Baker & Taylor launches app for reading library ebooks, but still doesn’t support Kindle
Digital library distributor Baker & Taylor launched an app Monday that will let library patrons read ebooks on iOS and Android devices. Read more »
Sourcebooks, Overdrive launch pilot to demonstrate the impact of ebook library lending on sales
Sourcebooks and Overdrive believe that library lending leads to increased book sales and author recognition. In a two-week trial, they will promote a Sourcebooks ebook on library homepages and see how the promotion affects paid sales and author recognition. Read more »
Following pilot, Hachette will make all of its ebooks available to libraries nationwide
photo: Flickr user Eric Mueller
Hachette announced Wednesday that it will make all of its ebooks, including new titles, available to libraries nationwide. New ebooks will be priced at three times the cost of the print version, but a library only has to buy a copy once. Read more »
Simon & Schuster launches ebook lending pilot with New York City public libraries
photo: Flickr / melanzane1013
Simon & Schuster will finally make its ebooks available to libraries, through a one-year trial with New York City’s public libraries. The publisher is making all of its titles available in the trial, but would not comment on how much it is charging libraries for them. Read more »
Penguin will offer its new ebooks to libraries again as of April 2
photo: Flickr / melanzane1013
Penguin will make new ebooks available to libraries once again, after ending the practice in 2011. Prices will be comparable to retail, and the library will have to buy a new copy of the ebook after a year. Read more »
Macmillan to launch two-year ebook library lending pilot
photo: Flickr user Eric Mueller
Macmillan is making some ebooks available to libraries for the first time. But the company’s two-year pilot program is limited: It only includes 1,200 older titles in the crime and mystery genres. Read more »
Penguin expands library ebook lending with Baker & Taylor
photo: Flickr user Eric Mueller
Less than a year after ending its relationship with digital library distributor OverDrive, Penguin is expanding ebook library lending in new partnerships with Baker & Taylor and 3M. But neither distributor supports Kindle e-readers. Read more »
Avid library ebook borrowers claim it doesn’t affect their book buying
photo: Flickr / melanzane1013
Do people who borrow ebooks from libraries buy fewer books? A new survey of about 75,000 library users suggests no — but because the respondents were self-selecting and already active library users, the results can’t be extended to the general population. Read more »
Penguin brings ebooks back to libraries with distributor 3M
photo: 3M
Penguin is working with digital distributor 3M to make ebooks available to some libraries again — first through a previously announced pilot program with the New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries, and then through about 70 other libraries nationwide by the end of the year. Read more »
Hachette to raise ebook prices for libraries by 220%
photo: Flickr / Ian Barbour
Starting in October, libraries will pay an average of 220 percent more for Hachette’s ebooks. Hachette still does not make new ebooks available to most libraries; all the books affected were published before April 2010. Random House increased prices for librairies earlier this year. Read more »
Smashwords gets more self-published ebooks into libraries
photo: Shutterstock / Gts
Digital self-publishing site Smashwords is making it easier for self-published authors to get their ebooks into libraries. The site is allowing certain libraries to buy Smashwords titles in bulk, and is also adding custom library pricing options for its authors. Read more »
California libraries close to ebooks deal with self-pub site Smashwords
photo: Flickr / Ian Barbour
Califa, California’s largest library network, is about to strike an ebook deal with self-publishing site Smashwords. The partnership would bring about 10,000 self-published ebooks into California’s libraries. Read more »
Yeah, e-books are great — but libraries are in a tough spot
photo: Flickr / melanzane1013
New reports from the American Libraries Association and Pew Internet and American Life Project reveal that despite the increasing number of e-books available to library patrons, libraries themselves face big challenges in weathering the transition. Read more »
Penguin brings e-books back to NYC libraries in 1-year pilot program (no Kindle yet)
photo: Flickr / melanzane1013
Penguin, which removed ebooks from libraries and ended its relationship with distributor OverDrive in February, is tiptoeing back into the digital lending waters again. In a 1-year pilot program with OverDrive competitor 3M, Penguin will make ebooks available to the New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries. Read more »
Five digital lessons from BookExpo America 2012
This week, the book industry gathered at the ugly, cavernous Javits Center in Manhattan for the largest book trade event in the United States. (“I feel like I’m in Costco,” actress-author Molly Ringwald told the AP.) Here are five digital lessons from the week. Read more »
Hachette is offering new e-books to some libraries
photo: Flickr / Ian Barbour
Hachette, which has not made e-books available to libraries since 2010, is reconsidering the idea. In a pilot program starting this spring, the publisher is working with two e-book distributors to bring a “selection of HBG’s recent bestselling e-books to 7 million library patrons.” Read more »
Over 2/3 of U.S. libraries offer e-books; 28% lend e-readers
photo: Flickr / melanzane1013
The majority of U.S. public libraries now offer e-books, but libraries’ relationships with book publishers are fraught, says the American Library Association in its 2012 annual report. Read more »
Harry Potter E-Books, Digital Audiobooks In Libraries Today
photo: Flickr / Marco Becerra
Two days after the Pottermore shop launched, Harry Potter e-books and digital audiobooks will be available in libraries as of noon ET today. Read more »
Harry Potter E-Books Available For Reserve At NY Public Library Now
The Harry Potter e-books, which will be released for the first time by Pottermore in April (after months of delays), are now appearing in th… Read more »
Random House Sharply Increases Library E-Book Prices
photo: Steve Cadman
As promised, Random House will continue to offer its e-books to libraries but as of March 1 has raised many e-books’ wholesale prices signif… Read more »
Harry Potter E-Books Will Be In Libraries
J. K. Rowling’s Pottermore still has not officially launched, but the Harry Potter e-books and digital audiobooks sold exclusively through t… Read more »
Amazon’s Kindle Plays A Part In Penguin’s Library Decision
photo: Amazon
Since Penguin announced yesterday that it is ending its partnership with OverDrive and will no longer provide e-books or digital audiobooks… Read more »
Random House Will Keep All Its E-Books In Libraries, With A Price Increase
photo: Shutterstock / Gts
Random House is now the only big six publisher to allow unrestricted access to all of its e-books in libraries — and it said yesterday it w… Read more »
No More New Penguin Digital Audiobooks For Libraries, Either
photo: Flickr / Ian Barbour
Hoping to skirt Penguin’s library e-book restrictions by checking out a hot new title as a digital audiobook instead? Sorry, that strategy w… Read more »
Which E-Books Are Most Borrowed From Libraries, And Why?
photo: Flickr / Ian Barbour
OverDrive released its lists of the most-downloaded e-books from libraries in December 2011. These lists look pretty different from the curr… Read more »
Updated: Penguin Restores Library Lending To Kindle, But Not For New Ebooks
photo: Amazon
Penguin is once again making its e-books available to libraries through Kindle, OverDrive reports. New Penguin e-books, however, remain unav… Read more »
Penguin Pulls New E-Books From Libraries
photo: Flickr / Ian Barbour
Citing unspecified “concerns about the security of our digital editions,” Penguin Group USA is pulling new e-books from libraries; in additi… Read more »
E-Book Checkouts From Libraries Up 200 Percent Over 2010
photo: Flickr / melanzane1013
It’s no longer necessary to go to the library for a new book–you can just visit your local library’s website from home or from your mobile… Read more »
Kindle Library Lending To Launch In September?
photo: Amazon
Nook, Kobo and *Sony* Reader users can borrow e-books from libraries, but Kindle has been a holdout. Now it appears that library lending for… Read more »
In Run-Up To Kindle Lending Program, Libraries Beef Up E-Book Offerings
photo: Flickr / Orbmiser
The number of people that check out e-books from libraries is still relatively small–under 15 percent, according to a January Digital Book… Read more »
How Libraries Are Bypassing Big Publishers To Build Their E-Book Offerings
photo: Flickr Creative Commons Book Thingo
Romance is hot: It generated $1.36 billion in book sales in 2009, making up 13.2 percent of the consumer book market–the largest share of a… Read more »
