What Are "Reasonable" Costs" Free Webinar
/Please join COSLA, Lyrasis and ReadersFirst for a conversation about library ebooks on October 13, 2026, 1:00 – 2 PM, with an optional 30minutes afterwards for group discussion of the affordability crisis.
Library conversations about what ebook costs should be have gone on since HarperCollins introduced a metered access model in 2011. The conversations gained momentum in 2018, when the rest of the Big 5 publishers moved away from perpetual access to metered models. Recently, with many libraries saying that Big 5 terms are simply unsustainable and state laws (passed or proposed) calling for "commercially reasonable" terms, a discussion of exactly what that might mean is necessary. Libraries of different sizes and collection budgets may have different responses, but agreement on some points may be possible. Should we begin with some comparison to consumer costs--terms which we often already get from Indie publishers? To some equivalent with our print costs? Some model that factors many variables? Join a panel of library selectors and others who have studied this issue in-depth for a lively discussion of the vexing question, "What is Reasonable?"
Learning Outcomes
Understand current library digital content license terms.
Understand why some libraries (and legislators) are advocating for related laws.
Understand some different models for assessing digital collection costs.
Have knowledge of some tools that will help assess a library's digital collection costs.
Intended Audience
Librarians, library selectors, library administrators, library trustees, library digital content vendors, publishers of all sizes.
Some questions to be explored:
Some in the field have suggested that libraries should pay consumer retail price for digital books-call it $9.99 to $14.99. Why, or why not, is this a fair price for libraries to pay?
It has been claimed by at least one library digital vendor that digital and print are so different that print cannot b e used as a yardstick to measure the fairness of digital licenses. Do you agree or disagree, and why?
Publisher lobbyists have argued that any reduction in current Big 5 terms would significantly harm authors. How do you respond?
Publisher lobbyists or even publisher reps have also said library efforts to negotiate terms are in violation of copyright and even "price fixing." How do you respond?
A recent press release from the Authors Guild called out OverDrive as a large part of the problem for libraries, saying that "it takes 50% off the top of any library licenses" and wondering if "the essential infrastructure of digital public lending should be a private-equity-owned, for-profit monopoly at all." Our print vendors often give us discounts of over 40% on print cover prices. Has any digital vendor ever done so? Does the Authors Guild make a valid point?
If changes are not forthcoming in Big 5 terms, how will your library respond?
Continuing Education Credits available upon request!
Presenters
Amy Mikel, NY State Ebook Working Group
Carmi Parker, Librarian, Whatcom County Library System
Lisa Radha Vohra, Director, Collections & Membership Services, Toronto Public Library
Michael P. Santangelo, Director for Collection Management at BookOps
Lyrasis Learning events are delivered using the Zoom videoconferencing platform and will have AI-generated captions available. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation is available upon request. If you need ASL or other accommodations to support your participation in the course, please contact us at es@lyrasis.org at least 2 weeks in advance of the event or as soon as possible.