Generously Sharing Other Peoples' Stuff

Jim C. Hines on SF Novelists has a post about why libraries, despite also giving people the chance to read books they didn't personally buy, are not the same as file-sharing sites.

There are also some interesting replies in the comments from library users and workers about library purchases, the future of e-book lending, and more.

This makes me feel like a horrible person and a disgrace to my entire profession, but I have to  shamefacedly confess that I hardly ever visit my public library. I mean, it's probably been a couple of years since I've checked anything out. Even though it's an excellent library (Boston Public Library, of course, and also my smaller local branch), and I know I could constantly get books there that I'd like to read.

It's just not on the way to anywhere I usually go. I'm sorry! Really, really sorry. I do love you, public library. We just don't hang out in the same circles anymore. I cherish our time together in the past, and I hope someday we'll be close again.

It's possible that e-books might be a way for me to resume contact with my public library, but I sort of wonder if the relationship would be the same. We wouldn't have the same kind of real-world connection, me browsing the stacks for stuff that catches my eye but that I'd never think to look for specifically, and checking out the "new arrivals" for exciting new topics.

Plus, I'd have to get an e-book reader to effectively take books on the train, and I don't see that happening anytime soon, because I'm super cheap. Aside from the train issue, I'm not bothered by screen glare the way some people are, so I can pretty much read all day on a computer, but it works better for short pieces, I think. It's hard to really get excited about sitting down to a fat novel on the laptop. Something about the type of concentration the lighting fosters, it seems easier to work on smaller chunks of material.

I know there are also all kinds of interesting questions about file sharing in general and video/music sharing in particular, like "is illegal copying destroying the music industry?" and "is it just as bad as taking money right out of the pockets of starving musicians and filmmakers?" and "even if you're just copying a CD you bought onto your own computer?" and "but if someone gives me a copy of a song, or a bad copy of a movie, and I like it I might buy more songs and/or a better, legal copy of the movie, so isn't it actually helpful advertising?" and "hey, don't you like to get paid for stuff you worked on?"

I'm feeling too bad about myself to get into that, though. As a pathetic excuse for a library-loving person,
all I can really do is hang my head in shame and go sit in the corner.

Anyway, the original point is, you should go check a book out from the library and feel good about it, because libraries are truly awesome, but authors prefer you not download an illegal copy.

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