Legislative Action in Massachusetts

Massachusetts’ S.2710 has been passed 37-0 to move into the House of Representatives, adding to the growing number of states taking action to provide more reasonable access to digital content for libraries. It differs from the recently passed Connecticut law and the introduced New Jersey legislation, which directly set practice for how libraries can enter into contracts to get digital content. Instead, as noted in press release from the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the bill if passed would create a commission “tasked with examining the evolving landscape of digital resources in public libraries, focusing on costs, access, privacy, and policy implications.”

Sen. Paul Feeney is cited, saying “Yet when it comes to providing access to e-books and audiobooks, an increasingly demanded resource used by library patrons, libraries are forced to pay disproportionately high costs and deal with unreasonable lending restrictions to provide these services, adding an extra burden onto already strained public libraries and reducing the accessibility of these materials for the public. This current reality is unsustainable for our libraries. With the passage of this bill, we are one step closer towards solving this issue in Massachusetts in a way that is fair, enforceable, and worthy of the Commonwealth's invaluable public libraries.”

The commission would investigate the licensing terms, including cost, that tend to limit library readers access to digital, get legal expert opinion on the differences between print and digital library lending that lead to unsustainable costs for ebooks, what is happening in this area in other states, to determine why “Over the past decade, Massachusetts libraries have spent more than $50 million in local, state, and federal tax dollars to provide access to digital resources. Yet due to the high recurring cost of renting these materials, most libraries’ electronic resources collections are relatively small, with the average patron having to wait over two months for access to popular titles.”

While not as robust as some other legislation action, then, this bill is another important step in official government explorations of the library digital content market and very welcome. RF encourages the Massachusetts House of Representatives to pass the legislation for signature. The questions posed in 2021 by Sen. Wyden and Rep. Eschoo to publishers and library vendors about ebooks might be a useful start for the commission. The response to those questions has never been released but would make for most interesting reading.

As always, RF thanks those publishers that do offer fair terms to libraries. You are not the problem. Big 5, yet another state is taking action. More are on the way. Wouldn’t it be better for business, and your authors, if you negotiated with us now?