The American Library Association’s president Maureen Sullivan was “stunned” when news broke that Hachette may dramatically increase the price of eBooks for libraries.

Sullivan issued a strong statement following reports that Hachette is raising the prices on its backlist eBooks by 220 percent. If the reports are true, 3,500 eBook titles with release dates of April 2010 and earlier will experience these price hikes.

American Libraries Magazine has Sullivan’s complete statement. Here is an excerpt: “Libraries must have the ability to purchase a wide range of digital content at a fair price so that all readers have full access to our world’s creative and cultural resources, especially the many millions who depend on libraries as their only source of reading material.”