A conversation was bought to our attention on Twitter a few days ago that went like this

– In June my library was told that Wiley would be removing 1,379 ebooks from our subscription packages. Because many of these books were heavily used, we looked into purchasing them with perpetual access but were told they were considered textbooks.
So basically, because these books were heavily used, Wiley decided to stop letting libraries buy them as ebooks. To top it off, we lost access the second week of classes. Faculty had planned their courses around students having library access to the texts. #TextbookEquity

This happened to us, too, except to my knowledge we weren’t told. We found out when students tried to access these texts.

– Same. And some of them are actually just out of print now. You can’t even buy them from Amazon

Yes, same deal from Wiley in Australia in lead-up to start of 2nd semester.

We are also receiving emails from UK librarians who are experiencing the same issues. Wiley are withdrawing access to key reading materials just a week or two before the beginning of the new academic year. We need to hear how this is impacting your library so we can highlight this matter to the CMA and MPs. Please email us ebooksoscampaign@gmail.com. We will keep your details anonymous if you prefer.

Thank you. This all helps build our case as to why the current ebook market is not fit for purpose.

2 thoughts on “Wiley withdrawing key ebook titles from library collections – evidence required please

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