As World Book Night returns for its annual celebration of books and reading on 23 April, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and European counterparts EBLIDA have announced a European-wide petition calling for changes to copyright law so public libraries have the same right to lend ebooks as they do printed books.
Current European copyright law means that publishers do not need to license libraries to lend ebooks and 85% of all ebook titles are not available through UK public libraries. However ebook sales comprised almost a third of the total UK book market in 2013 and recent research published by Shelf Free shows that of the 50 most borrowed print books from libraries in February 2014, 45 have been published in ebook format but only 3 of these have been made available to libraries.
1. The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers. CILIP’s vision is a fair and economically prosperous society underpinned by literacy, access to information and the transfer of knowledge. CILIP is a registered charity, no. 313014. Visit www.cilip.org.uk for more information.