Hanging on to the Arsonist’s Guide legally—even if it’s a library book
The TeleBlog essay on access and business models for public libraries is still on the way, although I’ll probably finish it tomorrow rather than today. Plenty to cover! I’ll be exploring angles ranging from financing to a reduction of the library world’s dependence on DRM.
Meanwhile enjoy this New York Times review of a book I’ll mention, An Arsonist Guide to the Writers’ Homes in New England, by Brock Clarke, shown here. For free, you can also read a excerpt of Chapter One. And, no, I’ll not be put off by Amazon readers giving the Guide just three stars. I make my own judgments and consider the Clarke book a keeper. But how can this happen if I get the Guide from a publid library—without stealing it or making an illegal E copy? That’s part of what my essay will be about. Yes, I still see a major role for bookstores, especially with just so much money available for libraries, and I’ll tell how to reconcile this with the “permanent checkout” vision.
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