Dear Kindle, Permit Libraries

Dear Amazon,

The Kindle family of products provide a powerful medium for presenting traditionally printed material in a less-expensive manner.

I am taking a civilization class at BYU called Digital Civilization. We have about two dozen texts. Each student is only assigned two of them, but may want to refer to several of the others as we cover a broad set of topics. The class could perhaps purchase enough copies for the students to pass around, but this is cumbersome and doesn't meet the goals of the class.

Namely, I propose the formation of localized (and perhaps general) libraries at private donors' expense. Modern libraries--a legacy, in part, of Rockefeller--permit the free sharing of a limited number of copies of print books. This is primarily because of the durability and scarcity of physical volumes.

I see a Kindle library as supporting the following workflow:

1. Fifteen copies of "Descartes: A Very Short Introduction" are purchased for "The Kunkee Monkey Library" (named for its benefactor, of course ;).
2. I permit fifty students access to my library.
3. Ten are assigned this book and check it out. It is delivered to their Kindle account provisionally. Perhaps a time limit is assigned, with a semester limit for assigned students and week limits for reference copies.
4. Fifteen students are able to check out the other five copies when they need them. Each is able to make notes, bookmarks, and progress that is preserved across checkouts and purchases.
5. At the due date, the copy is 
1. locked/deleted (returned)
2. renewed
3. or purchased (advertising! :)

The librarian could be charged with some function of maximum subscribers per year and actual traffic. ( I propose Subscriber Cap x (Checkouts / Total Volumes) x Finagle's Commercial Nonconstant - Expected Subtle Advertising Revenue )

This preserves the current controls on traditional libraries while spreading their benefits to the digital realm.