Furious librarians are calling for a boycott of publisher HarperCollins over its decision to put a limit on the number of times its ebooks can be loaned.

Under the new policy, announced by distributor Overdrive in a letter to customers last week, libraries will only be able to lend out each purchased ebook published by HarperCollins a total of 26 times before the book's lifetime expires.

The development has led to an explosion of anger among librarians, who up until now have been able to lend any ebook as often as they like – just as they do with print copies. Loans are generally made via the library's website, with users gaining access via a PIN number, and downloaded ebooks remaining live for a two-week loan period.

Phil Bradley, vice president of the UK professional body The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, blogged: "I simply cannot begin to describe what a stupid, backward-looking and retrograde step I think this is." He called the move "a direct attack on a library's users, making it difficult for them to borrow electronic books that they might otherwise be unable to read," adding: "Worse than that, it is going to make libraries think twice about purchasing ebooks in the future if publishers think that they can just change the rules whenever they feel like it."

Librarian Sarah Houghton Jan of San Rafael Public Library, wrote on her blog that HarperCollins's decision created a "dangerous precedent" that others would follow, blaming publishers for not realising that new formats are opportunities, as well as ebook vendors for not standing up to "asinine" demands – and the library profession itself for not standing up for the rights of its users. "I cannot over-emphasise that we are in trouble my friends," she wrote. "The lack of legislative leadership and advocacy in the last decade has created a situation where libraries have lost the rights to lending and preserving content that we have had for centuries."

Meanwhile librarians Brett Bonfield and Gabriel Farrell launched a site calling on colleagues and library users to boycott any books or ebooks from the publisher until it changed its stance.

Concern among publishers about the implications of library ebook lending surfaced last autumn, when the UK Publishers Association moved to restrict remote downloading amid fears that ebooks were being loaned without proper geographical safeguards. But Overdrive CEO Steve Potash last month insisted there was now "enthusiastic support" for library e-lending from "many" trade houses, with only "one or two" still expressing concerns.