LIBRARIES KICK ASS

YSK that OverDrive (developer of Libby) is a private for-profit company that makes obscene amounts of money. Pretty much a prime example of private-public "partnership" taking taxpayer money.

• Before COVID, they made enough to pay each of their ~300 employees half a million dollars. This figure increased during COVID. Guess who got bonuses? Not regular employees.
• OverDrive charges 30% overhead on top of publisher prices (which are usually already up to 4x higher for libraries)
• They criticize some publishers, but publisher raising prices conveniently plays into their hand. Publishers' abusive "borrowing" models, such as limited "digital copies" or "pay-per-borrow" still work for OverDrive (see above)
• They were one of the first to market and are vertically integrated: they own the marketplace to purchase titles from publishers, hosting of titles, and the application. This is easy for clients (libraries), but difficult to switch away from.
• They partner with LexisNexis, who has been collaborating with ICE for deportations.
• Many of their employees are former teachers, and with miserly teacher salaries in Ohio, it's another convenience to hire knowledgeable people for cheap.