Overdrive is currently the largest system used by libraries to facilitate the lending of eBooks, Audiobooks, Videos and more. 3M this year has unleashed their own digital lending system to libraries and is slowly gaining tracking beyond their pilot locations. The one advantage 3M has is their Cloud Discovery Terminals. It gives users a touchscreen platform that patrons can browse their libraries selection of content and then be sent to Android or iOS tablets to read the books. Today Overdrive has announced their Media Station, which is a direct counter to 3M’s technology.
The Overdrive Media Station will enable in-library access to eBooks on touchscreen monitors and existing public Internet workstations. With a pilot program underway at Ohio’s Warrensville Heights Public Library, OverDrive Media Station invites readers to browse, sample and discover library eBooks within the physical branch. Coming soon, patrons will also be able to login and checkout titles!
Currently the Media Stations involve touchscreen monitors to browse and select digital content they want to borrow. One of the cool aspects is that books will display a QR code that you can scan with your smartphone or tablet and have the books directly download right to your device. In the near future they will employ iPads and other Tablets that are tethered down to prevent theft and give patrons more options to read the content in the library.
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.
