In Canada’s Globe and Mail, publisher, author, and journalist Kenneth Whyte blames libraries for the declining fortunes of independent and chain bookstores and accuses them of taking money out of authors’ pockets. By using merchandising techniques and placing the “hottest books in high-traffic areas,” he says, libraries have purposefully become a consumer destination—and this needs to stop. He claims that rather than helping an underclass, libraries have been offering free entertainment to a middle-class who can afford books, and they’ve been harming literature by pushing the latest thriller. He suggests that patrons pay a subscription fee for books considered entertainment or that Canada’s Public Lending Right program be expanded to increase compensation for authors.
Critics of the piece say the library is “a last bastion of equality” and that asking patrons to pay fees is repugnant. Canadian copyright scholar Michael Geist has responded with a set of statistics that tell a very different story than Whyte’s. Notably, “A 2019 BookNet study found that books tend to stay popular longer in libraries, meaning that the majority of books that are being borrowed have limited overlap with those being sold in bookstores.” Also, a July 2020 Canadian study says, “Together, a public library branch and an independent bookstore will support and sustain higher levels of discovery and reading than either would generate on their own.” And last but not least, funding for Canada’s PLR program has grown by 50 percent in the last two years.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
