By Eduardo Santas
A physical or digital book? Talk often happens: there are those who do not give up the smell of paper and liking the light of the screen. But until recently, many Portuguese have not even established an opinion, because we are the only country we have without an open book loan platform in their libraries in the European Union. This is only in 2025Biblibled
And the response of the people is not clear. In just two months, more than 17,000 people have already registered (registration on the platform represents the front face -phase registration in their library), and more than 21,000 digital books borrowed. The minister himself agreed not to expect such an expression synthesis. Search, after all, always existed. There is only no access. The remaining question is: Why did we have to wait a long time?
However, everything is not good news. Although the digital book offer is different and despite the quality content, the catalog is still away from the competition with paper. The reason is simple: unlike the physical book, the library can be purchased freely, and eBooks are only available through special licenses. That is, the presence of a digital book in the library depends on the goodwill of the publisher. And there is a shortage of this goodwill.
The largest Portuguese publishers and the Portuguese Association of Editors and Devendente (APEL) have appealed for the expulsion of a public platform. Most of the major editorial groups in the country have refused to license their digital books through libraries. Justifications are vague and technically brittle: the “safety” of the platform is started without pointing out specific failures; Represents the rules“Piracy” and “Unjust Competition”
Library Loan can be compared to compensation for use and illegal file sharing. It is mentioned in the absence of geolocation in an invalid model. However, excuses to hide the true core of the question: libraries – in their words – they think “the risk of destroying the book industry.” This logic is very wrong and dangerous. One A recent report from the United Kingdom He concluded that facilitating the library loan would help promote reading and clearly needed a healthy book seller. On the other hand, a A study conducted in Australia
Digital book loans through libraries prove that they can fully coexist with sales.
What is more important than financial arguments is that the library that can only provide secondary or less interesting titles does not comply with its social interests. Libraries cannot be reduced to publisher’s catalog residue, which is limited to secondary publishers or no commercial interest books. Allow publishers to determine what may not appear in the digital catalogs of the libraries, and to quit the right to favor private interests. The goal of libraries is to guarantee free, universal and information access to knowledge, culture and reading. This indicates that the most relevant books can be made available, including the best seller and popular, their budgets and their expert technical standards. The good news is that this is not a lost war. In 2016, the Justice Court of the European Union, in judgmentWob
He admitted that libraries can provide digital versions of their physical models on controlled loan. That is, in the wake of the refusal of publishers in licensing ebooks, there is no other alternative that promotes libraries to provide books of these publishers in this manner.
If the library concept is found today, some say that it will never pass: it looks like an institutional piracy. There is no better example than a book seller’s attitude in the background of making eBooks in libraries. But this opinion ignores everything that libraries represent: the freedom of access to knowledge, social integration, civil development and the formation of readers.
While the publishers are blocking digital access, the book market is growing in thickness. In 2024, only sales increased by 9%, especially for young people, and 30% in the last five years. There is no crisis. Yes, there is a more strong editorial sector, most thanks to the libraries that have set up their readers, and contribute to the expansion of this sector by buying thousands of books per year.
If we allow the social performance of the libraries through the immediate trade purposes of some publishers, we see the end of the public library idea. In the physical world, no publisher can prevent the book from entering the library. In the digital world, the same principle should be guaranteed. It is not acceptable to accept only when publishers agreed and accepting each other.
This problem is not technical or commercial. It is political and cultural. When access to books is prevented by commercial reasons, it is not just protecting profits, but the right to read is limited. And that’s, yes, it’s a real talk.
This is the case to ask: Who is afraid of libraries? National Coordinator
Knowledge Rights 21.
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