Ebook library lending is crucial if electronic books are to become the norm for book lovers. Publishers are still a little uneasy about letting their content be borrowed easily, but they have simply had to wake up to the electric future of books and reading.
Old paper copies of books obviously wear out over time, and publishers are starting to remember this which meant that libraries re-bought titles to maintain their stock. However, of course the ebook carries on working just as well, no matter how many borrowers have enjoyed it.
Publishing giant Harper Collins announced in March 2011 that libraries should have to pretend their electronic copies had become too tatty to lend. An introduction of a 26 lend maximum policy requires libraries to re-purchase electronic books once 26 of us have borrowed it! It seems a little crazy, but I guess publishers need to ensure they are not made surplus to requirements. Frankly that is a problem for libraries and publishers to squabble over for themselves.
What we are concerned with is the ability to borrow an ebook from the library.
Now not all books your library stocks will be available in electronic form. But, the supplies are growing as more publishers allow their material to be produced, lent, borrowed and sold as digital entities. The trend is for digital library lending to grow massively so they simply have to get used to it.
Most US libraries have joined forces with Overdrive to provide a virtual version of their stock. You sign up and then can browse around what titles are available electronically. Of course, the “snag” is that library e-books have to pretend to be the real thing. So you can’t just borrow whatever you want. Instead, just like with paper ones, you will have to book your ebook and wait in line till everyone else has had their turn.
Still, its free, its digital, and it is the future of ebooks, so don’t knock it till you have tried it!
Of course one of the massive bones of contention with Amazon’s Kindle, has been that libraries didn’t lend .azw format books that you could actually view on the most popular ebook reader. But, Amazon have announced, that sometime in 2011 Kindle library lending will be possible, which is excellent news indeed, opening up more free content to more ebook reader owners.
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