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A surge in people borrowing e-books from Las Vegas area libraries during the coronavirus pandemic has exposed a growing problem: the struggle of libraries to pay for digital content.
Monday, July 19, 2021 | 2 a.m.
A surge in people borrowing e-books from Las Vegas area libraries during the coronavirus pandemic has exposed a growing problem: the struggle of libraries to pay for digital content.
Unlike physical books, which libraries can purchase once and lend out indefinitely, e-books are often subject to more costly and limited licensing agreements with publishers.
“If we don’t modify current problematic licensing and delivery models, libraries of all types will struggle to meet an ever-increasing demand for digital materials,” said Kelvin Watson, director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.
Watson is also co-chair of the American Library Association’s Joint Digital Content Working Group, which recently put out a report detailing the challenges faced by libraries nationwide.
Some digital pricing, such as models that only allow libraries access to e-books for a limited time period, unreasonably hamper or block access for library users, the December 2020 report said. Libraries want digital prices in line with those for physical books.
The Las Vegas district’s spending on e-books is projected to increase from $1.25 million in fiscal 2020 to $1.45 million in fiscal 2022. The increase mirrors a trend in increased interest in e-books during the pandemic, especially when businesses were closed and people were staying at home.
From March through May 2020 — the height of pandemic restrictions — people checked out 830,907 digital books, up from 638,900 during the same period the previous year. For the same months this year, interest remained high, with 797,690 digital copies borrowed.
Henderson Libraries has also increased spending on its digital offerings in the past year, and has 31.517 titles — 24,186 e-books and 7,331 e-audiobooks costing more than $1 million, executive director Marcie Smedley said. The Henderson system has gradually shifted its annual budget to enhance the digital inventory, and after the pandemic “there’s even a bigger push,” Smedley said.
“A lot of people were hesitate to move into consuming their books and information (through e-books),” she said. “But when that became the only option, people quickly moved over.”
According to Overdrive, a leading provider of digital library content, in 2020, readers worldwide borrowed more than 430 million e-books, audiobooks and digital magazines, an increase of 33% compared with 2019.
One of the more popular downloads during the pandemic was “anything from Julia Quinn,” Smedley said. Quinn’s novels were the inspiration for the popular Netflix series “Bridgerton,” and when residents ran out of episodes to view during the shutdown, they turned to reading, Smedley said. Other popular titles in Henderson included: “The Searcher” by Tana French, “Nomadland” by Jessica Bruder (an Oscar-winning movie last year), and “The Sentinel” by Lee Child and Andrew Child, she said.
The pandemic “accelerated trends that were already happening,” leaving libraries to grapple with “extraordinary demand for both digital content and services — two costly program areas — that will add to the strain on already lean budgets,” the American Library Association report said.
“The problem existed before COVID; COVID has just revealed how bad the problem is...” the report said.
Libraries pay an industry average of $40 per e-book, according to the association. But instead of owning the book forever like a hard copy edition, officials must determine whether or not to renew at the end of the licensing term.
“I understand publishing is a money-making industry and there have financial needs to support,” Smedley said. “At the same time, when we look at how libraries share material, it is very problematic to keep up. Even if the cost of licensing came down or there were some kind of middle ground to help libraries.”
During the worst months of the pandemic, many big publishers including HarperCollins, Penguin Random House and Macmillan, rolled out changes that made e-books more accessible and affordable, including lowering prices and, in Macmillan’s case, removing an embargo on new release e-books in libraries.
The American Library Association applauded the changes and said the concessions demonstrate that some of the terms it is seeking are possible long-term.
E-book pricing structures differ based on publishers. In June 2019, Hachette Publishing began licensing e-books to libraries for two-year terms instead of permanently. Some publishers continue to allow perpetual ownership after a license is purchased, while others grant temporary licenses based on the number of loans.
Others, like Amazon, don’t license their e-books to libraries at all.
The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, meanwhile, recently entered a partnership with Macmillan to make journalist Dan Rather’s graphic novel “What Unites Us” available to all Nevada residents through Aug. 27.
Watson said he was excited about the collaboration and that libraries and publishing houses are continuing to have conversations about an e-book pricing fix — a “sweet spot” — that is palatable to both. “They’re still trying to figure out how to work with libraries,” Watson said.
