Public Library Boycott of Random House ebooks

The South Shore Public Library has announced a boycott of ebooks published by Random House due to their unfair pricing policies for ebooks.

The CBC reports that the small library system will also seek to expand the boycott into other library systems across Canada.

The library has posted an online petition:

SOUTH SHORE PUBLIC LIBRARIES provides readers access to a wide variety of formats, including downloadable ebooks.

Recently, RANDOM HOUSE has drastically increased the price of ebooks for sale to libraries, sharply limiting the number of ebooks SSPL can purchase for our borrowers’ enjoyment.

Therefore, SSPL will stop buying ebooks published by Random House until they lower their prices for ebooks.

We, the undersigned, ask Random House to lower their pricing for ebooks for sale libraries to a level consistent with those they sell to individuals.

Serving the communities of Lunenberg, Queens, Chester, Liverpool, Bridgewater and Mahone Bay, the South Shore Public Library is one of nine regional systems in Nova Scotia operating under the authority of the Nova Scotia Libraries Act.

There’s also been coverage in the Quill and Quire, the Herald News and the Cape Breton Post.