Wondering why you can’t borrow more eBooks and Audiobooks from your public library?
So are we.
And we need your help to fix it.
The issue with Digital Audiobook access.
Demand for Audiobooks is skyrocketing, but major multinational publishers aren’t making a number of best-selling titles available to Canadian public libraries – including some prominent Canadian and Indigenous works.
We want to share as many stories and ideas as possible in the formats you want. But in order for this to happen, the multinational publishers need to work directly with our libraries to make all titles available.
Libraries can’t afford to keep paying these prices.
Another issue libraries face is excessively high prices and restrictive purchasing models for Audiobooks and eBooks. Libraries lend digital copies just like physical books — on a one-to-one basis. But the prices we pay for digital copies are exponentially higher.
Rebecca Yarros' Onyx Storm
Print - $43.99
Library discounted price - $24.79
Audiobook on CD - 101.37.
Audiobook - $140.19
eBook - $85 (24 months)
James Patterson's Paranoia
Print - $39
Library discounted price – $23.40
Audiobook on CD - unavailable
Audiobook - $83.60 (24 months)
eBook - $99 (24 months)
Everyone will benefit from better access and pricing for libraries.
Libraries are crucial to creating a vibrant publishing industry in Canada. We’re constantly introducing Canadians to new titles and authors, directly influencing potential customers and fuelling sales outside the library.
Just as importantly, our libraries have significant purchasing power — but that only matters if we can buy the content our users want.