The Massachusetts State Ebook Project (MA EBook Project), conceived by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioner's (MBLC) Statewide Resource Sharing Committee and the Massachusetts Library System (MLS), with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), this summer concluded a pilot program, offering many insights into the challenges and promises that statewide consortial
ebook lending programs may offer.
The Reader Library program is open to public libraries with robust
eBook lending programs.
While I understand Amazon's concerns with other
ebook lending programs, I think KU must be having as drastic of an impact on their sales revenues as it is on many authors.
(True, and I have made use of my library's
ebook lending programs.)
Two other companies right now offer
ebook lending programs such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
There's a more expanded report on the ramifications of
these eBook lending programs in the January issue of Infinity's Author's Advocate — if you aren't a subscriber, you may sign up for a free subscription by visiting www.infinitypublishing.com.
Currently, public libraries are struggling with trying to implement digital lending, as five of the Big Six publishers are not yet fully on board with allowing libraries to include their titles in
ebook lending programs.
Kobo has big plans for 2011 with the advent of their new
eBook lending program!
When Kobo released the Vox tablet, many of our sources at Kobo told us they were close to releasing
their ebook lending program.
Kobo has officially suspended development of a secret
ebook lending program they have been working on the last eight months.
Recorded Books is separately working on its own library
ebook lending program, which will allow publishers a great deal of flexibility in how they make their ebooks available to libraries.
Today OverDrive announced that their Big Library Read is coming back next month, which is a global ebook club of sorts that gives people around the world an opportunity to read the same ebook, or listen to the audiobook, for free through the 30,000 + public libraries and schools that use OverDrive's
ebook lending program.
You can also borrow eBooks: Since I mentioned lending eBooks, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that you should check with your local library to see if they have
an eBook lending program.
Penguin Group today announced that it will be changing the terms on its library
ebook lending program, and on Tuesday, April 2, will begin allowing libraries to purchase and lend ebook titles the day that hardcover editions are released, according to The Associated Press.
They ship automatically signed into Amazon's services and apps, including (but not limited to) Prime Video, Prime Music, Amazon's cloud storage service Prime Photos, and
ebook lending program Prime Reading.
Not exact matches
This
program will serve a twofold purpose, first in offering libraries and their patrons even more
ebook content for
lending programs, and second in terms of helping indie authors in the process of getting their books discovered by a larger public audience.
Hopefully, as more major library systems showcase highly successful pilot
programs and more publishers adopt the attitude that an
ebook really is just a book,
lending will continue to grow.
Tim McCall, Penguin's Vice President of Online Sales and Marketing, said, «Penguin is excited to be partnering with Baker & Taylor to expand our library
ebook lending pilot
program.
Interesting to note that Amazon announced in April that they're interested in the library
ebook market after all http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?ID=1552678&c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle and Overdrive is making changes to boost the Amazon
program and also simplify
ebook lending for libraries http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2011/06/overdrive-update-helps-amazon-
program.html
It was a little clunky at first to do library
lending because the libraries were a little sketchy on their educational
programs, but since then I've seen library websites with much easier info on how to download
ebooks.
According to an article by Michael Kelley of The Digital Shift, Amazon launched its
lending program in early November with only 5,000 titles — paltry compared to a public library's offering of titles through OverDrive, such as the Columbus Public Library's offering of over 17,000
ebooks — but that number quickly grew to over 66,000 by the following month.
When the Big Six publishers pulled their
ebooks from Amazon's
lending program, Amazon fired back with a maneuver of its own, namely, to invite the self - published authors to put their books in the
lending library on the condition that it be available nowhere else, even as a free blog post.
Amazon's entry into public libraries and their own
lending process through the Prime
program has just quadrupled the activity in
ebook lending.
Amazon also has a
lending program that allows you borrow select books from other users or from
eBook Club websites like Lendingebooks.com
Amazon initially launched their
lending program a few years ago that allows users to share
ebooks with their friends.
Her video has already drawn some interesting comments — and started a discussion about other issues in Overdrive's
program for
lending Kindle
ebooks.
Amazon initially launched their
lending program a few years ago that allows users to share
ebooks with... [Read more...]
The removal of content from your account is something Amazon and Barnes and Noble have developed with their
lending ebook programs.
The 3M
ebook lending library
program is based on the specific needs that libraries have faced throughout the process of trying
lend digital materials.
Besides the drawback that publishers are still imposing checkout limits and raising the price of an
ebook by as much as 300 % for libraries, the biggest obstacle may be instituting the
lending program itself.
There is a somewhat confusing rule that Kindle
eBooks in the 35 percent royalty level can opt out of this
lending program, but those in the 70 percent royalty level can not.
«The Penguin controversy could very well reinforce the feeling among the major houses that it is better to wait on the sidelines to see how some of the issues shake out before getting deeply involved with
ebook lending, and it is difficult to see holdouts Simon & Schuster or Macmillan changing their minds soon about entering the OverDrive
lending program.»
The last couple of months have brought many changes to Big 6 publishers»
ebook lending policies, with Penguin and Simon & Schuster both announcing changes to their
programs.
Other major specifics were left out of the announcement: the length of the
lending period, which publishers will participate in the
program, and if there will be any limit to the number of times a Kindle
ebook can be checked out.
A person can
lend the
ebook to a friend and still have it on their computer / eReader to read (unless done through Amazon's
lending program).
The company's digital arm provides audiobook and
eBook lending to the library market through the RBdigital platform, alongside several other platforms specializing in same - day newspapers and magazines, adult learning and language tutorial
programs.