Watch the 15 October 2025 webinar recording
For over 20 years, libraries have been highlighting concerns around their ability to provide the same sort of access for their users to e-Books as with physical books.
Challenges around title availability, high cost and the predictability of offers raise serious questions about the ability of a library to function as a place which is free to develop its own collections, and then to provide access to these for its patrons on a sustainable short- and long-term basis.
This strikes at the heart of what a library is and its public interest mission. Indeed, as previous KR21 work has shown, library laws in many countries either explicitly or implicitly underline the importance of collecting and providing access to e-Books.
Traditionally, the sector has looked at these issues from a purely copyright perspective, arguing for exceptions, limitations or other provisions that enable libraries in their work.
However, an under-explored angle is that of competition and the degree to which libraries are operating in a dysfunctional market. This is a gap that a new report from the CREATe centre at the University of Glasgow helps to fill.
Getting Economic Regulation Right
Taking the perspective of competition law allows us to more clearly look directly at whether markets are doing what they are supposed to. This approach can then guide policy makers in deciding whether to make specific competition interventions, or to change how they apply other regulatory tools, among them only one being copyright.
In the case of libraries, what is needed is the ability to access e-Books on reasonable terms in order to fulfil their public interest missions – most crucially the development of their own collections for the long term. This supports not only education, research, science and other goals directly, but as a recent e-Book report from KR21 / Jagiellonian University highlights, is grounded in fundamental rights.
Where an analysis of competition in library e-Book markets finds that the actions of vendors unfairly restrict the possibility to do this, there is a need to make market corrections. As the report highlights, this is perhaps best done through a mixture of copyright law and competition law influenced interventions, taking inspiration from the new raft of European Union digital laws that seek to curb the powers of digital platforms and gatekeepers.
To explore the evidence, the report draws on both a review of the literature and direct engagement with public and academic libraries in different parts of Europe.
In particular, it looks at seven different behaviours which raise questions around competition: outright refusals to supply, constructive refusals to supply (i.e. by making things complicated or by imposing delays), bundling, unfair trading conditions, excessive pricing, avoidance of the spirit of other laws, and a lack of transparency.
A Case to Be Answered
CREATe’s analysis indicates that there are particular concerns around constructive refusals to supply, unfair trading conditions and transparency, as well as possibilities for further investigation on other points, particularly for specific markets such as textbooks.
While the report does not anticipate that specific competition interventions, targeted at individual companies, may work (at least when it comes to e-Books), it is clear that there is a case to look again at market regulation as a whole.
The report argues that there is a basis for wider market investigations, looking in particular at potential gatekeeping behaviour by major publishers and vendors, or whether rules that apply to the relationship between platforms and business might apply.
In addition, based on the insights gained, it recommends looking at aspects of current copyright law that leave the door open for problematic behaviours. The report suggests, amongst other things, ensuring that libraries can access legal copies of e-Books in a wider range of ways than simply having to buy directly from vendors, stronger contract regulation, facilitating permanent access agreements, and enabling circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs) that prevent lending.
We encourage libraries, library associations and all those who value e-Lending, collection development and the long-term preservation of e-Books to read the report, and consider how they can use it with policy makers in calling for a new look at how well e-Book markets are working for public and university/research libraries and their users.
15 October 2025
