CT librarians push bill that would expand e-book, audiobook access

Connecticut librarians on Wednesday asked legislators to change the law regulating the licensing deals for e-books and audio books in order to expand access to those materials and to limit wait times for library users.

Librarians from Hartford, New Haven and number of other municipalities told lawmakers that the licensing process limits how many e-books local libraries can afford.

The publishing industry and other critics of the bill, however, argued that the bill, which is being considered by the legislature’s Planning and Development Committee, would violate federal law.

“The high prices of e-books make it difficult for libraries to purchase all of the e-books their communities demand. In our public libraries, the wait lists for e-books are regularly six months long,” Ellen Paul, Executive Director of the Connecticut Library Consortium, said in a statement. “Many readers who are waiting for an e-book will never actually be able to borrow it because the library’s leasing terms will expire before it is their turn to borrow the book.”

A similar bill was introduced during the 2023 legislative session. The bill had 11 co-sponsors and made it out of the Planning and Development Committee. The legislation was then referred to the Appropriations Committee, where it died.

[OPINION: CT library users want more e-books. Libraries can’t meet the demand]

Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, one of the 11 co-sponsors of last year’s bill, said the restrictive and burdensome nature of e-book licensing on libraries warrants action by the legislature. Currently, e-book publishers limit the use of individual e-books for a maximum of two years or 26 “borrows.” Also, e-books can be checked out only from the individual libraries that borrowed them, meaning neighboring libraries cannot exchange e-books with each other, like they could with physical books.

“These licenses limit the number of times a library may lend out an audiobook or an e-book. They further restrict to whom and in what way the product can be lent. In some cases, they even prohibit the library themselves from having access to the material. After a certain amount of loans, a librarian must re-purchase this license to continue offering the product,” Hwang said.

Critics of the bill have questioned its constitutionality, saying it would violate the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. 

“Absent an evidentiary record that clearly establishes actual fraud or misrepresentation, bills restricting price and licensing terms will be preempted by federal law,” said Andrea Fleck-Nisbet and Dr. Kurt Brackob, two officials with the Independent Book Publisher’s Association, which represents 4,000 small and midsized publishers.

“Imposing terms on publishers from the several states in their commercial relationship with the Connecticut libraries, and ultimately the state of Connecticut itself, interferes with interstate commerce, which is the exclusive purview of the Congress of the United States,” they added.

Fleck-Nisbet and Brackob also referenced a recent court ruling that overturned a similar bill that was passed in Maryland in 2021. They argued that court ruling was evidence that the newly proposed bill would violate federal law. 

Supporters of the bill argue that it does not actually invoke federal law. According to Yuliya Ziskina, author of “Mitigating the Library eBook Conundrum Through Legislative Action in the States,” this bill focuses on current Connecticut state law.

“It merely harnesses existing state law to ensure e-book licenses and contracts are fair, equitable, and reflective of a library’s mission,” Ziskina wrote.

Opponents of the bill argue that it would harm authors’ livelihoods and that the legislation ignores a record-breaking amount of “digital check-outs” from public libraries that e-books have brought. 

“These digital check-outs are made because publishers have long offered discounted access to public libraries,” said Shelley H. Husband, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at the Association of American Publishers. “Publishers have without question served public libraries and their communities very well in the digital age to the point that today more patrons than ever before can access for free, at the push of a button, a plethora of award-winning and bestselling literary works.”

But Deborah Schander, Connecticut’s state librarian, said while check-outs may be increasing, supply to meet those checkouts is falling behind and becoming more costly.

“Like our public library counterparts, the bulk of our content is offered to us on one set of terms: one copy of an ebook can cost up to six times more than a consumer pays, and our access expires after two years or the book has been borrowed 26 times, whichever occurs first. If we want to keep providing that content, we need to purchase another license for another two years for another $55 or $95 or whatever other price the publisher has set. Multiply that by every copy of every book we want, and the costs add up,” Schander said.