Libranda, OverDrive Take On eBook Library Lending in Spain

One of the polarizing issues in the U.S. ebook market right now is the conflict over public library access to ebook titles for lending, but we may be able to take a lesson from Libranda’s new partnership with OverDrive to afford access to new and bestselling ebook titles to library patrons in Spain. While it will be some time before the model can be declared a success or a failure, at the very least it can provide a jumping off point for talks between libraries and publishers.

Libranda began as an ebook platform that digitized the titles from several of Spain’s major publishers, although there were complaints of issues for consumers, namely the use of Adobe as the file system and all of the bugs that came with it. In order to take full advantage of what OverDrive can offer, Libranda is transitioning to a cloud-based system, funded in part by subsidies and loans from outside sources and government agencies. This partnership will allow Libranda to offer over 300,000 titles initially in both Spanish and English, as well as other foreign languages.

Some of the terms that are already very different from the methods employed here in the U.S. include the licensing of the titles. Each digital title will be sold as an annual license to the library, with pricing based on the number of registered patrons. Immediately, this step resolves the concern from many librarians that a major city’s rather large library system paying the same price as a more rural, “small town” library. Also, the license is based on the calendar year and not the number of check-outs of the book, another headache for public libraries that still seemed to satisfy the publishers in Spain.

Similar to another digital library provider in the U.S., 3M Library Systems, not only is Libranda working towards a cloud-based catalog of ebooks, but is also looking ahead to launching a self-branded e-reader. This new device can be branded with the specific libraries’ logos and names, marking it as library property for patron check-out.

Mercy Pilkington (1086 Posts)

Mercy Pilkington is a young-adult author and a teacher in a correctional facility. She does not have a single textbook in her classroom. With the top-of-the-line technology at her disposal and the low reading ability of many of her students, there’s no need for standard paper texts. Instead she relies on e-readers, iPads, desktop PCs, Polycom video conferencing equipment for virtual field trips, live streaming for science demonstrations, and text-to-speech read-aloud software to teach English and science. Within the next ten years, public school classrooms across the country are going to look a lot more like Mercy’s classroom because the educational possibilities with these kinds of technologies are limitless. Have a question? Send an email to mercypilkington@yahoo.com

Related posts:

1. Penguin Removes Its New Titles from OverDrive’s Lending Library Catalog
2. OverDrive and the Work of Ebook Lending
3. Penguin Severs ties with OverDrive and Strikes a Blow to Ebook Lending
4. Overdrive to Provide Metric Data on Library eBook Lending at the London Book Fair
5. Record Library Traffic on Christmas, Thanks to eBook Lending
6. Top eBook Lenders Selected as OverDrive Library Leaders