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![]() ![]() Forced to spend more money on fewer books, librarians inevitably focus on bestsellers, titles by big-name authors and new installations in popular series, said Michael Blackwell, the director of St. In addition to straining limited budgets, which since the early 2000s have remained roughly flat in most places, librarians say current licensing models have hollowed out their digital back catalogs and skewed their current collections. “That definitely is not favorable for libraries, but that’s kind of where we are right now.” “E-books used to be on libraries’ digital shelves forever, but now you’re paying $60 for a title every two years,” said Kimpton. While consumers paid $12.99 for a digital version, the same book cost libraries roughly $52 for two years, and almost $520 for 20 years. In 2019 testimony to Congress, the American Library Association emphasized the disparity between consumer and library e-book prices, using the 2014 bestseller “All the Light We Cannot See” as an example. Today, it is common for e-book licenses from major publishers to expire after two years or 26 borrows, and to cost between $60 and $80 per license, according to Michele Kimpton, the global senior director of the nonprofit library group LYRASIS. Under this arrangement, publishers can set expiration dates on e-book licenses, limit the number of times an e-book can be borrowed, delay sales to libraries or refuse them access altogether. Instead, they license the right to loan them out - a model more like buying software than shopping at a bookstore. libraries have rapidly expanded their digital collections and shifted spending to e-books and digital audiobooks. Such checkouts (including e-books, audiobooks and digital magazines) exceeded half a billion in 2021, according to OverDrive, the largest distributor of digital library content - up 55% from two years before. Librarians’ latest legislative push comes after two breakneck years for digital loans. The new bills seek to evade the stumbling blocks that scuttled the legislation in Maryland and New York. Undeterred, librarians and lawmakers in states including Maryland, Massachusetts and New York told Stateline they are preparing a new legislative strategy ahead of next year’s session. In June, a Maryland judge dealt the movement a second blow, ruling that federal law preempts states’ attempts to regulate e-book licenses. Kathy Hochul vetoed her state’s e-book bill in late December, citing copyright concerns. State lawmakers have given such bills bipartisan support, but several measures have faltered before states could implement them. As the cost of e-book licenses has continued to rise, however, librarians and their advocates in at least nine states have pushed for legislation that would require publishers - especially the “Big Five” publishers that produce the overwhelming majority of consumer books - to offer libraries more “reasonable” licensing terms. Publishers argue that the markups and other restrictions protect authors’ intellectual property rights and incentivize companies to invest in their work. ![]() Libraries also must pay several times the cover price of equivalent print versions. Such licenses now typically expire after a certain amount of time or number of loans. Since the early 2010s, libraries and publishers have clashed over the terms and costs of e-book licenses, which grant libraries permission to loan digital books. “We have dealt with publishers and rights-holders for centuries, but it’s never been as bad as it is now.” Courtney, the copyright adviser for Harvard University and a founder of Library Futures, an advocacy group pushing for the bills. “The current model is frustrating for libraries and archives whose service mission is totally different from the capitalist goals of a for-profit company,” said Kyle K. ![]() Over the long term, the measures might shore up libraries’ core mission in an increasingly digital environment. Supporters say the e-book lending legislation in several states would allow libraries to offer more digital material and shorten waitlists for popular titles. Librarians and their legislative allies are pushing publishers of electronic books to lower their prices and relax licensing terms, an effort that could make it easier for millions of library users to borrow the increasingly popular digital versions of books. ![]()
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