The Connecticut Government Administration and Elections Committee heard testimony on HB-06829, the new state ebook bill. Advocates for the bill spoke about the need for state-level legislation to fix the problem of ebook acquisition costs for libraries in their state.
In her testimony to the Committee, Connecticut State Librarian Deborah Schander discussed the issue of fair terms in contracts and licenses for electronic books for libraries. Schander stated that the advent of eBooks has shifted the relationship between libraries and publishers from traditional purchases to renting collections through licensing. She noted that these licenses are crafted in ways that benefit publishers to the detriment of libraries, affecting their core mission of providing equitable access to information. Schander emphasized that libraries face significantly steeper costs than consumers, limited lending options, and the surrendering of their mission to the terms set by publishers.
She noted that Connecticut has the right to pass legislation that is equitable for libraries and publishers alike, and that any legislation must address the concerns of public libraries and research libraries. Schander concluded by saying that publishers should not be able to continue dictating the library mission through unreasonable licensing terms, and that the State Library welcomes the opportunity to be part of the ongoing conversation on this legislation.
Read all of the testimony to the Committee on their hearing page: Connecticut ebooks bill testimony (March 6, 2023)
"Libraries want to buy more books. We want to get books into the hands of everyone. If libraries could buy more, authors would make more money."
- Ellen Paul, Executive Director, Connecticut Library Consortium
"This bill is absolutely critical to our towns. It is unconscionable to me that I can buy a book, a best-seller for say $10 or $14 when I use a Kindle or an iPad, but libraries that are only get to get two years or 26 uses out of a book that they purchased to make available to patrons online, they're going to pay sometimes five times what that best-seller cost. This is limiting them in the number of books they can purchase. It's limiting them in the expansion of an online library. I think the more that people learn about this situation, the more-outraged they become about just how these publishing companies are really hurting the towns."
- Connecticut State Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Simsbury, Co-Chairwoman of the Planning and Development Committee
"It is about fundamental fairness.”
- Connecticut State Rep. Joseph Zullo, R-East Haven
“This legislation wouldn't have been necessary if the publishers weren't charging such ridiculous rates for these books. I didn't go into this bill expecting to support it necessarily, but the prices on the eBooks are so ridiculously high and orders of magnitude higher than the physical books, this legislation wouldn't be advanced if they just were acting in a more reasonable fashion. And I am a major free-market guy."
- Connecticut State Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich