Cost of ebooks, audiobooks ‘not a sustainable model,’ library council says
EDMONTON — If your holiday plans include downloading an audiobook of Margaret Atwood’s “A Handmaid’s Tale” from a public library collection, or unwinding with an electronic copy of Justin Trudeau’s “Common Ground,” you could be out of luck.
Libraries across Canada are running into barriers in accessing both ebooks and digital audiobooks for their patrons.
Sharon Day, who chairs an e-content working group for the Canadian Urban Library Council, says major ebook publishers are charging unfair prices and Audible — the company that owns the rights to many digital audiobooks — is declining to share them at all.
“Some of the material just isn’t available at all,” Day said, noting that’s especially true for audiobooks.