After years of trying to address the high costs of electronic and audiobooks for libraries, state representatives on Thursday gave final passage to a bill that would ban public libraries from entering into contracts with e-book publishers that contain terms that some lawmakers called restrictive.
E-book contracts for libraries often come with terms that mean the library has to re-purchase the book after it’s been borrowed 26 times or every couple of years, whichever comes first. Senate Bill 1234 wouldn’t allow simultaneous restrictions on the loan period and the number of times people can borrow the book.
The bill would only go into effect if one or more states with a total or combined population of 7 million enact similar laws. It mandates that the state librarian check quarterly whether any other states have passed a similar law.
Librarians and patrons across the state have advocated in favor of the bill, saying some of the terms e-book publishers mandate make it expensive and difficult to access electronic versions of books. Co-chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, said libraries already pay four to five times the market price of a book.
“These restrictions are wasting taxpayer dollars, and they are also interfering with our libraries’ general operations and ability to serve their patrons,” Blumenthal said.
The bill drew opposition and lengthy debate in the House and Senate from Republicans who argued against statewide mandates on towns and what they called government interference in the free market.
“‘We’re going to force you, we’re going to coerce you into lowering your prices,’” said Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott, a ranking member on the GAE committee. “That’s not how government works. That’s not how America works.”
Democrats have for years tried to find a solution to the burdens e-book contracts put on libraries, but past efforts have stalled. This bill next heads to Gov. Ned Lamont’s office.
The issue has come up more frequently as more people read books on their Kindles, iPads or smartphones. Listening to audiobooks has also become more popular over the past decade.
The bill would also require that contracts allow inter-library loans and ban secrecy clauses that prevent libraries from talking to each other about the terms of the agreement. The contracts wouldn’t be allowed to restrict the duration of the agreement unless it allows either a pay-per-use model or perpetual public use of the literature.
“There’s obviously a lot of interest, particularly from the library community, about some of the restrictions that these providers place on their ability to share with people,” said House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford.
Rep. Anne Dauphinais, R-Killingly, said she didn’t want to see more mandates on towns.
“It seems to me like we’re going in a direction of becoming the mandate state,” Dauphinais said. “We want to put everything we can, shove everything we can up the towns’ butts, whatever it is, whether it’s a mandate for this or a mandate for that.”
Umair Kazi, director of policy and advocacy at The Authors Guild, submitted testimony opposing the bill, saying it could harm Connecticut authors and access to books.
“We fear that by prohibiting Connecticut libraries from entering into licenses that contain these common terms that the legislature will impact the availability of books in Connecticut libraries,” Kazi said in written testimony. “Publishers will likely not concede to changing the terms and their business model, and as a consequence, Connecticut libraries would not be able to license many new books or renew existing license for what could be a substantial portion of their catalogue.”
In public testimony on the bill, librarians said the contracts already restrict access to books.
“The high prices of eBooks make it difficult for libraries to purchase all of the eBooks their communities demand,” Ellen Paul, executive director of the Connecticut Library Consortium wrote in testimony. “In our public libraries, the wait lists for eBooks are regularly 6 months long. Many readers who are waiting for an eBook will never actually be able to borrow it because the library’s leasing terms will expire before it is their turn to borrow the book.”
This story has been updated.
This story was originally published in the Connecticut Mirror.
