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Why the Public Library Beats Amazon—for Now


Amazon, Scribd and Oyster now sell all-you-can-eat ebook subscriptions. But Personal Tech columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler found a free alternative with a much better digital selection: Your local public library.


Don't bother. Go sign up for a public library card instead.

Really, the public library? Amazon.com recently launched Kindle Unlimited, a $10-per-month service offering loans of 600,000 e-books. Startups called Oyster and Scribd offer something similar. It isn't very often that a musty old institution can hold its own against tech disrupters.

But it turns out librarians haven't just been sitting around shushing people while the Internet drove them into irrelevance. More than 90% of American public libraries have amassed e-book collections you can read on your iPad, and often even on a Kindle. You don't have to walk into a branch or risk an overdue fine. And they're totally free.

Publishers have come to see libraries not only as a source of income, but also as a marketing vehicle. Emily Prapuolenis/The Wall Street Journal

Though you still have to deal with due dates, hold lists and occasionally clumsy software, libraries, at least for now, have one killer feature that the others don't: e-books you actually want to read.




Stephen King ENLARGE
Stephen King AFP/Getty Images

Of Stephen King's 2012 list of his all-time 10 favorite books, Amazon and the other subscription services have four, including classics such as George Orwell's "1984" and Charles Dickens's "Bleak House." But the San Francisco library has all of those, as well as Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" and William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" for a total of eight. (My South Carolina library also only has four.)

You will certainly find things to read on all of these paid services. For $9 per month, Scribd offers a slightly superior browsing experience and collection, especially if you're the kind of reader who goes deep into a genre. Of one critic's list of the "10 best vampire novels no one has read," Scribd has four, while Oyster has three and Amazon has none. My South Carolina library has two, but the San Francisco library just has one.

But who needs to pay for a "Netflix for books" subscription? I am a little awed by binge book readers. Still, not everyone is so voracious that they could guarantee reading $120 worth of e-books in a year.

How They Stack Up

E-book subscription services don't always have the big-name e-books available at some public libraries. Below, a comparison in the availability of books on three services—Oyster, Kindle Unlimited and Scribd—with the public libraries in San Francisco and Richland County, S.C. We compared Amazon's top 20 best-sellers on Kindle from 2013, as well as a more esoteric list of author Stephen King's 10 favorites.

Another argument against shelling out for Kindle Unlimited comes from Amazon itself: If you own a Kindle device and subscribe to Amazon Prime, you already get one e-book loan a month as part of the service.

The subscription companies say their services are designed to let you try more books without the barrier of committing to buy. But none of these services yet feel as complete as Spotify, the $10-per-month all-you-can-eat music streaming service I used to explore the latest Miley Cyrus album without the regret of buying it.

How did library e-book collections get such a leg up? Amazon is locked in a hate-hate relationship with many publishers, so none of the five largest will sell their whole collection to Amazon for its subscription service. (Amazon bought a few big titles like the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series, has 500 books already in the public domain and pads out the rest with back-catalog and self-published books to reach the 600,000 tally it touts.) And so far only two of the big publishers will sell even part of their collections to startups Oyster and Scribd.

Over at the library, the situation is different. All of the big five publishers sell their e-book collections for loans, usually on the same day they're available for consumers to purchase. They haven't always been so friendly with libraries, and still charge them a lot for e-books. Some library e-books are only allowed a set number of loans before "expiring."


Children at the Richland Library in Columbia, S.C., use the library's eReady Bar, where librarians help them access and use digital collections. ENLARGE
Children at the Richland Library in Columbia, S.C., use the library's eReady Bar, where librarians help them access and use digital collections. Joey LeRoy/Richland Library

I have a soft spot for public libraries. I grew up reading at the one where my mom, now retired, worked. Like many, I hadn't used my library card much since I started reading books on screens. But in the past few weeks, discovering my library's e-book collection helped me reconnect with the power of the library card I felt when I was young.

It's easier than you might think. At the typical public library, you need only log in with your card number and a PIN to its e-book collection, then search through the online catalog.

During online checkout, many will give you the choice to zap your borrowed book directly to a Kindle reader, a tablet or phone app, or a computer screen. When it's time to "return" the e-book, it just disappears.

A reading tablet at a library in San Francisco. ENLARGE
A reading tablet at a library in San Francisco. Emily Prapuolenis/The Wall Street Journal

In exchange for this free access, you have to accept a bit more hassle. Your loans may expire after 21 days or less, but you can recheck them out. Some libraries have multiple e-book collections that you have to search and learn to use. Most aren't as pretty as Scribd or Oyster, which let you scroll through large images of book covers to find something that suits your fancy.

The most legitimate argument against libraries is the wait list: About half the e-books I surveyed were checked out. This required placing a "hold" that could last a few weeks, or sometimes even months. The smaller your library, the less likely it could afford extra digital copies. (San Francisco's library has some tech books and travel guides where publishers allow unlimited simultaneous checkouts.)

What's available will depend on your community tax dollars—many libraries took a hit in the last recession. Some communities have banded together to create larger e-libraries; for example, all Colorado residents can use the Denver Public Library.

Libraries' current collection advantage, borne of those publisher contracts, isn't likely to last forever. Publishers may resolve their squabbles with Amazon or come to see paid subscriptions as a lucrative new market. What would happen to libraries if they truly had to go head-to-head with Amazon? Ultimately, the winner will be the service that offers the most convenient access to the best array of e-books.

But libraries serve nobler purposes than just amassing vampire romances. They provide equal access to knowledge, from employment services to computer training. And in an age where getting things "free" usually means surrendering some privacy, libraries have long been careful about protecting patron records.

The rise of paid subscription services is proof that there's demand for what libraries can offer in our Internet era.

Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com or on Twitter at @geoffreyfowler.

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Ralph Shrom
Ralph Shrom subscriber

I chair the library commission in Burlington County, NJ.  We are working to improve our digital technology, and have seen a significant increase/use of E-books.  This is the future.

Jamilla Graves
Jamilla Graves user

Geoffrey'sreccommendation that people check out e-books from their public libraries is excellent. I've been doing it for years. The first couple of years were exasperating because Overdrive's software was behind commercial sellers regarding both delivery and its e-book reading app.  Overdrive has largely caught up, though I still prefer the Nook app to it. 

Also, let me take this opportunity to suggest people  get 3M's ebook app, which some libraries use. Using the two major platforms, you will find more of the books you're looking for. 

The biggest practical change over the years is most e-book readers and tablets no longer need to be connected to a computer to obtain and manage content. You can do it using Wi-Fi and LTE. This means having access on the fly instead of needing to set aside time to sit down at your computer. 

Justin Murray
Justin Murray subscriber

Why Amazon beats the library every time - I'm not being taxed to use Amazon.

DAVID BOYDEN subscriber

A major advantage of your local library is PRIVACY.

I am a local library trustee, we do not save a customers "reading history" which would include all electronic or print titles in our collection.

Try that on Amazon Prime.

Daniel Palmer
Daniel Palmer subscriber

I've been doing this for several years now. My library is part of the MediaMall system. Initially it didn't support Kindle, which was OK since I had a Kobo Literati that someone had given me, but now it does, which good since I have a kindle now (a gift from the same person). The available titles are still limited, but between what is available and the physical books available from the library and the dozens of others with which it is affiliated, I can indulge my 100+ book a year habit (public transportation user) while spending almost nothing on books.

If Amazon wants me to spend $120 a year they had better get every e-book that offer into the system, otherwise there really isn't any point. My Kindle (and smart phone, which I also use sometimes) are more convenient than a physical book, but not enough more to make me pay for books.

Brian Knoll
Brian Knoll subscriber

The eBook system at my local library is unbelievably clunky, and it's going to take some time to figure it out. I may have to take the class the library offers on how use its eBooks. Sounds like folks in other places have much better systems to work with.

Miriam Cherry
Miriam Cherry subscriberprofilePrivate

Thanks for the article on this topic!  My library's system for getting access is described as clunky, at best.  And so when I first heard about it, I absolutely loved the idea behind "Kindle Unlimited" - the idea of free access to books on my reading device on demand would be a dream come true!  Unfortunately, as noted in the article, most of the books available through Kindle Unlimited are... er, limited - random weird stuff, self-published, public domain stuff that should be free anyway, a few well-known books that I've already read, etc.  So unlike Netflix (which offers a good selection for a modest monthly fee), Kindle Unlimited doesn't seem "worth it" to me.  I hope that both the library system and Kindle Unlimited continue to improve.

Erika Lockhart
Erika Lockhart subscriber

The author ignores some other great functions of libraries - real books that have not been digitized.  Anyone who limits reading to digitized material is likely to miss a lot. 

Donna Shaw
Donna Shaw user

I checked and found all of those books that the author claims are not available on Kindle are there. They might not be free, but they are definitely available.

David Henry
David Henry user

Where I grew up, I did not have access to a library or any way to get there by bus like people have in cities.  It's frustrating to see so many people who have access to such amenities not using them.  They take for granted all their privileges, and often fritter them away, and often grow up to be supported by those who did take the time and effort to learn.

Then there's the others, people who do utilize of all their privileges and don't acknowledge that they had advantages that others didn't.

Samuel Hobbs
Samuel Hobbs user

Libraries are awesome. I'm going to go to a library now.

Michael Chan
Michael Chan subscriber

The local libraries are a great way to get many books, ebooks and audio books but just don't expect them NOW.

It's the best way of getting "best sellers" or whatever you may want provided that the library system has it in its inventories.

TOO many people (i.e. youngsters and hipsters) think technology is for (almost) everything. Those people, including the author, needs to be taken out and beaten! The Entitlement syndrome needs to be stopped!

There's nothing wrong with getting books in paper format or audiobook format. But there is something wrong when people start to only want them in digital format AS IF that's the ONLY best method to get books! What arrogance!


Overall this is a great article and I applaud any and all efforts that strive to keep libraries relevant in our digital age. I believe there are some areas in which the article could use some further exploration (link to full article): http://goo.gl/b8ppbq

Brian Seel
Brian Seel subscriber

I have a hypothesis that most e-readers have been sold to Baby Boomers who want to appear to be "down with new technology" and as such are going to be a blip rather than a new trend.  

There were no pain points with traditional books, as with many things Amazon invents, it was to make news rather than sales.  

James Ewins
James Ewins user

This young dog (80+) hasn't learned the new tricks at the SPL...finding it difficult to download, cancel and worst of all reading a 600 page book for pleasure. So Amazon is a friend...I buy used paperbacks I can read again and again and...

John Shay
John Shay subscriber

This article reminded me of Matt Damon dressing down Ponytail Guy in the memorable Goodwill Hunting Harvard bar scene :  "...You dropped $150,000 on a f&$#ing education that you could have gotten for a $1.50 in late charges at the public library!".   Rest in peace Robin Williams.

Mark Cunningham
Mark Cunningham subscriber

Shhhh!  You're letting people in on the secret and now the hold times will explode...

Jack Lopez
Jack Lopez subscriber

The public libraries here in DC are fantastic and provide excellent services such as free Internet and PC access, job and English language training.  E-book borrowing would be a bonus in my opinion but not something that should define excellence in measuring public library performance - unless the e-books are mostly out of print and therefore not easily accessible.  I subscribe to Amazon Kindle Unlimited and find the service to be excellent but it doesn't compete with my appreciation for the local library system.  One is a private reading experience while the other is public - it's possible to enjoy and support both! 

judy smith
judy smith subscriber

Love my library which provides excellent customer service and expert encouragement and guidance for anything related to information.  One irritant, however, is their decision to place reserved books in folders labeled clearly with the patron's name, on shelves visible to and accessible by any patron -- this came after the county library system's board made a very loud fuss about protecting privacy after 9/11, when the government wanted to look at library borrowing records.  The feds can't see what I'm reading, but the nosy neighbors and in-laws can.  

G. David Frye
G. David Frye user

At our library, which serves a small city of around 80,000, we have access to a lot of e-books but the problem is one of both currency and quantity.  Things that are relatively new or hot are difficult to borrow.  An example: There are 19 electronic copies of Divergent (Veronica Roth), and a waiting list of 593 people to read them  Recent best sellers - things that aren't in paperback yet - are typically not available at all.  This might be better in a big-city library system, and hopefully it'll get better overall, but there's still value in reserving the actual book - the wait is typically shorter.

Jean Komatsu
Jean Komatsu subscriber

Public Libraries are doing their underfunded best, but honestly, people who can afford the WSJournal subscription are probably able to afford to buy their ebooks. And if you sign up for services like BookBub, an astonishing number of ebooks are available free or for minimal pricing. With limits on how many ebooks one can check out with a max of 21 days, many titles unavailable because someone else has checked them out (public libraries have to pay for ebooks, and usually only buy a few copies), I prefer to buy/download from booksellers. I leave public libraries to those who truly need them - as I did when I was younger and my father had only a minimal SocSec disability check for us to live on.

Brandon Fedor
Brandon Fedor subscriberprofilePrivate

BS.  My time in not having to go to the library is worth the subscription cost.

Stephen Kirk
Stephen Kirk subscriberprofilePrivate


Too funny and too untrue

I got tired of dealing with the stumbling , faltering software at our local library's E-book site that did not recognize pins, was slow, had limited choices, and was torture to search. 

Maybe what the author says is true somewhere, but I doubt it.

Eric Eldred
Eric Eldred subscriber

If you visit your local public library you might find a paper format, even large print or audio, if it is not in digital form, or request it through interlibrary loan.  However, no local library has as much as does the Internet Archive online.   For example, the 1852 edition of "Bleak House" digitized from the copy at Harvard is available, FREE, and can be read online or downloaded in PDF, epub, Kindle, DjVu, Daisy, HTML online, so you can read on any device, even by the blind, not just Kindle or iPad.  https://archive.org/details/bleakhouse01dick    Good idea?  Then why not help at Distributed Proofreaders  http://www.pgdp.net

Ram Chandrasekaran
Ram Chandrasekaran subscriber

Thats a Neat article about Public libraries... Personal experience of being able to access Value Line investment survey for free (online as of last year) was amazing - this is Santa Clara county library. The subscription (yearly) for value line costs $1000+ while the libraries have hard copy for free and made them accessible online since 2013. What a noble deed it is - Public libraries (in)deed. Courtesy on information about 'Free' access to value line investment magazine hardcopy @ public libraries: Jason Zweig; Online access information/update courtesy: One of the librarian @ the Santa Clara County library, Milpitas

James J Wilson
James J Wilson subscriber

I must agree that the public library is wonderful source for reading material to this day. My local system has a system wide reservation capability for materials and, though you may have to wait a few weeks for best sellers, your book (or other media) will be delivered to your local library branch for pickup. It has proven to be an efficient and dependable system.

Amy Rinkle
Amy Rinkle subscriber

Kindle Unlimited is not so unlimited-- you can only have 10 books at a time on your device, before having to turn another one in. My vote goes to Oyster-- no waiting, no time limits, no book limits, massive selection, delightful reading experience. If you love cookbooks like I do, and refer back to books frequently, the library program just doesn't cut it.

William Spaniel
William Spaniel subscriber

Why buy a copy of "Bleak House" or check the ebook version from your library? Project Gutenberg has thousands of classic books (e.g., all of Dickens and Austin) available in various formats, including Kindle's mobi. They're free to download and keep.

Sherry Austin
Sherry Austin subscriber

sadly, the library only lets you check the ebook out for 2 weeks.  that is often not enough time.

Hari Narayanan
Hari Narayanan subscriber

I have tried using our library and now have a free one month trial subscription to Kindle Unlimited. One glaring difference is, Kindle does not have a waiting list. If a book is part of the KU bundle you can download it. Libraries have specific number of e-book copies and there is quite a waiting list. Contrary to the author's claim, the ebook availability through library is not a secret but is widely known in the Central Jersey town where I live.

Doug Ly
Doug Ly subscriber

My 10 year-old cousin asks me "Is there a way to share my books with others and also borrow from them so that we don't need to buy duplicate ones?" I answered "Have you ever heard of a library before?"

XAVIER L SIMON subscriber

Thanks. I'll sue check it out. My property tax bill always shows a not too insignificant amount for my community center, which includes the community library. Indeed, I just finished paying a surcharge for its upgrading.

Michael Brogan
Michael Brogan subscriber

@Ralph Shrom I'm from Morris County, NJ, but thank you for your work with the library. Too many people take this kind of access for granted. 

Daniel Palmer
Daniel Palmer subscriber

@Justin Murray: Interesting 'logic'. Personally, I prefer to think since my taxes pay for the library whether I use it or not I should take advantage rather to pay Amazon for something I already pay for. And the share of my taxes that goes to the Library is probably less than the $120 I would pay for Amazon's service. But regardless, I wonder why you would object to a taxpayer funded public library system. 

Daniel Palmer
Daniel Palmer subscriber

@DAVID BOYDEN : this is a double edged sword. I read a lot and it would actually be helpful to me to be able to track my reading. However that should solely be my option and for my person use only, the library should not use it for any reason.

Justin Murray
Justin Murray subscriber

@Erika Lockhart 

Google is about three or four years away from finalizing the solution to that problem. They've practically digitized everything available.

Daniel Palmer
Daniel Palmer subscriber

@Donna Shaw: the writer isn't saying they aren't available to buy, he is saying that they aren't available in the new rental system.

Hudson Ayers
Hudson Ayers subscriber

@Donna Shaw He wasn't talking about whether the books were available for purchase, he was talking about whether the books were available through the "Kindle Unlimited" subscription service.  The books may be available for purchase, but paying for the "Kindle Unlimited" service will not give you free access to them.

Michael Brogan
Michael Brogan subscriber

@Michael Chan Taken out and beaten? Wow, that definitely escalated quickly. Please realize that times have changed, and "youngsters" have grown up with access to the world at their fingertips. Some people prefer using a Kindle. It's their personal preference, and there's nothing wrong with that. Sounds to me like you're the arrogant one. 

Susan Fowler
Susan Fowler user

@judy smith Public Libraries made reserves self serve because they had to cut down on staff since another result of 9/11 was an economic recession and thus a reduction to their budget. 

Rajshekar Iyer
Rajshekar Iyer user

@Stephen Kirk My local library provides a wide range of selection thru multiple ebook providers.  I am able to checkout on android, iOS, kindle fire and PC.  Great selection, and fairly descent websites.  I agree with you having to juggle with multiple logins and passwords as the under lying service is provide by a 3rd party and not the library itself.  A login to the library, another to view the catalog, yet another to download ebooks and one more for audio books.  But it works out and is worth it.

Frances W. Kibler
Frances W. Kibler subscriber

@Eric Eldred Thanks so much for this great tip!  I set this up on my computer in just a few minutes and downloaded an e-book.  I use my library in Virginia to download e-books frequently.  They have a very good selection including best sellers.

Daniel Palmer
Daniel Palmer subscriber

@Amy Rinkle : why would you need more than 2 books, the one you are reading and the one you will read next. I check out 5 at a time when they are physical to save a return trip every couple days. But for e-books that isn't an issue.

Jamilla Graves
Jamilla Graves user

@William Spaniel Most of those are just scans from hardcover editions. E-books that are designed and formatted for e-reading are easier to read. 

Susan Fowler
Susan Fowler user

@Sherry Austin My library lets me check out ebooks for 21 days and I can renew them as long as n one is waiting for it. 

Jamilla Graves
Jamilla Graves user

@Sherry Austin Check the settings in the app online. Checkout periods can be as long as a month.  The borrower can adjust the period for some collections.

Michael Brogan
Michael Brogan subscriber

@Daniel Palmer @Justin Murray I have to agree with Daniel. You're already paying for access to your public and county library's e-book collection, so why not take advantage of that?

I guess some people prefer to double pay, but that's none of my business. 

Erika Lockhart
Erika Lockhart subscriber

@Justin Murray  I checked out Google for what I am now reading, including some old books, and got about 100% results for digitized but when I checked a niche interest of mine, got zero. Good to know it's there, and prices seem better than Amazon.

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