If it didn’t already exist, would the tenor of today’s debate over intellectual property and digital rights management prevent the creation of a library system? Probably, according to Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics. “Perhaps they’d come up with a licensing agreement: the book costs $20 to own, with an additional $2 per year for every year beyond Year 1 it’s in circulation. I’m sure there would be a lot of other potential arrangements. And I am just as sure that, like a lot of systems that evolve over time, the library system is one that, if it were being built from scratch today, would have a very different set of dynamics and economics.”

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