Did you know that the demand for eBooks and eAudiobooks has risen by 34% since 2019? With more and more people reading and listening on their Kindles and smartphones, libraries have been working hard to keep up and provide access to as many eBooks as possible.
How expensive are eBooks?
We are thrilled that eBooks are popular; they are convenient to use, the pages are adaptable for brightness and font size, and they allow you to carry your new favorite book in your pocket! Those awesome benefits also come with differences in cost and ownership models that make it very challenging for libraries to meet user demand.
You might be surprised to learn that digital books often cost libraries between three and ten times more than their print counterpart. Thanks to the Seattle Public Library for this excellent breakdown of the costs.
Ownership Challenges
Ownership of digital materials is different from print materials. When we buy print materials, the ownership model is simple: we buy a book, loan that book, keep the book until it is falling part, and then we might buy it again if the community loves it. Most publishers do not allow libraries to own eBooks outright. Instead, libraries pay a licensing fee to use that title for a specific period of time or set number of checkouts. This means that the library must rebuy content as it reaches the end of its licensing period, usually every year or two. Additionally, most licenses only allow one user at a time to borrow that eBook, requiring the library to buy multiple copies of the same title if it accumulates a large number of holds.
When you combine the cost difference and the licensing model, you can start to see the problem libraries are facing. Digital materials cost a lot more money to purchase, and we have to buy the same title more frequently than the same title in print. Here’s an example:
A print copy of The Women by Kristin Hannah costs the library about $16.
An eBook copy of the same title costs $60 for a two year license.
If that same book remains popular for 4 years then it will cost the library $120 to provide that eBook versus $16 to provide the print copy of the same title.
How does this impact library customers?
The pricing and licensing differences lead to fewer titles in the collection as libraries have to choose between buying new releases, continuing to pay for old titles that customers may still want to read, or reducing holds by buying multiple licenses for the same title. Customers experience longer wait times for popular titles, fewer new titles are added to the collection, and older titles become unavailable as licenses expire and the library cannot afford to rebuy them.
What can be done?
Libraries have been long struggling with offering equitable access to digital content due to limitations set by publishers. Organizations like the Urban Library Council and the American Library Association continue to conduct advocacy in this area on behalf of public libraries. Other groups such as Library Futures and eBook Study Group are working toward more fair and favorable prices and licensing of digital materials.
Several states have also introduced legislation to challenge the current lack of ownership and inflated cost for libraries. All previous legislative offers have been struck down and are heavily opposed by the publishing industry.
Over the past few years fourteen states have introduced eBook licensing and pricing bills:
Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts (2), Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia
Read more about the issue here:
- ALA Advocacy & Issues: eBooks
- GovTech: Behind E-Books, Libraries Find Restrictions and High Costs
- Computers in Libraries: 2024 – The State of Digital Content in Public Libraries (requires logging in with your library card and PIN)
- The Seattle Public Library Is Reducing Our Maximum Digital Holds. Here’s Why.
- NPR: The "eBook Problem" Hits Seattle Public Library
- NPR: eBooks Are Expensive for Libraries. Some States Are Trying to Change That
- AP News: Libraries Struggle to Afford the Demand for eBooks and Seek New State Laws in Fight with Publishers
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