After Rhode Island Victory, Connecticut Libraries Call on More States to Address Predatory E-Book Pricing (Statement by the Connecticut Library Consortium)

Here’s the Full Text of a Statement by the Connecticut Library Consortium:

The Connecticut Library Consortium (CLC) today congratulated Rhode Island lawmakers on passing legislation to address unfair e-book and audiobook licensing practices and called on additional states to pursue similar reforms.

Rhode Island’s action comes as libraries across the country continue to struggle under a digital licensing system that forces taxpayers to pay repeatedly for access to books they never truly own. Under current publisher licensing models, libraries can pay up to ten times the consumer price for a single e-book license and may be required to repurchase that same title after just 26 checkouts or two years to retain access.  For many libraries, the result is a growing share of digital materials budgets being spent simply replacing expired licenses rather than expanding collections, reducing wait times, or purchasing books by new and emerging authors.

“Rhode Island lawmakers looked at the facts and reached the same conclusion Connecticut lawmakers reached last year: the current system isn’t working for libraries, readers, or taxpayers,” said Ellen Paul, Executive Director of the Connecticut Library Consortium. “Libraries are paying more and more each year just to maintain access to the books people already want to read. That’s not sustainable for public institutions or the communities they serve.”

Connecticut enacted its own e-book legislation in 2025 after lawmakers concluded that existing digital licensing practices placed an unreasonable burden on libraries and taxpayers. The legislation was approved overwhelmingly by the General Assembly, passing 35-1 in the Senate and 106-38 in the House.

Rhode Island’s victory is particularly notable because it came after an unusually visible campaign by publishing interests, including public advertising, opinion pieces, and warnings that publishers could stop selling digital content to libraries in the state. Despite those efforts, Rhode Island lawmakers overwhelmingly determined that reform was necessary.

“It’s exciting to see Rhode Island and other states taking action after Connecticut passed our landmark e-book bill,” said State Representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw, House Chair of Connecticut’s Planning and Development Committee. “This legislation shows how unfair e-book pricing is to our libraries and to our taxpayers and we must stand as a united front against a multi-billion dollar industry.”

Library leaders emphasized that reforming digital licensing practices is not about harming authors. In fact, libraries argue that lower licensing costs would allow them to purchase more titles from more authors. Today, libraries often must devote significant portions of their digital budgets to repeatedly relicensing a small number of high-demand titles, leaving fewer resources available to discover and promote debut, local, and midlist authors.

Connecticut’s law was intentionally designed to encourage broader national action. It cannot take effect until additional states representing a combined population of seven million people enact substantially similar legislation. Rhode Island’s passage represents meaningful progress toward that goal, but additional states are still needed.

“Connecticut acted. Rhode Island acted. Other states are actively considering similar legislation,” Paul said. “The momentum is growing because the problem is real. Libraries should be able to invest in readers and collections, not spend taxpayer dollars repeatedly renting the same books from some of the largest publishing companies in the world.”

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