Status of the Digital Library Protection Act

Status of the Digital Library Protection Act

  Monday, April 27, 2026    Julie Tappendorf

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As many of our library readers already know, the Illinois House has passed House Bill 5236, the Digital Library Protection Act. If approved by the Illinois Senate, and signed by the Governor, this new law would prevent Illinois libraries (and any library consortium acting on behalf of a library) from entering into contracts with publishers regarding "electronic literary materials" (defined as e-books and digital audio books) that would:

1. restrict a library from licensing literary materials from publishers; 
2. restrict a library from employing technological protection measures necessary to loan e-books and digital audiobooks; 
3. restrict a library from making preservation copies of e-books and digital audiobooks; 
4. restrict a library from loaning e-books and digital audiobooks through interlibrary loans; 
5. restrict a library from loaning e-books and digital audiobooks to borrowers; 
6. restrict a library from determining loan periods for licensed e-books and digital audiobooks; 
7. require a library to obtain a license for e-books and digital audiobooks at a price greater than what is charged to the public for the same item;
8. restrict the number of licenses for e-books and digital audiobooks that the library can acquire after the item is available to the public;
9. require the library to pay a cost-per-circulation fee for loan e-books and digital audiobooks, unless the fee is substantially lower in aggregate to the cost of purchasing the item outright; 
10. restrict the number of times the library can loan an e-book or digital audiobook over the course of the contract if the contract imposes a time-based limitation on the duration of the license; 
11. restrict or limit the library's ability to virtually recite text or display artwork to library patrons that would be more restrictive than what is recited or displayed at the library facility;
12. restrict the library from disclosing the terms of the contract to any other Illinois library; and
13. require, coerce, or enable the library to violate the Library Records Confidentiality Act.

If passed, the bill would also prohibit any provision in a contract that would require a different state law to be applied in any dispute. Note that the bill would not apply to any existing contracts with publishers.

The bill has been sent to the Illinois Senate for its consideration.