On May 18, Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) signed an agreement with Amazon Publishing that will make all of the latter’s 10,000 ebooks and audiobooks available to libraries via the DPLA Exchange content marketplace. Like all content licensed through the DPLA Exchange, patrons will be able to access Amazon Publishing titles through the library-developed SimplyE e-reader app. This is the first time that ebooks and audiobooks from Amazon Publishing have been made available to libraries.

Beginning this summer, Amazon Publishing titles will be available through four licensing models, according to a DPLA announcement:

• Unlimited, one user at a time access, two-year license
• Bundles of 40 lends, available with a maximum of 10 simultaneously, with no time limit on use
• Bundles of five lends, available simultaneously, with no time limit on use
• 26 lends, one user at a time access, for the lesser of two years or 26 lends

Michele Kimpton, director of business development and senior strategist for DPLA, said that talks with Amazon began in January 2020. “They were, at the time, wanting to explore how they could provide their titles to libraries, but also really explore different [licensing] models that would work for their authors,” she said. “We brought in data that we had gathered from the library field…and it was a long set of conversations from there, regarding the library market and models we’ve tested and tried.”

DPLA offers content from more than 1,000 publishers on the DPLA Exchange, and Kimpton noted that the organization “has been working diligently with publishers to get beyond one or two [licensing] models, to get more ebooks in the hands of patrons, and stretch dollars for libraries…. Different licensing models really allow them to get a lot more bang for their buck.” Amazon, she added, was very interested in testing a variety of models as the company begins working with the library field.

“Amazon Publishing is pleased to have joined DPLA in their work to develop flexible, accessible, and equitable digital library lending licensing models that support the interests of libraries, authors, and patrons,” Mikyla Bruder, head of Amazon Publishing Worldwide, said in a prepared statement.

Michael Blackwell, director of the St. Mary’s County Public Library, MD, and an organizer of the ReadersFirst library ebook advocacy coalition, applauded the announcement, pending additional news about pricing.

“The move to offer so many licenses is wonderful in terms of progress,” for the library field, Blackwell said. “A two-year unlimited circ license can be a big advantage when you’re dealing with something that’s a certain bestseller…. That 40 lend with 10 simultaneous [makes] a mid-level author or new author…less of a gamble. The really short license of five lends? ‘Hey I don’t know this author, I don’t know if this will circ, but at five circs it will cost me nothing to see.’ Just that move to offer multiple, flexible licenses is, I think, a great example for other publishers to be looking at. It’s not perfect. I’d [also] love to have a permanent access license, even at a much higher price.”

He continued: “It’s also wonderful that Amazon…has finally come to the table and has said that they’re willing to work with [libraries], and they’re doing so with models that give libraries a real ability to allocate funds efficiently.”

The current agreement only involves Amazon Publishing and its 15 imprints. Notably, other Amazon-owned content—such as Audible audiobooks and Kindle Direct ebooks—will not be available for libraries to license through this deal. 

“Kudos to [DPLA] because this is definitely an important milestone; but it is a long road in terms of Amazon’s full engagement with libraries,” said Alan Inouye, director of public policy and government relations for the American Library Association.

Like Blackwell, Inouye said he was waiting to see how Amazon Publishing titles would be priced, and he added that libraries should continue ongoing advocacy and legislative efforts around ebooks, regardless, since current agreements do not ensure that publishers will continue to license digital content to libraries in the future.

“Large companies—and Amazon is the largest—have all of the cards,” Inouye said. For example, “Macmillan sold ebooks to libraries, and then it didn’t a decade or so ago, then it came back into the market, then they imposed an embargo. All of the decision making…is in the hands of these businesses…. In that sense, we still have a fundamental problem.”

Legislation has been proposed in New York, Rhode Island, and Maryland that would require publishers to offer ebook licenses to libraries “on reasonable terms.” The Maryland Senate and House of Delegates recently passed the state’s bill unanimously, although Governor Larry Hogan has not yet signed it into law or vetoed it.

Kimpton said that DPLA’s talks with Amazon were already underway before these bills began circulating, but she noted that the legislation “certainly didn’t hurt” the library field’s negotiating position. And she believes the company will continue to work with libraries going forward.

“I can’t speak for them, but I do think that they are open for expansion and future discussions,” Kimpton said. “I think this is the first step.”