Edmonton’s City Council Votes to Help Edmonton Public Library Fight For Better Access to E-Books

From the CBC:

[Edmonton] City council passed a motion Tuesday to lobby the federal government to help break down barriers to accessing digital content for library users across the country.

Edmonton joins Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, and several other municipalities who want the federal government to investigate the problems multinational publishers are posing for libraries when it comes to accessing digital content, particularly electronic books.

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“What’s happening now is that we have major multinational publishers or major corporations are making choices that are affecting our ability to provide that equal access,” Sharon Day, the executive director of branch services and collections, told council Tuesday.

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“[The cost] impacts those members of our society who are most vulnerable to not having that information,” Day told CBC News.

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See Also: Canadian Urban Library Council Statement On Macmillan Publishers U.S. Lending Model Change For Public Libraries (July 2019)

See Also: Cost of Ebooks, Audiobooks ‘not A Sustainable Model’ For Canadian Libraries, Council Says (via Global News; December 17, 2018)
Video: Interview with Sharon Day 

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Interviews, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Profiles, Public Libraries