Book Publishers Are Trying to Destroy Public E-Book Access in Order to Increase Profits

"The Internet Archive provides libraries with an alternative to the current, predatory model that exists for hosting e-books. When a library hosts a book digitally, they do not simply pay what an ordinary consumer would pay for that book. Libraries pay additional licensing fees to publishing companies to host e-books through services like Libby and OverDrive, which can cost three to five times as much as the book itself and only last for a few years at a time. (Gargantuan licensing fees for e-books have become a central pillar of the publishing industry’s profits: according to Koeltl’s opinion, Penguin reaps $59 million per year just from e-book licensing to libraries, while HarperCollins makes nearly $47 million.) This is a direct transfer of wealth straight from local taxpayers to wealthy publishing houses, and it’s worth considering how much more your local library would be able to do if they weren’t having so much of their budget extracted.

The American Library Association briefed Congress in 2019 on this ludicrous price gouging. To purchase one copy of David Kahn’s The Codebreakers, a consumer would pay $59.99 for lifetime e-book access. Simon & Schuster, which owns the e-book rights, charged libraries $239.99 to host and loan out that e-book to one person at a time, for just two years. To lend it for 20 years, the library would pay about $2,400 (about 40 times what a consumer would pay for lifetime access)...."