A group of public libraries in Nova Scotia, Canada is no longer buying eBooks from Random House because of price increases from the publisher. Chief librarian Troy Myers said that the group would not buy eBooks from the publisher until they lowered their prices.

The South Shore Public Library explains the price increase in a press release: “… a copy of Catherine the Great, Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie was $30 for libraries in January 2012, $130 on March 1 and $85 on March 20. An individual ordering the same title would pay $25 through Amazon, $22.69 through Kindle or $20 through Random House or Google Books.”

However, the libraries cannot buy directly from retailers. Myers stated: “It would be great if we could just purchase ebooks through Amazon or Random House for the lower price. However because we provide the books for loan, we must purchase copies of the books through a service like OverDrive, instead of buying copies directly.” (Via Quill & Quire).