Barnes and Noble has exited the digital library business and will no longer be offering magazines. The bookseller had an extensive portfolio of over 1,000 issues from companies such as Glamour, Better Homes and Gardens, The New Yorker, Reader’s Digest, WIRED, Bon Appétit and more.
Barnes and Noble got into the library game in 2014 when they signed an agreement with Overdrive for the content. This was the second occasion when Overdrive and B&N partnered together, the first was when B&N initially launched their Audiobook business in 2014.
The librarians that I have talked to are overjoyed that they no longer have to give tutorials on how to access the digital magazines on the Nook platform. Patrons had to register for a Nook account and then download the Nook app and associate their library card with B&N. The average library that did business with B&N also dealt with Zinio and a host of other companies, such as Flipster.
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.
