Library lending of ebooks and other digital content is finally gaining a foothold in the industry as publishers and lending institutions come to some measure of agreement on how to make it work. While libraries need access to up-to-date but affordable content, and publishers need some guarantee they they will be compensated for allowing their titles into lending catalogs, the … [Read more...] about Hoopla Digital Redesigns the Digital Library Model
library lending
IDPF: What the Future Holds for Libraries
The first two keynotes at this year's IDPF Digital Book conference were focused on looking to the future for books. Peter Brantley, of the non-profit startup Hypothes.is Project whose goal is to develop a deeper dialogue between libraries and publishers, spoke from the library and ebook lending perspective, specifically what digital implications there will be for these … [Read more...] about IDPF: What the Future Holds for Libraries
OverDrive Announces Banner Year for School, Library eBook Lending
As digital library lending continues to take root in public and school libraries, digital content solutions provider OverDrive has seen tremendous forward growth in the number of patron checkouts through libraries. Whereas it took the platform ten years to reach 100 million total checkouts, that number grew to 102 million checkouts in 2013 alone. This represents a 44% increase … [Read more...] about OverDrive Announces Banner Year for School, Library eBook Lending
UK Government Mulling Author Compensation for eBooks Borrowed from the Library
The UK government is seriously looking into compensating authors when their ebooks are borrowed from public libraries. Culture minister Ed Vaizey announced a decision will be made after a formal review, published last week, concluded libraries must stock digital titles or become "increasingly irrelevant". The main thought is that authors and publishers will get royalties when … [Read more...] about UK Government Mulling Author Compensation for eBooks Borrowed from the Library
3M, Polaris Partnership Strengthens Public Libraries
GoodeReader reported this week on the announcement of new features from 3M Cloud Library Systems and Polaris. This venture is aimed at streamlining the work of public libraries for greater efficiency and ease of use for both the librarians and their readers. I an interview with 3M’s Matt Tempelis, GoodeReader learned about the need for a more efficient system to enable all … [Read more...] about 3M, Polaris Partnership Strengthens Public Libraries
Smashwords Partners with Libraries as Publishers
One of the quiet recommendations for independent brick-and-mortar bookstores and local public libraries has been for those establishments to evolve into community-based publishers using ebooks distribution or print-on-demand kiosks. Now, Smashwords is making that concept a reality in a test market, the more than 200 public libraries who are members of the Califa library … [Read more...] about Smashwords Partners with Libraries as Publishers
New York Public Library Digital Lending Program grows in popularity
The New York Public Library is exponentially growing and seeing unparallelled success. In the last year digital circulation has increased over 81%, due to the proliferation of e-readers. Currently the New York Public Library has six million print books in its hallowed halls and maintains a collection of 75,000 ebooks. Christopher Platt, The New York Public Library's … [Read more...] about New York Public Library Digital Lending Program grows in popularity
Libraries Are Seeing Record Increases in eBook Borrowing
Right now in the USA there is said to be over 21 million e-readers in circulation and many libraries are seeing a boom period in ebook borrowing. Many librarians are not stocking books on the shelves anymore and saving money in the process. The American Library Association Conference is wrapping up in New Orleans and the unilateral consensus is that libraries all over North … [Read more...] about Libraries Are Seeing Record Increases in eBook Borrowing