others would have to put themselves on a waiting list.
With a loan period of two to three weeks, an e-book can be borrowed a maximum of 18 to 26 times a year.
Libraries also pay significantly more for the licenses, and they are also limited in time, also to simulate the wear and tear of books.
According to the association, 1.9 million people borrowed e-books in public libraries in 2018.
In contrast, there were 3.6 million purchases of e-books in the same year.
"Libraries whose main task is to awaken the joy of reading and to promote reading skills use up-to-date methods in which digital media are also used," wrote the association.
Authors such as Juli Zeh, Daniel Kehlmann, Sibylle Berg and Judith Hermann, together with publishers, had indicated their rights in e-book rental through the advertisement.
Publishers are currently free to negotiate the terms and conditions for lending new e-books.
The ad said: »If the decision-making authority of authors and publishers as to which titles are to be transferred to the digital loan, when and under which conditions, this will not only create the economic basis for the authors and publishers, but also the bookstores destroyed. "
feb / dpa