Sadly, unlike a regular person, a library cannot pay Amazon or Barnes & Noble for an eBook and then lend it out to people.We can buy a printed book from these companies, place it on the shelf, and lend it out--but digital content is being treated differently by the publishers and the companies who manage digital content licensing.
We very much want to offer these eBooks to patrons; however, the publishers' policies are preventing us from doing so. The Porter County Public Library System supports a change to these restrictive policies.
The following publishers (including their imprints) are currently not licensing their ebooks to libraries. You can write to or call each publisher to register your opinion. For your convenience, the addresses are provided below.
Macmillan Publishing
75 Varick Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 226-7521
customerservice@mpsvirginia.com
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
(212) 698-7000
http://simonandschuster.com/about/contact_us
Hachette Book Group
466 Lexington Avenue #131
New York, NY 10017
(212) 364-1100
customer.service@hbgusa.com
Penguin Group
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 366-2000
ecommerce@us.penguingroup.com
Brilliance Audio
1704 Eaton Drive
Grand Haven, MI 49417
(616) 846-5256
libsales@brillianceaudio.com
Here is a sample letter you may copy and share.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to express my disappointment with your unwillingness to sell or license eBooks to public libraries. By refusing to work with public libraries, you are denying library users equal access to books. I do not believe a publishing company should restrict access to information through the public library based solely on a book’s format.
Sincerely,
____________
____________
Additional Information
- A Guide to Publishers in the Library eBook Market
- ebooksforlibraries.com
- E-Book Royalty Math: The House Always Wins
- Rich Books, Poor Society: Random House's Price Spike
- Librarians Feel Sticker Shock as Price for Random House eBooks Rises as Much as 300%