> Does the library have some type of licensing agreement with the media it purchases?
IANAL but I think it's called the first-sale doctrine. Once you buy a book, you can do whatever you want with it as long as you don't try to copy and sell it.
Of course, publishers don't like it any more than the MAFIAA likes Torrent users. As more libraries now stock digital items, publishers have taken the opportunity to put restrictions on libraries' right to lend [1].
To this point, content companies hate libraries, but they can't do anything about it because of the doctrine of first sale.
But that's why there were huge public media campaigns decrying any kind of recordable media. Libraries could acquire all this content, and anybody could go to the library, check out a piece of content, and make a copy.
This is also why in the world of objects that only exist digitally, libraries are having such a hard time with digital lending. Content companies don't have to play ball when they own the devices on which lending takes place.
IANAL but I think it's called the first-sale doctrine. Once you buy a book, you can do whatever you want with it as long as you don't try to copy and sell it.
Of course, publishers don't like it any more than the MAFIAA likes Torrent users. As more libraries now stock digital items, publishers have taken the opportunity to put restrictions on libraries' right to lend [1].
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/business/for-libraries-an...