The Illinois House of Representatives recently introduced House Bill 5236. Known as the Digital Library Protection Act, House Bill 5236 aims to prevent publishers from imposing unfair restrictions on libraries when licensing eBooks, digital audiobooks, and other electronic literary materials. It prohibits contracts that would prevent libraries from performing their usual functions, like licensing materials from other publishers, using necessary technology for lending, making preservation copies, or participating in interlibrary loan systems.
It prevents publishers from restricting a library's ability to determine loan periods, from charging libraries more than the public for the same item, or from limiting the number of licenses a library can acquire after an item is available to the public. The bill ensures libraries can continue to virtually share content for educational purposes and share licensing terms with other libraries in the state.
The Digital Library Protection Act has been assigned to the Illinois House of Representatives Consumer Protection Committee for consideration, and it’s time for libraries to take action.
We invite you to attend our special ILA Noon Network webinar, “Ready, Set, Advocate: eBook Legislation,” on Wednesday, March 11, from noon to 1:00 p.m., where you will learn about the challenges libraries face with eBooks, the importance of this legislation, and how you can advocate for the bill.
This free webinar is open to all Illinois libraries (ILA members and non-members). The recording will be available to everyone 1-2 days after the event. AI note takers are not permitted during ILA webinars. If you use one, you will be removed from the webinar.
For more information about the webinar including speaker bios, visit the ILA event page.
