Are library e-books really hurting book sales?

A study released at the top of this month found that e-lending at public libraries could be having a negative effect on the book market. Your Kindle has some explaining to do. Commissioned by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Authors Guild, the “[E]mpirical Study of the Impact of Library E-Lending on the Book Economy” found that “increased digital access to e-books through library apps” is influencing consumer behavior.

Thanks to the boom in digital check-outs, commercial markets are seeing a slump. This “threat” specifically affects the new book marketplace—especially during those first weeks right out of the pub gate, when a book’s commercial potential is set. The study found that the relative ease of digital lending is sending readers away from the store and into the stacks.

For if someone can simply check out an e-book instead of buying the hardcover—why wouldn’t they? But wait, you begin to protest. Couldn’t we say the same about any library book, which is by definition at cross-hairs with the “commercial market?” (And anyway, isn’t that sort of the point of the library?) The “Empirical” report argues that the digital marketplace presents a unique conundrum because of its soaring popularity.

Data cited in the study shows that e-books now account for nearly half of many libraries’ collections—and all arrows point up. On the flip side, e-books aren’t necessarily easy gets for our friends in the stacks. Unlike the physical copy, a library doesn’t technically own its e-book; they pay for a license, which will expire after a certain number of checkouts.

At this point, rights revert back to the publisher. Necessitating another purchase of the same book. Because this practice has proven financially stressful for libraries, some states—see Maryland back in 2022—have attempted to make digital titles easier to access by removing controls on the distribution, purchasing, and pricing of e- and audiobook licenses.

Though such policies are great on paper, authors of the “Empirical” report conclude they’re also part of the problem. Because when licensing fees go down, so does publisher profit. Not to mention the quandary price-lopping presents from a copyright perspective.