![]() These rights often have an expiration date, and they make library e-books “a lot more expensive, in general, than print books,” Michelle Jeske, who oversees Denver’s public-library system, told me. For the most part, publishers do not sell their e-books or audiobooks to libraries-they sell digital distribution rights to third-party venders, such as OverDrive, and people like Steve Potash sell lending rights to libraries. But the first-sale doctrine does not apply to digital content. Libraries can buy print books in bulk from any seller that they choose, and, thanks to a legal principle called the first-sale doctrine, they have the right to lend those books to any number of readers free of charge. The sudden shift to e-books had enormous practical and financial implications, not only for OverDrive but for public libraries across the country. closed down and issued a statement: “The responsible thing to do-and the best way to serve our patrons right now-is to help minimize the spread of COVID-19.” The library added, “We will continue to offer access to e-books.” He had an inkling that his business might be in for big changes when, toward the end of the week, on March 13th, the N.Y.P.L. ![]() ![]() By then, Potash had already heard what he described to me recently as “heart-wrenching stories” from colleagues in China, about neighborhoods that were shut down owing to the coronavirus. ![]() OverDrive distributes e-books and audiobooks-i.e., “digital content.” In New York, Potash met with two clients: the New York Public Library and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ![]() of OverDrive, spent the second week of March, 2020, on a business trip to New York City. Steve Potash, the bearded and bespectacled president and C.E.O. ![]()
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