The book sector welcomes more dialoguing on remote access to e-books through libraries (e-lending)
Meeting in London on Friday 16th May at the occasion of the European Writers Council (EWC) and Federation of European Publishers (FEP) third seminar on the above mentioned topic, the representatives of authors, publishers, booksellers and libraries have welcomed more dialoguing in order to recommend sustainable solutions. The previous seminars were held in Helsinki and Paris in 2013.
Today, they heard from the current practices in the UK, Sweden, Belgium (Flanders), Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Finland and Norway. All these offers to libraries are adapted and adapting to the national (or regional) context and are regularly reviewed to provide a balanced environment.
The e-book market is developing at different speeds in Europe and many pilots are taking place in various countries to see how e-lending works and whether and how it affects sales through bookshops proposing an offer online.
In the best case scenario, libraries’ acquisitions are accounting for 4 % of the turnover of the sector while individual sales through retailers represent 96 %. The book sector is an eco-system. An eco-system is a chain of interdependences where all members are mutually dependent on the others. In order to allow European citizens to keep on enjoying access to a great variety of books of all styles, whether lending or buying print or e-books, it is crucial that all the members of that eco-system: authors, publishers, booksellers and librarians are able to fulfil their roles, for the benefit of all citizens.
Today, EWC, FEP and the European Booksellers Federation (EBF) agreed to pursue the dialogue with libraries with the objective to recommend sustainable solutions.
The fourth meeting of this series of seminars will take place in Brussels in December 2014.