Two students and a librarian are discussing increasing e-book availability. Mia (Student) I really think we need more e-books in the library catalogue. It's just so much more convenient not everyone can make it to campus every time they need a resource. Between commutes and packed schedules, being able to access a book digitally makes a huge difference. Grace (Student) I see your point, Mia, but I'm a bit cautious. Some publishers place heavy restrictions on digital copies like limiting how many students can view them at once or putting expiry dates on access. There are digital rights issues we'd have to consider before going all in. Mr. Porter (Librarian) You're both right, and this has been a recurring topic in library planning. E-books certainly increase accessibility, but licensing costs can be surprisingly high. For some titles, we're charged more than triple the print version and that really strains our acquisitions budget. Mia (Student) Could we maybe focus on the most popular titles first? There's already a request list going around in our year group chat, and I bet that aligns with the books that have the longest borrowing queues. That way we'd be investing where it counts most. Grace (Student) And maybe there's a way to share costs with other departments? Some of the e-books are used across multiple courses if English, History, and Media Studies all rely on the same text, then maybe their budgets could contribute. That could ease the pressure on library funding. Mr. Porter (Librarian) Cost-sharing is something we've explored in the past, but it needs coordination and clear agreement between departments. Still, if we combine that with strong publisher negotiations, we might be able to get better deals especially on academic bundles or institutional licences. Mia (Student) We could also run an awareness campaign so more students know what's available. I've met people who didn't even realise we had any e-books at all. If usage goes up, that might justify more investment down the line. Grace (Student) Yes, and if we're tracking usage properly, we can show whether it's actually being used or not. That way we don't waste funds on titles that just sit unread in the system. A trial period makes sense to test the waters. Mr. Porter (Librarian) Agreed. I'll approve a trial for the next three months targeting the top-requested titles for digital acquisition. We'll monitor usage closely and share the data with faculty and student reps. If the numbers support it, we can look at expanding access and negotiating better licensing terms.