Upper Hudson Library System to Boycott Major Publisher’s E-books

PRESS RELEASE


Upper Hudson Library System to Boycott Major Publisher’s E-books

Albany, NY - The Upper Hudson Library System (UHLS) announced today that the 29 public libraries serving Albany and Rensselaer Counties have decided to boycott all future electronic content purchases from HarperCollins Publishers, one of the world’s largest publishing houses. The decision to boycott is in reaction to a recent HarperCollins policy change in the sale of their e-book titles that establishes a license limit of 26 checkouts per title on all e-books purchased for library use.

Electronic books (e-books or e-content) are digital files that are purchased by public libraries and made available to library users who can download the book onto their e-reader or other mobile device for use for a limited checkout period just like traditional library books. With the recent proliferation of these devices, the use of e-content at local libraries has increased dramatically in the last six months. The UHLS member libraries have begun to devote more of their limited materials budgets to build their e-content collections to meet this demand.

This new policy requires libraries to re-purchase HarperCollins e-books after the book has been checked out 26 times, which is a radical departure from the purchase agreements used by other e-content publishers, who typically sell the library the use of the file for as long as the library wants to provide it to their users.

”The UHLS member libraries felt strongly that this was a change that would hurt libraries and library users and that we needed to push back," said Timothy Burke, UHLS Executive Director. "The policy change works contrary to what library consortia are designed to do. We are trying to share resources to stretch the taxpayer dollar as far as possible. We understand the profit motive of the publishers, but they are losing sight of the purpose of libraries and consortia. We are driven by service to our users."

An open letter from the Upper Hudson Library System was sent to the publisher, posted on the UHLS website, and shared with member libraries. The letter informs HarperCollins of the boycott decision, explains why this new policy is harmful to libraries and library users, and urges the publisher to reconsider their decision. It also encourages HarperCollins and all publishers to work together with the library community on a mutually beneficial system to make information in this new format available to library users.

In a March 7, 2011 article in Library Journal.com, UHLS was listed along with library consortia in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Missouri as the leaders in the push back movement against HarperCollins.