On Aug. 13, 2019, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s Board of Trustees adopted a resolution calling upon Blackstone Audio, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster to reconsider recently announced restrictive and onerous policies, and to engage in a meaningful and direct dialogue and exchange of information with libraries, library consortia, library associations, authors, executives from Overdrive, and other relevant stakeholders for the purpose of devising new policies that ensure equitable access to Ohio’s 8.4 million library users.
Attached is the resolution. The Library’s Eva Jane Romaine Coombe Director Paula Brehm-Heeger is available for phone interviews today. Please call her Administrative Assistant Rachel Aghotte at 513-369-6972 to arrange to speak with her.
WHEREAS, Ohio’s public libraries currently serve more than 8.4 million individuals; and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has over 500,000 cardholders, and
WHEREAS, Ohio’s public libraries have the highest use per capita in the nation; and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County is the third busiest public library system in the nation, with over 2.5 million checkouts in 2018 for eBooks and eAudiobooks, which is a 110% increase from 2014 checkouts, and
WHEREAS, 514,800 (19.8%) young Ohioans live below the poverty line in families where eBooks are an unaffordable luxury, and rely on libraries to provide them with e-content to support acquisition of literacy skills, complete school assignments, and pursue interests, and
WHEREAS, the “Community Reading Event Impact Report,” released by the Panorama Project has shown that access to eBooks through libraries led to increased eBook sales, and
WHEREAS, the US publishing industry earned $25.83 billion in revenue in 2018, with downloaded audio seeing 28.7% growth over 2017, and
WHEREAS, the major publishers have recently announced new policies for eBooks and eAudiobooks that severely limits public libraries’ ability to purchase, or delays the purchase, of digital copies of materials and information, and
WHEREAS, these restrictive policies directly impact the ability of Ohio’s public libraries to serve the 11.6 million people of Ohio and adequately provide access to materials and information, and
WHEREAS, the new eBook and eAudiobook policies represent a significant financial burden impacting taxpayer supported public libraries’ overall operations and services, with the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County spending over $2.7 million in 2018 on eBooks and eAudiobooks, a 170% spending increase compared to 2014, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED on this day of August 13, 2019, that we, the Board of Trustees of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County call upon Blackstone Audio, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster to 1) reconsider these recently announced restrictive and onerous policies; and 2) engage in a meaningful and direct dialogue and exchange of information with libraries, library consortia, library associations, authors, executives from Overdrive, and other relevant stakeholders for the purpose of devising new policies that ensure equitable access to Ohio’s 8.4 million library users.
