Since early 2020, tensions have swelled between big publishers and libraries. Partly this is due to an ongoing lawsuit by publishers against the Internet Archive’s controversial lending practices as well as library advocates fighting for state laws to make digital lending reasonable and fair in their eyes.
For better or worse, the legal winds have not been blowing in favor of libraries. In an effort that appears to be designed to garner more public support for libraries, a group of authors has written an open letter that accuses publishers and trade associations of putting shareholder profits before the common good. Many major authors and celebrities—including Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Chuck Wendig, and Amanda Palmer—have signed on.
In response, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and The Authors Guild released their own statements. The AAP’s statement refers to the letter’s claims as “disinformation,” and The Authors Guild says that some authors who signed the letter were misled. Unfortunately, both sides have been publicly demonizing the other, without much interest in understanding or compromise.
In a recent webinar hosted by the Digital Public Library of America, librarian advocates discussed the various battles underway in regard to digital lending and how libraries might modify their legal arguments to win in court. The Macmillan embargo—which restricted digital lending of new releases in a manner the industry had never seen before—remains a grave betrayal in the minds of librarians, despite Macmillan abandoning the policy. Alan Inouye, a director at the American Library Association, said, “I think that really infuriated people and that provided a lot of fuel to these state-level legislative efforts.”
For librarians, a fair digital lending policy means offering more than one licensing option (especially if that one option expires and requires re-purchase) and offering a one-at-a-time perpetual model, so that libraries don’t have to renew licenses for titles they wish to preserve indefinitely. Kyle Courtney, copyright advisor to Harvard University, argued it’s wrong for publishers to dictate licensing terms that subvert the library’s mission. “They’re like, ‘Oh, we’re going to decide how long these loans are. We’re going to decide how often you should pay. We’re going to decide you don’t own this. We’re going to decide you can’t preserve this,” he said.
If the legal decisions on digital lending don’t favor libraries—and none of them have so far—and publishers don’t become more flexible with their licensing policies, then what recourse will libraries have? Courtney said bluntly, “We’re going to destroy them in the press.”
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.
