As libraries change their purchasing and lending models to meet the pandemic, they also seek data to prove their value to publishers and the book market
Back in June, we reported on libraries managing through lockdown and budget cuts by focusing on what they uniquely provide to their communities. The pandemic has also resurfaced the ongoing tension between libraries and publishers when it comes to digital lending models and questions of profitability versus access.
Ever since ebooks became an industry-standard format, digital lending has been a tortured issue. At first, big publishers wouldn’t license ebooks for library lending, and when they finally did, the models and terms differed from publisher to publisher. Then, within the last couple years, publishers started changing their lending models from perpetual access (pay once for indefinite access) to a metered model (titles expire and must be repurchased). In 2019, Big Five publisher Macmillan instituted an embargo on library sales of new ebooks, which resulted in an outcry and boycott by some libraries of all Macmillan titles. Macmillan has since reversed that embargo on account of the pandemic, and most big publishers have offered more favorable terms and pricing (temporarily) in recognition of the tremendous demand libraries now face for digital materials and access.
With libraries now re-assessing their role and purpose in their communities, it seems unlikely—even impossible—they’ll return to their purchasing patterns prior to the pandemic. Last month, we attended a Book Industry Study Group virtual panel on the library-publisher relationship, moderated by Matt Enis of Library Journal. Librarians discussed how they began pivoting even before the pandemic to innovative digital access programs. Kelvin Watson, who heads up Broward County libraries in Florida, says they started working with Baker & Taylor (the library distributor) three years ago on a community share program to help students at area schools acquire public library cards to more easily access digital library materials. Now, they’ve seen a 20 to 30 percent increase in ebook usage during the pandemic; fortunately, the system invested $500,000 in its ebook collection last year in anticipation of increased usage.
The increased use of ebook content that libraries have experienced during the pandemic isn’t from previous users, but new users coming onboard, according to Veronda Pitchford, who heads up Califa Group, a consortium of 200 California libraries. “The usage will continue to increase post-COVID, given the new audience we’ve gained as a result of this,” she said. Panelists emphasized that rather than expecting the community to come into the library (especially during a pandemic), they are trying to reach people where they are—and digital resources give them that ability.
Watson believes the pandemic has created an opportunity for libraries and publishers to come together to find an ongoing solution to access. “I read today that Penguin Random House is extending their [reduced pricing] model to the end of August,” Watson said. “Well, my question would be why can’t we be putting these permanent plans in place so libraries can continue to service the communities?” He said it would be a long time before people would be returning in person to the library. A better ongoing solution, Watson said, would mean not having the models change every few years, and acknowledgment from publishers that there aren’t unlimited funds to keep purchasing licenses. “We need to really assess what models work for the publishers so they’re good, but also so they work for libraries.”
Where libraries need to do a better job, though, is in showing publishers how their efforts translate into sales. Pitchford said that they’ve all been remiss in not connecting the dots in this way, in looking at the bottom line for publishers. Libraries know their biggest win is in how they connect people with titles they might not have discovered otherwise. “Libraries know what people need and what they read. Being able to connect people to their next great read is incredibly powerful.”
Aman Kochar of Baker & Taylor agreed, saying, “We have been facing a literacy crisis, and [library] programs create lifetime readers. This benefits the publishing industry in the long run. The more readers you have … the pie gets bigger. … Libraries are the most trusted institution we have in a world where there is information overload, false information. [We] want children to be looking forward to a true north, a north star. And that’s the library,” he said. “The publishers realize it and recognize it.”
Later on, Kochar argued that the library industry should talk about things like publishers’ customer acquisition costs to make their case for better library lending models. “It’s for us to take that challenge on and to convert those intangibles into values for publishers. … There’s a cost for acquiring every customer. If we can show cost of acquisition reduces [through library lending] … that’s something we need to display and be mathematical about.”
Fortunately, there is an initiative to help in this effort. The Panorama Project, funded by OverDrive, advocates for transparency to more accurately evaluate and measure the role that public libraries play in the book business. Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, the project lead, recently presented at the American Library Association virtual conference on the organization’s most recent research. Publishers are typically unaware of library events’ direct commercial impact on book sales, as few libraries measure and track the impact of their own events and marketing—or report their marketing reach in terms publishers would value or understand.
As one small example, Panorama found that 46 percent of libraries sell more than 25 books at their events, while 29 percent of libraries reported selling more than 100 copies at their best event in 2019. This suggests library events reach a consistent audience of borrowers who are also buyers. Later this year, the Panorama Project will produce a library marketing valuation toolkit, which will identify best practices for producing and marketing library events, with specific tactics libraries can use to calculate the full monetary value of their readers’ advisory and marketing efforts.
Regardless of what the data might show, Pitchford wants to leverage the library’s power to bring attention to overlooked titles, including self-published titles, rather than bestsellers. To avoid creating (or adding to) that 500-person waiting list for a bestselling book—while still offering high-quality literature—Pitchford advocates libraries use their merchandising ability online and in their physical spaces to highlight diverse new authors that patrons haven’t yet discovered. Watson said that last fall, Broward libraries stopped promoting bestsellers and began promoting titles available through BiblioBoard. One author they focused on was Ran Walker, the winner of the 2019 Indie Author of the Year Award. “We focused on his content only,” Watson said. “We saw a significant increase [in circulation] in not only his material, but all the other BiblioBoard titles as well.”
Bottom line: Pitchford said that it’s not helping their situation that libraries each send a different message to the publishers about what they want—and they’re not doing it with data. She said libraries need to communicate with one voice: that they don’t merely want titles at a cheaper price, but they want a seat at the table to talk about different models and solutions. Watson said ultimately a balance has to be struck, and if libraries focus only on how they’re profitable to publishers, they’ll never come up with a solution.
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.
