Yarrrgh (From uni Hamburg’s electronic library usage notes; other libraries in the area seem to have fallen for the same scam):

Auf ca. 230 Titel, die gemeinsam mit anderen Hamburger Bibliotheken über das Hamburger Bibliotheken Konsortium nutzbar sind, ist ein Einzelzugriff möglich, d.h. jeweils ein Leser zur Zeit kann sich das eBook ansehen bzw. es für die Dauer von max. 8 Stunden ausleihen.

their translation:

As a new service for our readers we offer electronic books from NetLibrary together with several other libraries in Hamburg.

rough, but more accurate translation:

Readers can gain exclusive access rights to ~230 titles, offered in cooperation with other libraries in Hamburg. That is, only one reader at a time can read an eBook or borrow it for a maximum duration of 8 hours.

Say what? If I “borrow” an electronic document from that library, others can’t access it? In the next version, they should physically delete the data to make extra sure that if I don’t return the eBook, it is lost forever.

They must have jumped through some extra tight flaming hoops in order to make an e-book library resemble a real-life library. I shouldn’t think about this too much.