Vendor Licensing Comparison Matrix: What You're Actually Buying
When you sign a vendor contract, you're not buying a book. You\'re buying a license. The license terms determine whether you own the content, who can access it, what happens when the contract ends, and how much it will cost next year. This matrix breaks down the differences between vendor licensing models so you can understand what you're actually paying for.
The Core Problem: "Ownership" Means Nothing
When a vendor says "perpetual access," what they really mean is "as long as you keep paying for access to our platform." When they say "unlimited users," they mean "unlimited simultaneous users within the restriction we've set." When they say "download rights," they mean "you can download what we let you download in the format we choose."
The key distinction is this:
Licensing Model: You lease the right to access content on the vendor's terms. The vendor controls access, decides who can use it, can raise prices, can remove content, and can terminate your access if you violate any terms.
Most library vendors operate under strict licensing models. A few offer ownership options. None of them advertise this distinction clearly because licensing generates recurring revenue. Ownership does not.
Major Licensing Models
1. Simultaneous-User Licensing (Most Common)
What it is: You pay for a license that allows a set number of patrons to access the same ebook at the same time. Once that many users are logged in, others have to wait.
Typical vendors: OverDrive, Hoopla, EBSCO
- Fixed annual cost (predictable budget)
- Simple to understand
- Works for libraries with predictable demand
- Doesn't scale with demand (popular books have waitlists)
- Encourages overbooking (you buy more licenses than needed)
- Vendors raise prices annually with no usage requirement
- You lose access when contract ends (even if renewal is late)
2. Metered/Concurrent-Use Licensing (Newer Model)
What it is: You pay per checkout or per-use. Every time a patron borrows the book, you're charged a fee. Access is unlimited, but costs are variable.
Typical vendors: Hoopla (hybrid model), some publisher direct relationships
- You only pay for what's used
- No overbooking (demand is always met)
- Aligns costs with actual usage
- Unpredictable costs (budget month-to-month)
- Expensive for popular titles
- Vendors can raise per-transaction fees anytime
- Requires careful budget monitoring
3. Subscription/Database Licensing (Bundled Access)
What it is: You pay an annual fee for unlimited access to a collection of content through the vendor's platform. Popular with academic databases.
Typical vendors: EBSCO, ProQuest, Gale, JSTOR
- Unlimited users, unlimited access
- Predictable annual cost
- Simple for patrons (no checkout limits)
- You own nothing (full dependence on vendor)
- Prices can increase dramatically at renewal
- Vendors can remove content from the collection
- Data locked in vendor systems (you can't analyze or export)
4. Perpetual Access Licensing (Rare)
What it is: You pay a one-time or annual fee for permanent access to specific ebook titles. If your subscription lapses, you keep the books you purchased but lose access to new titles.
Typical vendors: Some publisher direct sales, rare from aggregators
- You keep books after subscription ends
- Long-term cost savings
- No overbooking pressure
- Higher upfront cost per title
- Limited title availability
- Difficult to build a collection quickly
- Often paired with DRM that prevents true ownership
The Licensing Comparison Matrix
| Feature | OverDrive | Hoopla | EBSCO | Open Library CDL | Publisher Direct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing Model | Simultaneous-user | Metered (per-use) | Subscription (unlimited) | Ownership (true) | Varies (perpetual common) |
| Cost per Title | Included in bundle | Variable per use | Included in bundle | One-time purchase | One-time per title |
| Concurrent Users | 2-20 (configurable) | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1 at a time | 1-50+ (varies) |
| Loan Period | 7-28 days (library choice) | Immediate (no holds) | N/A (database, not books) | 14-28 days | Varies |
| Patron Hold Limit | ✗ Yes, enforced by license | ✓ No holds (instant access) | N/A | ✗ Yes, one patron at a time | Varies |
| Access After Contract End | ✗ None (blackout period) | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✓ Full access (you own it) | ◐ Depends on contract |
| Download Rights | ✗ Limited (platform only) | ✗ Limited (streaming only) | ✗ Limited or none | ✓ Full (you own the file) | ◐ Usually limited |
| Platform Independence | ✗ Locked to OverDrive | ✗ Locked to Hoopla | ✗ Locked to EBSCO | ✓ Open standards | ✓ Usually yes |
| DRM (Digital Rights Management) | ✗ Heavy (ACS watermarking) | ✗ Heavy (platform streaming) | ✗ Yes | ✓ Light (checkout control only) | ◐ Varies |
| Usage Data Access | ✗ Limited (vendor controls) | ✓ Per-transaction reporting | ◐ Basic only | ✓ Full (you control data) | ✓ Usually full |
| Title Selection Control | ✗ Limited (vendor curates) | ✗ Limited | ✗ None (take what's available) | ✓ You choose what to digitize | ✓ Usually yes |
| Price Increase Frequency | ✗ Annual (3-8%) | ◐ Per-use (variable) | ✗ Annual (2-6%) | ✓ One-time only | ✗ Annual |
| Portability (Switch Vendors) | ✗ Hard (content locked) | ✗ Hard | ✗ Moderate (export data) | ✓ Easy (standard formats) | ✓ Usually easy |
Understanding the Hidden Costs
The Overbooking Problem
With simultaneous-user licensing, publishers price the licenses high because they know libraries will want more concurrent users than justified by actual demand. A typical public library with 1,000 simultaneous ebook demand would buy 5-8 licenses per title just to avoid long hold queues.
The cost you're paying: 5-8x the price per title compared to true per-use pricing, just to avoid the appearance of scarcity.
What vendors want: For you to keep buying more licenses rather than questioning the model itself.
The Platform Lock-In Tax
Every vendor proprietary platform adds a hidden cost: you can never leave without losing your collection. This forces perpetual renewal at whatever price the vendor proposes.
The cost you're paying: An implicit premium of 20-30% annually for the privilege of not being able to switch vendors.
The Data Tax
Your patron lending data is valuable. Vendors collect it and use it to:
- Negotiate better terms with publishers
- Sell aggregate data to publishers (showing unmet demand)
- Identify which libraries will pay for additional products
The cost you're paying: An implicit 10-15% premium because vendors profit from your data and don\'t share that revenue with libraries.
Questions to Ask When Evaluating Licenses
Before You Sign
- "What happens to the books if we cancel the contract?"
- "Can we download the files in standard format (EPUB, PDF)?"
- "What's the DRM, and does it prevent interoperability?"
- "How many simultaneous users do we actually need based on your usage data?"
- "Can we export our lending data? In what format?"
- "Is there a perpetual access option instead of annual subscription?"
- "What's the early-exit penalty if we want to cancel?"
- "Can we lend individual copies via interlibrary loan?"
- "Can we use Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) if we choose?"
At Renewal Time
- "What's the % price increase? On what basis is this justified?"
- "What titles are being added/removed from the collection this year?"
- "Show me our cost-per-checkout and tell me how it compares to industry benchmarks."
- "Can we reduce simultaneous licenses to match actual demand?"
- "What's the cost if we switch to metered (per-use) pricing instead?"
The Ideal License (That Vendors Won't Offer)
- Perpetual access: Books you buy stay with you
- Ownership model: You own the files, not just access rights
- Standard formats: EPUB, PDF, or open formats you can use elsewhere
- Light DRM: Only checkout/lending control, not restriction on reading software
- No artificial limits: If a book can serve 100 simultaneous readers technically, you can use it that way
- Usage data: You get full access to lending data you generate
- Interoperability: You can lend to other libraries or use CDL
- Price stability: No annual increases unrelated to actual cost of service
Vendors won\'t offer these because this model doesn\'t generate recurring revenue and doesn't lock you in.
Comparing Costs: A Real Example
Scenario: A 50,000-patron library, 10,000 annual ebook checkouts
Current model (OverDrive, 5 simultaneous licenses):
$42,000/year ÷ 10,000 checkouts = $4.20 per checkout
Alternative model (Hoopla, metered):
~$1.50 per checkout × 10,000 = $15,000/year = $1.50 per checkout
Alternative model (Open Library CDL, one-time purchases):
$40 average purchase price × 250 new titles/year = $10,000 investment
Year 1: $10,000 (cheaper)
Year 2: $0 (everything's already purchased)
Year 3: $0 (and collection persists even if no budget)
Winner by year 5: Open Library CDL (cumulative cost: $40,000 vs. OverDrive: $210,000)
What to Do Now
- Audit your current licenses. Go through each vendor contract and complete the matrix above for your actual terms.
- Calculate your real cost per use. Use your budget tracker (from the digital budget tracker resource) to identify which licenses are expensive relative to usage.
- Identify upcoming renewals. Mark contracts expiring in 6-12 months. These are your negotiation windows.
- Build a case for alternatives. If your cost-per-checkout is >$3, you have strong justification to explore metered pricing or CDL.
- Negotiate incrementally. You probably can't flip to CDL immediately, but you can negotiate for lighter DRM, easier data export, or per-use pricing instead of fixed licenses.