Library Futures eBooks Policy Paper

"To mitigate the eBooks conundrum, Library Futures is recommending the adoption of state laws based on state contract law, state consumer protection, state procurement law, and contract preemption. The Library Futures model eBooks bill is based on the recent eBook legislation and resulting litigation, as outlined below. This model bill language is designed to nullify efforts by the publishers to use the threat of copyright and federal preemption lawsuits against the library community and the public, by harnessing the coercive power of the state to protect against harmful eBook contracts. Currently, a number of publishers and eBook aggregators are preventing libraries from acquiring eBooks with licensing (or purchasing) terms that make it impossible for libraries to fully meet their standard access and preservation missions. Often, eBook licenses offered to libraries come with many restrictions on use and/or are prohibitively expensive,1 or worse, sometimes are not available to libraries at any price.2 And when they are available, eBooks can cost a library three to 10 times the consumer prices for the same eBook.3 Further, most libraries have little, if any, bargaining power and are rarely able to change the terms of the contracts offered to them by publishers. As a result, many libraries face financial and practical challenges in making eBooks available to their patrons and are unable to develop their own digital collections...."