YORK, Pa. (WHTM) — Pennsylvania library systems are struggling with the same electronic book pricing trends libraries nationally are complaining about, the head of York County Libraries said Friday.

Publishers “have implemented restrictive and significantly more expensive licensing models for e-books and audiobooks when sold to libraries, compared to to individual consumers,” said Robert Lambert, who is president of the York system.

Lambert cited the same typical $55 price for an e-book lease, which he said expires after the sooner of a year or two or 26 check-outs — compared with $18 for a hardcover book the library can keep forever — reported earlier this week by the Associated Press.

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“They create barriers to access,” Lambert said of book publishers. “And quite frankly, they violate our mission of providing the community with equitable access to information.”

Lambert said the system spends 44% of its budget on e-books, even though e-books make up a far smaller percentage of the system’s overall collection

Lambert said the pricing prevents taxpayer-funded libraries from acquiring more content, leading to long wait times for patrons, and he said he hopes Pennsylvania lawmakers join their peers in other states in pursuing legislation that could give libraries the ability to negotiate lower prices.

Publishers have said libraries are trying to solve their own funding problems on the backs of content creators.

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“I come to it as both an author and a reader,” said Sierra Godfrey, the author of two romantic comedies, “A Very Typical Family” and “Second Chance Hotel.”

“A Very Typical Family” was a Big Library Read pick in 2023, Godfrey said, “which meant that it had no holds, no limits for readers to download, for a two-week period. And it was really successful” in terms of generating interest in the book, she said, even though she didn’t get any revenue from those downloads.

Privately, some authors have said they get such a small percentage of the revenue their books earn — compared to publishers — that they’re ambivalent about what libraries pay for them.

Still, cheaper prices for e-books could mean a smaller revenue pie for publishers and authors to divide, and Authors Guild is aligned with publishers on the issue — the guild responded to a request for comment abc27 News sent to the Association of American Publishers, which the association forwarded to the guild.

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“Public libraries do not have enough funding, but forcing publishers and authors to sell e-books to libraries at severely-discounted rates – especially in cases when the library e-books replace consumer sales – is not the solution,” the guild told abc27 News in a statement attributed to Mary Rasenberger, who is also a member of a group called Protect the Creative Economy. “The bills will simply take more money out of authors’ and publishers’ pockets at a time when authors are earning a median of about $20,000 from all writing-related work and a median of just $10,000 a year for their books.”

The statement said the guild believes the way to fix library funding issues is by providing more public funding to libraries rather than through legislation enabling libraries to pay less for e-books.

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