Residents of Australia and the United Kingdom will now be able to enjoy healthy competition in the digital library space. The 3M Cloud Library will now heavily compete against Overdrive and Softlink, giving libraries a viable alternative.
3M Cloud Library has been an industry leader in advancing technology in the eLending market and is currently available in over 1000 libraries in the US and Canada. Simplifying digital lending for libraries, this system offers an end-to-end, easy to implement and manage service. Along with comprehensive training and support tools, the Content Acquisition Tool allows Librarians to easily curate their own collection from a catalog with several hundred thousand eBooks and digital audiobooks.
3M’s entry into these new markets will be supported with dedicated sales and support resources across the UK and Australia. This launch will help bring awareness and boost digital lending in these territories at a critical time, as public libraries are realizing the potential and the benefits of expanding digital library services.
The United Kingdom digital library scene is quite immature compared to their counterparts in Canada, US and Australia. For example, there is hardly any wireless internet access points, preventing users from borrowing e-books. There is also strict limitations on the duration in which content can be borrowed and publishers are remiss to give them their frontlist content.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.