Canadian libraries are failing to meet their subscribers’ demands for digital books and services. The reason ? The “prohibitive costs” demanded by the major American publishing groups. And in Quebec? The interdependence of the book milieu has created a distinct model, which allows libraries here to escape the problems experienced by their English-speaking neighbours. A look at Quebec libraries as a distinct society.
The Canadian Urban Libraries Council last week launched a national campaign to protest “prohibitive costs” that “prevent public libraries from providing adequate access” to e-books and audiobooks.
It is true that English-speaking North American libraries have faced, since the pandemic, an extraordinary demand for digital content and services. The American Library Association published a study on the subject at the end of 2020, The Need for Change: A Position Paper on E-Lending books.
The great demand for digital documents in libraries, we read, exposes the problem of the prices that institutions must pay to offer them to their subscribers. “Certain prices and business models hinder or even completely block access to digital content for library users. »
In the rest of Canada
“The Canadian discourse in the library, at least that of the rest of Canada, is closer to current American discourse,” explains Marie D. Martel, professor of library science at the Université de Montréal. “These libraries are outraged, and with good reason, at the way publishers treat them – we are talking here about the large publishing groups. »
“The sale of English-language digital books, and more specifically the conditions of sale of these books to libraries, has been a rather thorny subject for several years”, confirms, for his part, Jean-François Cusson, outgoing general manager of Bibliopresto, the organization that provides Quebec libraries with digital tools and services. It was Bibliopresto that developed Prêtnumérique.ca, the platform used by the majority of libraries here.
“The big American publishers — Harper Collins, Penguin Random House, Hachette, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan — commonly known as the “Big 5”, control a very large proportion of mainstream English publishing. Each of these publishers has its own license to sell digital books for libraries”, draws Mr. Cusson.
“Their conditions are quite difficult, he continues, and the prices are very expensive, often three to four times the general public price. In addition, there are time limits and other types of restrictions”, such as the impossibility of simultaneous lending, even for a dematerialized book.
The major French groups
Anglo-American publishers are not the only ones to impose this kind of business choice. “Faced with large French groups, like Hachette, we sometimes cringe in the library, adds Marie D. Martel, because this kind of merchants do not force themselves to accommodate the actresses of public reading, far from it. »
“In French books, there is more diversity” in the proposals made to libraries, however notes Mr. Cusson. “In general, I would say that the conditions offered by French publishers are much more attractive than those offered by the major American groups, with the exception of Hachette, which has the same license in all markets. »
“Each French publishing group offers its own licence,” he continues. With, for the most part, simultaneous borrowing, that is to say the ability to lend the same license to several users at the same time. Afterwards, everyone sets their prices and conditions (number of total loans, number of simultaneous loans, duration of the license, etc.). »
Hachette, which represents the Grasset, Fayard, Stock, Marabout and JC Lattès editions, sells, for example, a license for five years, with 30 tokens – the maximum possible digital loans –, without simultaneity, for two and a half times the price that the reader pays in bookshops for the same electronic book.
In comparison ? The Pottermore group, publisher of Harry Potter, offers a 5-year license that gives 25 tokens (25 potential borrowings), 5 of which can be done simultaneously. The price is 3 times that of the book sold to the general public.
La Martinière (La Martinière, Seuil, Minuit, l’Olivier), for 6 years, offers 30 tokens (30 possible loans), but 10 possible readings at the same time, for the same price as the paper book sold in bookstores.
In Quebec
“Canadian independent publishers are much more open and tolerant and offer generally fairer licenses,” Mr. Cusson points out. Also according to Mme Martel, “in Quebec, it’s different: there is a spirit of harmony that reigns, thanks to the spirit of Bill 51 that we have preserved in the digital environment, between the actors and actresses of the ‘channel ” of the book. »
According to Bibliopresto’s 2021 annual report, 53% of the sums spent in 2021 were used to acquire foreign digital books, while these represent 48% of the copies acquired. But these figures must be read with nuance, advises the director.
“It’s not just a question of price. I will pay more for a Gallimard book than a Quebec book, but I will be able to lend it to five users at a time, when I would have to buy five copies of the Quebec book for the same service, “he says. as an example. Similarly, the prices of digital books are always born from the prices of paper books, and imported books are also more expensive.
“In library acquisitions, if we compare the number of publications made in Quebec with the number of publications from elsewhere, we see that Quebec books are overrepresented in digital collections. I believe that Quebec libraries buy proportionally more Quebec digital books than Quebec paper books. »
Of 175,996 digital copies acquired in 2022, 100,527 were produced in Quebec and 75,469 outside Quebec, according to figures provided by Bibliopresto. While the total number of foreign new releases for the same year was around 32,000 titles, Quebec new releases were just over 4,500, according to Gaspard data.
“In Quebec, we have an excellent relationship between libraries and publishers,” believes Mr. Cusson. There is an interdependence between the actors of the book, and direct links, which harmonize the relations. In addition, the digital book is experiencing in Quebec a success in libraries unequaled in the rest of the Francophonie, according to the director, a success which in turn benefits the artisans of the books.
“The terms of the license governing the sale of digital books to Quebec libraries have been the subject of discussion and consensus and have now held for ten years. And Quebec digital books are sold to libraries at retail prices for the general public,” recalls the general manager of Bibliopresto. Separate pricing, for a separate company.