Once upon a time long ago in a land faraway, there was a community of successful business people who wanted more books to read. They decided to pool their resources and create a brand new library.
These people founded a beautiful new library building in the center of their city. They sought the best librarian in the land, so they offered the extra incentive of fees. In addition to a salary and bonuses, their librarian could earn fees for services. They instructed their librarian to uphold two of Mr. S.R. Ranganathan’s “five laws of library science”:
A book for every reader.
A reader for every book.
Our industrious librarian immediately began making deals with both book publishers and library patrons, charging each side a fee. These deals were all based on the value of books. So these kinds of deals quickly become labeled “book derivatives,” or “BODs” for short.
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