Library Digital Collection Access and Publisher Pricing

Have you wondered why there are shockingly long waits for the newest digital titles or why we may not have that popular title from several years ago? Or why we don't have that audiobook everyone is talking about?

There are very good reasons for all of these issues: digital collections are extraordinarily expensive and there are some severe restrictions for public libraries. 

Let’s start with “metered access.” While digital collections are popular to our users, the main driver of your long wait time is eBook and audiobook licensing models. Most publishers use what is called the “metered access” lending model. This model is truly a lending model. ICPL purchases access to one digital copy of a title for either a specific length of time or a specific number of uses. After we’ve reached the determined threshold, we lose rights to the title and must repurchase access. The majority of publishers use length of time, typically one to two years.

As each year goes by, the costs of keeping any title are compounded. For example, after initially purchasing Amor Towles’ popular novel, “The Lincoln Highway,” in 2021, we had to repurchase it in October 2023 to keep it in our digital collection. We will have to repurchase it in 2025 and 2027. Having to continually buy the majority of our backlist titles leads us to decide not to repurchase titles that are actively used, simply because we cannot afford them. We also need to balance this repurchasing with the addition of new releases and lower wait times. 

Titles also start out pricey. In addition to repurchasing, licenses are expensive, unlike the options available to consumers. For example, you can purchase the eBook version of “The Lincoln Highway” for $12.99, but the Library pays $55.00 for a two-year license. This price only covers access to a single copy of the title; we pay an additional hefty yearly fee to administer the lending. And, while eBooks are expensive, audiobooks are often twice the price of eBooks. 

Consumer and library price differences do not exist in physical formats, or if they do, it is largely to a library’s advantage. We negotiate discounts, and the more we purchase overall, the lower our costs per title. However, we are unable to negotiate pricing on digital collections. Pricing — set by the publishers — is fixed across all library digital vendors. 

If we are moving more of our budget towards digital collections, our buying power as a library is significantly diminished. In 2021, we purchased 25 print copies of Anthony Doerr’s “Cloud Cuckoo Land” to meet demand. We had to spend almost $100 more to purchase only eight copies of the eBook.

The other model: cost per use. Used by hoopla and Kanopy, another digital pricing model available to libraries is called cost per use. These vendors offer a catalog of titles and the library is only charged for what is used. This use fee is charged per title and can range from $0.99 to $9.99, depending on the publisher, the format, and the popularity of the title.

The wonderful thing about cost per use is that everything offered is available at any time. No wait lists. The downside is that the price points are very high—and they add up quickly for libraries. To ensure we stay within our budget, we place a couple of restrictions on cost per use, including limiting the number of titles you can use per month and cutting off access to some of the most expensive price points. For example, we will not pay more than $1.99 per title for eBooks and audiobooks in hoopla. If we didn’t have these restrictions, we cannot afford the hoopla digital collection.

Some content is just not available to libraries. Of course, this pricing situation only reflects what we are given permission to offer to you. There is a significant number of books, movies, and music that we are unable to access due to exclusive rights. Audible, an Amazon subsidiary, is one of the largest producers of audiobooks. We are unable to provide access to any of that content. Netflix, hulu, Peacock, AppleTV, Prime and other digital streaming services produce and release movies and television shows that will never make it to DVD or our streaming platforms, including Academy Award winning movies. Library users that rely on our services cannot access important pieces of our culture.

What it means for you? Public libraries are unable to access the same digital pricing, and in some cases the same digital content, as consumers. This situation strains the Library’s budget and impedes ICPL’s ability to provide a tried and true library service: access to collections. Unsustainable costs mean:

• We will not have titles you expect to be in our digital library. We may not have a full series, that popular book from a few years ago, or some modern classics. We cannot make the most popular television series and movies available to you.
• You will wait a long time for popular books, especially new fiction titles.
• Titles we currently have in our digital collection may not be available in the future.

We have always prided ourselves for having a collection our community deserves, but until publisher pricing and vendor models change to offer affordable, accessible options to libraries, we cannot make this happen digitally.