That's exactly my point (which was not meant to be a technical suggestion for implementation, I'm aware of the problems involved). My question is basically, "where do e-books and DRM leave the public library?"
In my opinion, if a business model requires there to be no public libraries or a substantially reduced public library, then so much the worse for the business model. There needs to be an analogue between the world where books are things made of paper and the world where books are made of bits.
In my opinion, if a business model requires there to be no public libraries or a substantially reduced public library, then so much the worse for the business model. There needs to be an analogue between the world where books are things made of paper and the world where books are made of bits.