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Santa Barbara, CA – October 2026
The Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Santa Barbara Public Library, and Friends of the Montecito Library are joining libraries and library advocates across North America this fall to raise awareness about an urgent challenge: the high costs and restrictive licensing terms public libraries face when providing e-books and e-audiobooks.
“If you have ever wondered why there is a long wait for a popular e-book from your public library, the answer may surprise you. Libraries typically pay significantly more for e-books than individual consumers – and, in many cases, they don’t get to keep them,” said Lauren Trujillo, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation.
According to the Urban Libraries Council (ULC), electronic resource use among its member libraries has increased 58% since 2019. Yet the way libraries purchase digital books is fundamentally different from the way they purchase print books.
An individual consumer pays about $13 on average for an e-book and receives ongoing access. A public library typically pays $55 or more for a license that may last only two years and allow only one reader at a time to borrow the book. When the license expires, the library may have to pay again to continue providing the same title. This challenge is being felt here at home. At the Santa Barbara Public Library, digital materials are provided through several different licensing models, many of which expire after two years.
For popular titles, this cycle can repeat again and again.
“Our community expects the library to provide the books people want to read, in the formats they need. But the current digital marketplace makes it increasingly difficult to make every public dollar go as far as possible,” said Brandon Beaudette, Library Director of the Santa Barbara Public Library.
Libraries are paying more – and getting less
Libraries are significant customers of the publishing industry. ULC estimates that its nearly 200 member libraries alone spend at least $300 million annually on e-books and e-audiobooks.
At the same time, many libraries now spend 50% or more of their collection budgets on digital materials. Santa Barbara Public Library spends 60% of its collection budget on digital materials. Because library budgets are limited, money spent repeatedly relicensing the same titles means less money is available to purchase other materials and ensure the library has a good mix of books and resources for different interests, needs, ages, subjects, and viewpoints.
This can affect readers and authors alike. When libraries must devote more of their budgets to relicensing popular works, they have fewer resources to introduce readers to emerging and lesser-known writers. Stretching tight resources to pay for recurring leases for digital materials also means that the average wait time for popular books greatly increases.
Libraries play a vital role in the broader reading ecosystem. They help people discover authors and new genres, develop lifelong readers, host author events and connect readers with books they may later purchase.
A call for a better model
Libraries would like to work with publishers on the pricing problem for public libraries.
According to Anne Howard, Board member of the Santa Barbara Library Foundation,
“Libraries and publishers should be partners in creating readers. We believe there is an opportunity to develop a digital marketplace that supports authors, distributors, and publishers while allowing libraries to fulfill their responsibility to the public. Coalitions of libraries and stakeholders are not asking publishers to give e-books to libraries for free, nor suggesting that authors and publishers be unfairly compensated. Instead, libraries are seeking an honest dialogue with publishers and authors about fair pricing and sustainable licensing models that work for readers, libraries, authors and publishers.”
The challenge is particularly acute because five major publishers control many of the most in-demand titles: Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and HarperCollins. Smaller and independent publishers often offer libraries more flexible terms.
Potential solutions identified by ULC include licensing based on actual usage and an option for libraries to purchase perpetual-use licenses for some titles. Perpetual access would help libraries maintain digital collections over time rather than continually repurchasing access to the same materials.
“The Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Santa Barbara Public Library, and Friends of the Montecito Library, encourage community members and decisionmakers to learn more about the challenges facing public libraries and to support efforts to bring libraries and publishers together to develop sustainable solutions,” said Barbara Cronin Hershberg, President, Friends of the Santa Barbara Public Library.
About the Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation
The Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation’s mission is to support the long-term health and sustainability of the Santa Barbara Public Library through public-private partnerships.
About the Friends of the Santa Barbara Public Library
The Friends of the Library is the non-profit support group of the library dedicated to the growth and development of the Santa Barbara Public Library to ensure free access to information and resources to all members of the community. The Friends raise funds for materials, programs and services that would otherwise not be provided.
About the Friends of the Montecito Library
The Friends of the Montecito Library raises funds to support the library by improving its collection, services and setting.
