RESOURCE(S)
INTRODUCTION
Public, academic, research and health libraries are critical to the UK’s modern information infrastructure, serving as dynamic hubs of data, scientific research, learning, and trusted knowledge. They provide vital access to information, empower innovation, support learning and future skills, and drive economic growth — continuously modernising to meet evolving community needs in a digital age.
eBooks should be central to this modernisation, offering remote access, expanding inclusive reading, and enabling borrowing anytime, anywhere. Yet, libraries are currently being blocked from delivering this potential. Unfair pricing, overly restrictive licences, refusal to license, and bundling practices obstruct libraries from providing the equitable access to knowledge they are funded to deliver. Essential content is being locked away, limiting opportunities for students, researchers, and communities — precisely when it’s needed most.
Commissioned by Knowledge Rights 21 and delivered by CILIP, the UK library and information association, in partnership with Inflect public affairs consultancy, “Unlocking eBooks for Innovation and Growth” is an evidence-based campaign that seeks to address the legal and economic challenges hindering UK public, academic, and research libraries’ ability to acquire and lend eBooks sustainably. A literature review of the economic and social benefits of enabling more sustainable and inclusive eBook lending, undertaken by Inflect, and a ‘case for support’ that synthesises the review’s findings, are two deliverables from the research phase of this project.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Literature Review
The literature review recommends changing the structure of the eBook market through Government interventions to strengthen the library within the marketplace, but also, copyright reform to make eBook licensing more analogous to paper book purchasing so that libraries can fulfil their fundamental role.
The literature review observes:
- All types of libraries, whether public, NHS, academic or private, provide a positive return on investment in the economy.
- Once the social and economic value is accounted for, the returns of these libraries are even greater.
- eBook platforms are increasing costs for libraries, licences are restricting access and removing public interest rights that libraries have traditionally enjoyed.
- Potential competition law issues that stymie access to books.
Case for Support
The case for support presents a clear overview of the current eBook landscape, challenges, opportunities, and recommended reforms. The six recommendations are:
- Ensure fair pricing and competition
- Reform eLending rules
- End restrictive bundling practices
- Protect public sectors from unfair contracts
- Enable interlibrary loans for eBooks
- Protect libraries’ preservation role
AUTHOR(S)
