INLS 490-121: Collaborative Writing Exercise/Abundance vs. Scarcity
From Pomerantz
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Physical Scarcity
Since the dawn of time (or at least for the last few centuries), libraries have been organized around providing limited access to limited resources to a limited set of people. Take today's public libraries (no, pleaseā¦):
- Access is provided to the physical volumes they have in the library
- to library card holders, who must meet certain criteria (like living in the local area)
- for a specific period of time (say, two weeks).
This model makes sense given the (relative) scarcity of books; for instance, libraries can't provide access to physical books that they don't have. If one user has a book, a second user can't (unless there are two copies), so limiting checkout periods helps provide more uniform access to resources.
Digital Abundance
However, digital resources do not need to be scarce; they are naturally abundant. If I'm viewing a web page, there's nothing to prevent you or the next thousand people from viewing it also (assuming the server can handle it, and there is sufficient bandwidth). Ditto MP3 audiobooks; there is no compelling reason that they need to be time-limited or that there needs to be software-imposed "checkout" limits on how many people can "have" one at the same time. Unlimited numbers of perfect copies can be made at no cost.
Not only do current patrons have unlimited access to this digital good, but it also expands our patron base as well. If we can make a digital good available online, our patron base becomes anyone who can access that website.
Publishers don't like this, and so they try to impose artificial scarcity models, since scarcity is what they've been used to for the last millennium. Whether this will succeed in the long run is doubtful; DRM doesn't tend to work out, and in any case, it doesn't seem particularly compatible with libraries' goals to provide access to information. On the other hand, publisher relations are essential, since a big part of a library is its content, and that needs to come from somewhere.

