Blog post by Stephen Wyber
How Clarivate’s Decision to Cut Perpetual Access and Print Sales Threatens Libraries
The recent decision by Clarivate (at least in the UK and Irish markets) to stop selling eBooks under a perpetual licence, to end print book sales altogether, and to oblige all users to move to a subscription model underlines much of what is dysfunctional in eBook markets today.
That such a move is even possible underscores the urgent need for governments to reconsider their laissez-faire approach to digital content markets for libraries. Without intervention, some of the fundamental principles that define libraries risk being severely undermined.
Libraries Losing Control Over Collections
Knowledge Rights 21 has, from its inception, focused strongly on the situation faced by libraries in accessing and giving access to eBooks as an indicator of wider systemic issues. From a world where librarians can exercise professional judgement to build collections that respond to the needs of the communities they serve, decisions about what researchers, educators and others can read, and how, is increasingly in the hands of companies primarily focused on profitability.
In some ways, this represents an alignment with the situation in academic journal publishing. However, considering the long-standing concerns about the ‘serials crisis’ in that sector, this is hardly a positive development.
Key Concerns for Libraries
Clarivate’s new approach raises several critical issues for libraries, including:
1. Bundling of content
Clarivate’s shift could force libraries to subscribe to entire catalogues, regardless of whether they need access to only a fraction of the collection. Apart from the inefficiencies for libraries, this can create a natural advantage for those players who can offer the widest range of content, to the detriment of those who have more limited, specialised ranges. While the announcements highlight that the Rialto marketplace remains open and will develop, this seems to come with relatively few assurances.
2. Little guarantee of access from one day to the next
It is sadly common for the content of packages to vary, with titles added or withdrawn on a regular basis, and often without adequate information to libraries. While it remains unclear if this will be the case with Clarivate, libraries can be expected to buy a closed box up front, without any clear indication of what they will be getting in the coming year.
3. Financial lock-in: Pay now, pay later
With the end of permanent purchases for new content, libraries will be locked into continuous payments year after year. While this ensures a steady revenue stream for providers, it creates financial instability for libraries, particularly those facing budget cuts. Crucially, it means libraries can no longer rely on continued access to materials they have already paid for in previous years.
4. Loss of agency in collection development
Public libraries have long struggled with the challenge of limited control over eBook collection-building, with concerns about intermediaries sharing content without context that is inappropriate for users, or removing possibilities to curate. In the case of academic libraries, particularly frustrating steps will be the end of demand-based or evidence-based purchasing. It is telling that the possibility for libraries to build collections on the basis of what people actually want and need is diminished.
5. The end of physical
The announcement also confirms that Clarivate will no longer sell physical books. This, it notes, is to some extent due to falling demand, a point that does make sense in the academic world. However, combined with the end of perpetual access to electronic books, it takes away a key possibility to ensure lasting access even if a subscription lapses.
What’s Next?
With the announcement only made last week, there have been town hall sessions and Clarivate’s FAQs page about the decision is evolving. For a company whose slogan is “Think Forward,” the path taken seems anything but forward-thinking. It is of course possible that the decision may be amended or reversed.
Nonetheless, the fact that it was made in the first place underlines the power publishers and other rightholders have to make decisions which are arguably not beneficial for libraries, and indeed undermine not just their agency, but what makes them libraries.
Look out in the coming weeks for more from Knowledge Rights 21 about the challenges faced by libraries around eBooks, and solutions that could help level the playing field. You can start by exploring the materials from the Knowledge Rights 21 supported evidence-based UK campaign “Unlocking eBooks for Innovation and Growth” and signing up for our 19 March 2025 webinar.
Stay tuned for more updates.
27 February 2025
