PVPF 2024

Libraries Struggle to Afford the Demand for E-Books and Seek New state Regulations in their Fight against Publishers

Explore the challenges libraries face with rising ebook costs. Learn about legislative efforts to regulate pricing and enhance digital access for patrons.
on Mar 13, 2024

When bestselling novelist Robin Cook releases a new medical thriller, the head of West Haven's public library anticipates a large demand for digital copies. So will the price.

West Haven, like many other libraries, has been battling with the rising cost of e-books and audiobooks. Digital titles frequently come with a price that is significantly greater than what customers pay. While a hardcover copy of Cook's current novel costs the library $18, leasing a digital copy costs $55 — a figure that cannot be negotiated with publishers.

And for that, the e-book expires after a set period of time, typically one or two years or 26 checkouts, whichever comes first. While e-books purchased by consumers can endure indefinitely, libraries must renew their rented e-material.

The lightly funded West Haven Library has spent more than $12,000 over the previous three years to lease only 276 extra digital items beyond those available through a consortium of public libraries. Eighty-four of the books are no longer accessible. If the same amount was spent on paper books, it would have covered approximately 800 titles.

"Imagine if a playground was built at a school with tax dollars, only to be taken down after two years of use," librarian Colleen Bailie remarked at a recent public hearing.

Publishers, on the other hand, believe that the arrangement is reasonable because e-book licences for libraries allow many customers to "borrow" them and the per-reader fee is significantly lower than the per-reader rate.

Librarians in numerous states have been advocating for legislation to limit the pricing and restrictions on electronic materials, which have grown in popularity since the COVID-19 outbreak. Patrons are stuck on lengthy waiting lists for audio and e-books, and digital options are restricted.

This year, lawmakers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois, Hawaii, and New Hampshire introduced proposals targeted at addressing the cost gap. A measure was introduced in Virginia, but was tabled in February.

They face stiff resistance from the publishing sector, which claims the measure violates intellectual property values and will hurt the publishing ecosystem.

"They do have a funding problem, but the answer is not to take it out of authors' pockets, destroy creators' rights, and pass unconstitutional legislation," said Shelley Husband, senior vice president of government affairs at the Association of American Publishers, noting that more people than ever before can access e-material that would otherwise have been purchased from booksellers.

Last year, readers worldwide borrowed 662 million e-books, audiobooks, and digital magazines, a 19% increase from 2022, according to data provided by OverDrive, the primary distributor of digital content for libraries and schools.

Libraries Online Inc., a Connecticut interlibrary consortium, presently spends approximately $20,000 per month on e-books for its 38 members. According to Rebecca Harlow, chair of the e-book committee, replacing expired titles accounts for 20% of the consortium's budget.

"If we replaced all of the content that has expired this year, the cost would exceed our entire annual budget for e-books," Harlow recently told MPs. "We have completely lost the ability to build a library collection."

The partnership rents fewer than 30 books per month for youngsters and 30 books per month for teenagers, she stated.

Dumping e-books and audiobooks is not an option for libraries with patrons like Casey Rosseau, 53, of West Hartford, Connecticut.

Rosseau, an information technology professional, has deteriorating vision. He reads roughly 200 audiobooks per year using OverDrive's Libby app on his phone, and the most popular titles are sometimes on waiting lists for months.

"I've always gone to the library to get the latest John Grisham or the latest James Patterson (novel)," he told me. "Those come out so often that you have to have really deep pockets in order to be able to afford to buy them."

Maryland approved legislation in 2021 requiring publishers to make e-books available to libraries on "reasonable terms" if they were given to the general public. That was overturned by a judge in 2022 after publishers successfully contended that federal copyright law prohibits states from regulating publishing transactions. In 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a similar plan.

Many of the recent legislation initiatives take a different approach.

An Illinois measure would nullify contracts between libraries and publishers that include terms such as limiting a library's ability to set loan durations for licenced electronic materials. Massachusetts and Connecticut are considering similar plans.

"Basically, rather than telling the publishers that they have to do anything in particular, our bill would tell the libraries on what terms they can make deals with the publishers," said Connecticut state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a democrat.

Husband, of the Association of American Publishers, stated that she sees no significant difference between the rejected Maryland statute and these recent measures. The Protect the Creative Economy Coalition was created last year by organisations representing publishers, bookstores, and authors in opposition to state legislation.

However, Julie Holden, assistant library director for the Cranston Public Library in Rhode Island, stated that without legislative change, local librarians will not only continue to face financial strain, but will also be bogged down in examining lists of expiring digital leases to determine whether they can justify spending more money to renew each one.

"The taxpayers who support our public libraries deserve better. "Way better," she explained.